This dissertation critiques and updates the theoretical frameworks for understanding encyclopedic and diagrammatic images as presented in the scholarship of Lucy Freeman Sandler, Barbara Maria Stafford, John Bender, and Michael Marrinan. It offers a new model for examining the cognitive role of images by studying an important medieval encyclopedia, On the Properties of Things, originally written in Latin by Bartholomaeus Anglicus in the thirteenth century. Bartholomaeus’ text was the most popular encyclopedia of the later middle ages and four vernacular translations were produced and circulated between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Significantly, the French translation of the compendium, coming out of the vernacularization movement of King Charles V but radiating out to other production centres, involved the design of an elaborate and novel illustrative program. The present project examines two exceptional fifteenth-century French copies of this encyclopedia (BnF fr. 9141 and BnF fr. 135/6), and interprets them in light of the shifting intellectual culture and evolving reading practices of late-medieval lay audiences. The information-rich and highly aestheticized miniatures found in such encyclopedic manuscripts have traditionally been defined, by Sandler and others, as having an explanatory function and the capacity to elevate the content of the text through displays of material luxury. My model expands the significance of such images by highlighting their capacity to promote thought. I argue that images in didactic compendia can (i) encourage the reader to actively engage with the text through representations of aristocratic readers performing their understanding of the book socially, and (ii) facilitate visual thinking by aesthetically reflecting the structure of the encyclopedic text through the diagrammatic strategies of the collection, compression, and division of fragmented information. Though the images in my two manuscript case studies take distinct approaches to reader engagement and the mediation of knowledge, in both cases the power of these visualizations rests in the cognitive acts and range of mental associations they provoke. This dissertation demonstrates that epistemically-dense images, in addition to merely reflecting a text, could shape knowledge as it was being formed in the minds of active viewers, readers, writers, and artists, in an intellectually rich period in late-medieval France. / Graduate

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:42:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotalJocilene.pdf: 1921823 bytes, checksum: bc1e7b3df540cb0e5293cfc36655298e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-03-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation had as study corpus the didactic compendia Tesouro de Meninos and Tesouro de Meninas aiming at investigating specifically the circulation of French compendia in Brazilian territory from traces of instituted documents as well as analyzing the studied theme, its way of presentation (dialogues) and the pre-textual elements (book cover, preface, dedication, summary and reading prologues) in different editions with the purpose to identify the formation of an infantile reader. For attaining our objectives, an approach of bibliographic and documental research was carried out. For the first one, the theoretical fundamentals were based on investigations about Reading History understood as social and cultural practice. Whereas, for the second one, the emphasis was on pieces of research accomplished in the Real Gabinete de Leitura Português (Royal Portuguese Office of Reading) and in the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), in 2011 and 2012. Furthermore, the internet search for finding integral versions of the works was registered. The research revealed the following facts: the didactic compendia, in general, originated from France, had an essential role concerning the reader s formation, being indicated for teaching by the authorities, and also mentioned in other sources of research, such as bookstore catalogs, libraries and newspapers, presenting, therefore, other appropriation ways of these printings. With reference to content presentation, it was perceived the recurrence of the tradition of dialogs and themes focusing on moral, virtue and civility also usual in other books previous to the studied compendia. In this way, the guarantee that the reader s formation would be fulfilled from the conceptions that the society of that era anticipated, it occurred by means of the authorities´ discourses as well as by the directions presented by the authors of the compendia. / Nesta dissertação, tomamos como corpus de estudo os compêndios didáticos Tesouro de Meninos e Tesouro de Meninas, objetivando especificamente investigar a circulação dos compêndios franceses em território brasileiro a partir de indícios dos documentos instituídos, bem como analisar a temática abordada, o modo de apresentação dessa temática (diálogos) e os elementos pré-textuais (capa, prefácio, dedicatória, sumário e prólogos de leitura), em diferentes edições, a fim de identificar aspectos que apontem para a formação de um leitor infantil. Para alcançar nossos objetivos propostos, seguimos uma abordagem de pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. Para a primeira, tomamos como fundamentação teórica as investigações acerca da História da Leitura entendida enquanto prática social e cultural. Enquanto para a segunda, voltamo-nos para pesquisas realizadas no Real Gabinete de Leitura Português e a na Biblioteca Nacional, em 2011 e 2012. Além disso, registramos o percurso na internet para encontrarmos versões integrais das obras. A pesquisa revelou os seguintes fatos: os compêndios didáticos, em geral, oriundos da França, tiveram um papel essencial na formação do leitor, sendo indicados para o ensino pelas autoridades, bem como citados em outras fontes de pesquisa: catálogos de livrarias, bibliotecas e jornais, apresentando, portanto, outras formas de apropriação desses impressos. Quanto à forma de apresentação dos conteúdos, percebemos a recorrência à tradição dos diálogos e às temáticas abordadas como moral, virtude e civilidade, comuns também em outros livros anteriores aos compêndios estudados. Sendo assim, a garantia de que a formação do leitor seria realizada a partir dos moldes que a sociedade da época previa, dava-se pelos discursos das autoridades, bem como pelo direcionamento apresentado pelos autores dos compêndios.