Painting with words: the modernist ekphrasis in José Martí's La Exposición de París
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: : This essay analyzes the literary articulation of ekphrastic procedures in the chronicle “La Exposición de París,” published by José Martí in the children’s magazine La Edad de Oro (1889). Drawing on the conceptual framework of ekphrasis and periegesis, it demonstrates how the author, during his exile in the United States (1880–1895), shaped a narrative with a strong testimonial effect without having been physically present at the event. Through the critical appropriation of secondary sources, such as catalogs and both national and international press, Martí strategically deployed rhetorical devices like enargeia and hypotyposis to construct a political-pedagogical tour of anticolonial resistance, characterized by a striking descriptive vividness. The examination of this narrative, guided by a narrator-cicerone, leads to the conclusion that the ideological and formative power of the account is invigorated through the harmonious use of these discursive resources. Keywords: José Martí; La Exposición de París; Ekphrasis; Periegesis; Enárgeia.
Author: Aderaldo, Marisa
Institution: Universidade Estadual do Ceará
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225796097
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