The nature, morphology and functions of gestures, manners and postures as documented by creative literature

The aim of this article is to show how the creative literatures of the different cultures offer kinesic researchers a reliable and virtually inexhaustible corpus of documentation which can enrich kinesic research by contributing to a detailed morphological and functional taxonomy of visual behaviors. Furthermore, besides its theoretical and methodological implications, this perspective suggests the interdisciplinary consequences and additional research avenues derived from this use of literature (further susceptible of being complemented by data found in the representational arts, particularly painting and the better book illustrations) in the study of people’s communicative movements and positions within areas like semiotics, anthropology, sociology and psychology.