Den fantastiske ­retorik. Jesuitten Nogheras forsvar for retorikken med et perspektiv til Vico

Abstract

This article presents the almost forgotten work on Christian and secular eloquence by the Italian Jesuit and professor of eloquence, Giovambattista Noghera (1719-1784): Della moderna eloquenza sacra e del moderno stile profano, e sacro, ragionamenti di Giovambattista Noghera della Compagnia di Gesù (Venezia: Stamperia Remondini 1753). Noghera was a prolific writer, and his collected works were published posthumously in 18 volumes. His work on Christian rhetoric and eloquence, adressed to his students in Milan and Vienna, is a vigorous and and creative attempt at updating the tradition of Christian rhetoric. Apart from expanding the canon used for imitation with secular literature, science and philosophy, Noghera defends rhetoric by appealing to the role of fantasy in human cognition and communication. Though never mentioning Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), he argues in favour of rhetoric in similar ways, stressing the importance of rhetoric in education and in the formation of citizenship. While Noghera still adheres to classical rhetoric, Vico develops this tradition into an original theory of culture in The New Science