Space in Tropes, an Opaque but Visible Relationship

Abstract

This essay retrieves a latent and opaque view of space in tropes and uses a triangle of three key terms, namely chora, figural situation, and the content of the form as a theoretical framework. The discussion emphasizes three related parts: (1) how space denotes a bodily precursor to figurative expression, (2) how a trope space connotes space and expresses it as a figural situation, and (3) how the content of this space and situation may be deciphered in terms of ethics and values. It offers an extended example using Rosa Parks.

Keywords:

• Tropes
• Space
• Rhetoric
• Embodiment
• Rosa Parks

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jane S. Sutton

Jane S. Sutton (Ph.D., University of Colorado, Boulder, 1984) is Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University