Name: Doug Belshaw's review of A History of Ambiguity by Anthony Ossa-Richardson
Item: A History of Ambiguity
Rating: 3
Author: Doug Belshaw

Anthony Ossa-Richardson

Ever since it was first published in 1930, William Empson’s Seven Types of Ambiguity has been perceived as a milestone in literary criticism—far from being an impediment to communication, ambiguity now seemed an index of poetic richness and expressive power. Little, however, has been written on the broader trajectory of Western thought about ambiguity before Empson; as a result, the nature of his innovation has been poorly understood. A History of Ambiguity remedies this omission. Starting with classical grammar and rhetoric, and moving on to moral theology, law, biblical exegesis, German philosophy, and literary criticism, Anthony Ossa-Richardson explores the many ways in which readers and theorists posited, denied, conceptualised, and argued over the existence of multiple meanings in texts between antiquity and the twentieth century. This process took on a variety of interconnected forms, from the Renaissance delight in the ‘elegance’ of ambiguities in Horace, through the extraordinary Catholic claim that Scripture could contain multiple literal—and not just allegorical—senses, to the theory of dramatic irony developed in the nineteenth century, a theory intertwined with discoveries of the double meanings in Greek tragedy. Such narratives are not merely of antiquarian interest: rather, they provide an insight into the foundations of modern criticism, revealing deep resonances between acts of interpretation in disparate eras and contexts. A History of Ambiguity lays bare the long tradition of efforts to liberate language, and even a poet’s intention, from the strictures of a single meaning.

A History of Ambiguity

Doug Belshaw

I confess to only scan-reading the chapters — and, indeed skipping over whole pages — where the author goes into detail on the history of biblical hermeneutics.

This book is excellent towards the start and end but, inbetween is one of *those* books. You know, the ones with 150 references per chapter, needless use of words that (even with a terminal degree) you have to lookup, and untranslated quotations introducing each chapter.

Although it is "a" history of ambiguity, I do think that any proper examination would have to at least attempt a discussion of ambiguity in the visual arts.

I confess to only scan-reading the chapters — and, indeed skipping over whole pages — where the author goes into detail on the history of biblical hermeneutics.

This book is excellent towards the start and end but, inbetween is one of *those* books. You know, the ones with 150 references per chapter, needless use of words that (even with a terminal degree) you have to lookup, and untranslated quotations introducing each chapter.

Although it is "a" history of ambiguity, I do think that any proper examination would have to at least attempt a discussion of ambiguity in the visual arts.

Doug Belshaw &
A History of Ambiguity by Anthony Ossa-Richardson

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Doug Belshaw &A History of Ambiguity by Anthony Ossa-Richardson

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Doug Belshaw &
A History of Ambiguity by Anthony Ossa-Richardson