Kategoria BISAC: Language Arts & Disciplines >> Rhetoric

In Metaphors of Genre, David Fishelov demonstrates the important role played by analogies in genre theory and provides a critical presentation of four specific analogies that permeate modern genre theory: the biological analogy, the family "metaphor," the institutional perspective, and the "speech act" analogy. While making a critical presentation of the existing theories, Fishelov offers new perspectives and hypotheses within each analogy. The discussion in each case is accompanied with an analysis of some examples from the generic tradition most readily lending itself to that...

Contemporary or postmodern thought is based on the lack of foundation. The impossibility of having a principle for philosophy has become a position of principle. As a result, rhetoric has taken over. Content has given way to the priority of form. Michel Meyer's book aims at showing that philosophy as foundational is possible and necessary, and that rhetoric can flourish alongside, but the conception of reason must be changed. Questioning rather than answering must be considered as the guiding principle.

What the author calls "problematology" is not only the study of questioning but...

Despite a growing emphasis on relationship studies in interpersonal communication, serious attention to the conceptual meaning of relationship has been limited. The purpose of this volume is to explore the meaning and use of relationship in interpersonal communication studies. The contributors to this volume, representatives of related, but differing perspectives, outline definitional boundaries and conceptual implications of the term stemming from their particular ontological and epistemological approaches. This volume provides an engaging and provocative examination of relationship by...

Einhorn, a rhetorical scholar, explores the rich history of the Native American oral tradition, focusing on stories, orations, prayers, and songs. Because American Indians existed without written language for many generations, their culture was strongly dependent on an oral tradition for continuity and preservation. Not surprisingly, they spent many hours perfecting the art of oral communication and learning methods for committing their messages to memory. Einhorn thoroughly examines the important aspects of this unique oral tradition from a rhetorical perspective, covering individual...

Kuypers, King, and their contributors explore the conception of rhetoric of eleven key American rhetoricians through analyses of their life's work. Each chapter provides a sense of that scholar's conception of rhetoric, be it through criticism, theory, or teaching. The communication discipline often highlights the work of others outside the discipline; however, it rarely acclaims the work of its own critics, teachers, and theorists. In this collection, the essays explore the innate mode of perception that guided the rhetorical understanding of the early critics. In so doing, this work...

The only modern collection of speeches by southerners on the themes that have shaped the history and culture of the region, this anthology, which spans eighty tumultuous years of southern history, reflects the strategies of southern orators as they attempted to defend the indefensible, as well as those few who advocated a more compassionate South. Southern leaders were judged largely by their oratorical ability and their skills in defending the southern way of life. Accordingly, they placed much emphasis on developing consummate rhetorical skills. Thus, one can read the history of the...

Scholarly considerations of the relationship between the United States government and Native Americans have largely ignored the rhetoric utilized by both in the course of their ongoing conflicts. This fascinating new study concentrates on the persuasive and public strategies of both government and Indian leaders, focusing on the written and oral records of several key episodes in American history. This approach, which author Janice Schuetz calls rhetorical ancestry reveals the ways in which government and Indian spokespersons have constituted and defined issues; created, prolonged, and...

Brummett explores the ways people use three key terms--reality, representation, and simulation--as rhetorical devices with political and social effect. Human perception, language, and aesthetics experiences are the bases for the fluidity among these terms. Each term's rhetoric is illustrated in an analysis of texts in popular culture: William Gibson's novels, the usenet group rec.motorcycles, and the film Groundhog Day.

Brummett explores the ways people use three key terms--reality, representation, and simulation--as rhetorical devices with political and social effect....

Key imperial and royal courts--in Han, Tang, and Song dynasty China; medieval and renaissance Europe; and Heian and Muromachi Japan--are examined in this comparative and interdisciplinary volume as loci of power and as entities that establish, influence, or counter the norms of a larger society. Contributions by twelve scholars are organized into sections on the rhetoric of persuasion, taste, communication, gender, and natural nobility. Writing from the perspectives of literature, history, and philosophy, the authors examine the use and purpose of rhetoric in their respective...

John Middleton Murry (1889-1957) played an important part in the English literary scene. In these lectures delivered at Oxford over fifty years ago he attempted to define writing style.

Richard Leeman analyzes the possible discursive responses to terrorism, prescribing democratic rhetoric as the most strategic counterterrorist response available. He examines counterterrorism as a response to terrorism, considering each side as one-half of a dialogue. Given the inherently anti-democratic nature of terroristic discourse, he hypothesizes that the best discursive strategy is to shift the dialogue to different grounds, i.e., to use democratic rhetoric.

As a test of his hypothesis, the author considers the responses of the Reagan and Nixon administrations to acts of...

This long-needed sourcebook assesses the unique styles and themes of notable African-American orators from the mid-19th century to the present--of 43 representative public speakers, from W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson to Barbara Jordan and Thurgood Marshall. The critical analyses of the oratory of a broad segment of different types of public speakers demonstrate how they have stressed the historical search for freedom, upheld American ideals while condemning discriminatory practices against African-Americans, and have spoken in behalf of...