Daz man bild mit bilden us tribe. Imagery and Knowledge of God in Henry Suso’s Exemplar
(2017) Speculum : a journal of Medieval studies — Vol. 92, p. 447-492 (2017)
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- In his Exemplar (the famous compilation of his German texts that is extant in several manuscripts and printed copies, some of them illustrated with the same iconographical programme), Henry Suso (c. 1295-1366) develops a complex reflection on the role of images in mystical experience and discourse, and notably on their capacity to express the ineffable nature of God. This image theory relies on a rich vocabulary based on the term bild and its derivatives (entbilden, überbilden, bildgebend, bildlos…), but also on a key phrase (Daz man bild mit bilden ûs tribe – “Driving out images with images”). This phrase has been much debated, but it still requires reconsideration. Taking Suso’s image theory as its starting point, this article sheds new light on the figural dimension and strategies of the Exemplar, as expressed in both text and images. It first demonstrates that Suso offers a twofold image theory: on the one hand, he makes explicit the essential place occupied by images in the process of mystical transformation. On the other, he develops – in a more unusual way – a metadiscourse on images, which states their utility as instruments of knowledge and emphasises the effectiveness of figurative discourse and images in order to capture what lies beyond images. Secondly, the article shows that the drawings visually express (or implement) this theory by using a strategy that consists of depicting Eternal Wisdom as a changing and multiple figure. As a representation of God (that is, of the unrepresentable), Wisdom appears as the lieu plastique where Suso’s thought on images unfolds.
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Falque, I. (2017). Daz man bild mit bilden us tribe. Imagery and Knowledge of God in Henry Suso’s Exemplar. Speculum : a journal of Medieval studies, 92, 447-492. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/61671 (Original work published 2017)