The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan
A Norton Critical Edition
Christine de Pisan (or Pizan) was a 14-15th century writer who illustrated the semiotic theory of iconic realism in many of her writings and particularly in her debate of the French poem, Roman de la Rose. I explain her contribution in the excerpt below from my first book:
The semiotic constructs of symbolism, semantics and linguistic pragmatics provide the leverage for the creative ideas to manifest within each member of the audience. At this point, symbolism becomes a new association of the possibility for recognized imagery with unrecognized reality. A newly formed idea becomes the reality within the mind of the receiving audience, boundless in perception constraints. The audience member receives this reality and conceives the new idea through a multi-sensory experience. In reference to Roman de la Rose and interpretation, Christine de Pisan noted:
Because human understanding cannot attain to a perfect knowledge of absolute truth and cannot comprehend mysteries on account of the gross, terrestrial darkness which impedes and obstructs true light, so that men draw conclusions from opinion rather than from certain knowledge – for these reasons, debates often arise among even the wisest of men because of differing opinions, each one striving to show by his reasoning that his particular opinion is the true one.[1]
Through her rhetoric, Christine de Pisan illustrates the complexities involved with interpretation and the possibilities of renewed thought processes. No longer associated with the original idea, the new concept emerges with an energy of its own, with which the audience member can now associate creative action, continuing the creative process of the original thought. Thus, iconic realism magnifies the elements of semiotic theory through renewed perceptions that the receptive audience experiences with an artist’s rendering of reality.
[1]Christine de Pisan. La Querelle de la Rose: Letters and Documents.trans. Joseph L. Baird and John R. Kane. (Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1978).
Excerpt from my book, The Theory of Iconic Realism, © 2008
