The Images of History in the Memoirs from Beyond the Grave through Hypotyposis

Abstract

This paper considers the influence of memoirist on realizations of hypotyposis in the Memoirs from Beyond the Grave. Chateaubriand resorts to visual representations for persuasive purposes. The narrator tries to convince the reader of the rightness of his vision by destroying or emphasizing collective, historical myths. Because of this obvious intentionality the hypotyposis reaches an implicit, aporetic function. The reduction of visual, emotional and ideological distance is narrator’s attemp to challenge the reader’s preconceived notions about such major events as: the storming of the Bastille, the women’s march on Versailles or the July Revolution. Therefore, the narrative instance uses argumentative and descriptive plasticity of hypotyposis, even if it leads him to disregard the historical truth. It’s triumph in reader’s consciousness proves that hypotyposis belongs to rhetorical figures based on reception. But the efficacy of hypotyposis requires some rhetori- cal subterfuges such as: surrounding the narrator’s role to spectator, basing historical pictures on the criterion of realism and plausibility, using rhetorical figures connected with the process of association.