RECENT HANDOUTS, IMPORTANT DATES & WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Recent Handbouts (click item to download a .pdf file)
- K. Burke, "The Rhetoric of Hitler's 'Battle'" (via my Box account)
- K. Burke's "The Rhetoric of Hitler's 'Battle'": Bibliographical, Historical, and Text Notes
- A. Hitler, Mein Kampf (trans. used by Burke; via my Box account)
- 1939 New York Times unsigned review of Mein Kampf translation (via my Box account)
- K. Burke, "Five Master Terms" (via my Box account)
- "Five Master Terms": An Introduction to Kenneth Burke's "Motivorum" Project
IMPORTANT DATES
Formal Papers
- Paper 1: Thu, Sep 25
- Paper 2: Thu, Oct 30
- Final Paper: Fri, Dec 05
Exam
- Final Exam: Tue, Dec 09, 3:30-5:30
Other Important Dates
- Last day to drop without a grade: Sep 07
- Last day to drop with "W": Oct 29
- Last day of classes: Wed, Dec 03
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
UNIT I. WHAT SHOULD WE REGARD AS "RHETORICAL"
In our society, we are most likely to see and hear the word rhetoric used to characterize political uses of language. But the idea of rhetoric, throughout its long history, also has been used to talk about other uses of language, including religious sermons, letter writing, and literature. So we will start the semester by becoming acquainted with what rhetorical scholars look for in political language. But we will soon find that some rhetorical scholars believe that the idea of rhetoric should be extended to uses of language other than political speeches, including literature; moreover, we will find some scholars arguing that rhetoric should be extended to non-verbal acts, including bombings. We will conclude this first unit by examining an exchange between two influential rhetorical theorists on the question of whether or not literature should be regarded as rhetorical.
WEEK 1 (Aug 26-28)
Session 1 (Tue, Aug 26)
Required Readings (in class)
- White House transcripts of President Clinton's remarks on the Oklahoma City bombing (handout)
- Excerpts from H-RHETOR discussion of Clinton's remarks (handout)
Session 2 (Thu, Aug 28)
Required Readings
- Is Bombing a "Rhetorical" Act? (handout)
WEEK 2 (Sep 02-04)
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02) - Introduction to the Theory of Rhetoric: Bitzer's "The Rhetorical Situation"
Required Readings
- An Introduction to Rhetorical Theory: Bitzer's "The Rhetorical Situation" w/ G. W. Bush, Address to Nation on the Terrorist Attacks (Sep 11, 2001)
- L. Bitzer, "The Rhetorical Situation" [JSTOR]
Session 4 (Thu, Sep 04) - The Rhetoric of Public Memorials
Required Readings
- Death and Rhetoric: An Introduction to the Role of Funeral Oratory in the History of Rhetoric
- Donovan J. Ochs, "Death and Its Effects"
- Bill Clinton, "Remarks at a Memorial Service for the Bombing Victims in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (April 23, 1995)"
- George W. Bush, "Remarks at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance Service (September 14, 2001)"
WEEK 3 (Sep 09-11) - What Is the Scope of Rhetoric? The Place of the Public Eulogy
Session 5 (Tue, Sep 09)
Required Readings
- Abraham Lincoln, "The Gettysburg Address"
- Garry Wills, "Oratory of the Greek Revival" (via my Box account)
- Pericles' Funeral Oration (via my Box account)
- Plato, Menexenus (via my Box account)
Session 6 (Thu Sep 11)
Required Readings
- Simon Stow, "Pericles at Gettysburg and Ground Zero: Tragedy, Patriotism, and Public Mourning," American Political Science Review 101, no. 2 (2007): 195-208. JSTOR. Web. (via Walker)
WEEK 4 (Sep 17) - Is Literature a Type of Rhetoric? The Burke-Howell Exchange
Session 7 (Tue, Sep 16)
Required Readings
- K. Burke, "The Psychology of Form" (via my Box account)
- W. S. Howell, "Kenneth Burke's 'Lexicon Rhetoricae': A Critical Examination" (via my Box account)
Session 8 (Thu, Sep 18)
- K. Burke and W. S. Howell, "Colloquy," Quarterly Journal of Speech 62, no. 1 (1976): 62-77. Communication and Mass Media Complete. Web. (via Walker)
UNIT II. RHETORIC AND CIVIC DISCOURSE
We continue our inquiry into the use of the term rhetoric by focusing on its most common conception in the West: rhetoric as the art of political, or civic discourse. We will have begun such an examination early in the semester by becoming acquainted with the concerns raised by rhetorical scholars in response to President Clinton's remarks on the bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City. But now we will begin to acquire an historical perspective by reading the most influential work in rhetorical theory, Aristotle's Rhetorica. In reading Aristotle, we will also raise the question of what social conditions brought about an interest in civic discourse in ancient Greece; that is, why did Aristotle bother to write on rhetoric? We then jump forward to the twentieth century to examine a modern attempt to theorize the rhetorical dimension of civic discourse, Lloyd Bitzer's "The Rhetorical Situation." Finally, we return to the classical tradition to consider how training in civic discourse became central to classical education and how the revival of classical culture in the renaissance reinforced the role of rhetoric in the humanist philosophy of education.
UNIT III. RHETORIC AND PHILOSOPHY
During this section of the semester, we will focus on the essential relationship between rhetoric and philosophy, beginning with Plato's invention of philosophy as a way of life in opposition to the politics and rhetoric of public life (Gorgias). We will then explore how the relationship between rhetoric and philosophy becomes more complicated in Plato's Phaedrus, which raises issues about the relationship between rhetoric and ethics. With this background, we will turn our attention to modern considerations of the rhetoric-philosophy relationship, including theories of the rhetorical nature of knowledge, theories of the rhetorical nature of meaning, and theories of the rhetorical nature of human existence.
WEEK 5 (Sep 24): The Conflict between Philosophy and Rhetoric: Plato's Gorgias
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Readings
- Gorgias, "Encomium of Helen" in Aristotle, On Rhetoric (283-88)
- Plato, Gorgias
Recommeded Readings
- T. Conley, "The Teaching of the 'Sophists'" in Rhetoric in the European Tradition (RET)
- ---, "Plato" in RET
- J. H. Nichols, "The Rhetoric of Justice in Plato's Gorgias" in Gorgias
- J. Comas, "Philosophy of Rhetoric" in The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition [r] and http://www.mtsu.edu/~jcomas/rhetoric/philrhet.html
WEEK 6 (Oct 01): Rhetoric and Ethics: Plato's Phaedrus
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Reading
- Plato, Phaedrus
Recommeded Reading
- J. H. Nichols, "The Rhetoric of Love and Learning in Plato's Phaedrus" in Phaedrus
WEEK 7 (Oct 08): Rhetoric as a Theory of Meaning and as a Theory of Knowledge
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Readings
- F. Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lying in an Extra-Moral Sense" [p]
- F. Nietzsche, "Lecture Notes on Rhetoric" [p]
- R. L. Scott, "On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic" [p]
Recommeded Reading
- R. L. Scott, "On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic: Ten Years Later" [r]
WEEK 8 (Oct 15): An Ontological Theory of Rhetoric: Burke's A Rhetoric of Motives
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Reading
- K. Burke, "Five Master Terms" [p]
- ---, Part I of A Rhetoric of Motives
Recommended Reading
- K. K. Campbell, "The Ontological Foundations of Rhetorical Theory" [p]
WEEK 9 (Oct 22): Burke's Concept of Rhetorical Identification and Rhetoric Addressed to the Self
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Reading
- K. Burke, Part I of A Rhetoric of Motives
- H. Mead, excerpt from Mind, Self and Society [p]
Written Assignment
Paper 2
UNIT IV. RHETORIC AND LITERATURE
In the preceding unit, we saw how rhetoric has been defined in terms of its relation to philosophy. In this section, we will focus on a similar mode of defining rhetoric, this time in its relation to literature. Is literature "rhetorical"? We will begin with an exchange on this basic issue, involving Kenneth Burke and a historian of rhetoric, Wilber Samuel Howell. We will then explore several specific ways in which literary theorists have argued for a rhetorical dimension of literature.
WEEK 10 (Oct 29): Rhetoric and Literature - Tropes & Figures
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Readings
- Aristotle, On Rhetoric, Bk III
- ---, [Word choice and metaphor] from Aristotle's Poetics, in On Rhetoric ()
- Vico, "Prolegomenon" and "Poetic Logic" from The New Science [p]
- K. Burke, "Four Master Tropes"
Recommeded Reading
- P. Ricoeur, "Between Rhetoric and Poetics: Aristotle" in The Rule of Metaphor (r)
WEEK 11 (Nov 05): Tropes, Literature, & Culture: Contemporary Applications
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Reading
- H. Bloom, "Poetry, Revisionism, Repression" [p]
- H. L. Gates, Jr, "The "Blackness of Blackness": A Critique of the Sign and the Signifying Monkey" [p]
WEEK 12 (Nov 12): Rhetorical Theories of Narrative
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Reading
- J. Phelan, "Narrative as Rhetoric: Reading the Spells of Porter's 'Magic'" [p]
- S. Fish, "Rhetoric" [p]
- W. Booth, "General Rules, III: 'True Art Ignores the Audience'," from The Rhetoric of Fiction [p]
WEEK 13 (Nov 19)
UNIT V: RHETORIC AND THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE (REVISITED): FOUCAULT AND STRAUSS
Although there may not be a singular definition of rhetoric, it is undeniable that the term has been associated, since its inception in Plato's Gorgias, with the political use of language. I think it appropriate, then, to conclude the semester with a set of contemporary readings that treat, from different perspectives, the relationship between politics and the uses of language. First, we will consider Michel Foucault, whose writings, arguably, have exercised more influence on North-American rhetoricians during the past 25 years than the work of any other intellectual. We will read the most programmatic of his post-1968 writings, his 1970 inaugural address to the Collège de France, "The Order of Discourse."
Second, we will consider Leo Strauss's 1952 essay "Persecution and the Art of Writing." I hope it will prove productive to juxtapose Foucault and Struass since both are concerned with political oppression but approach differently the ways in which past writers have used language in the face of such oppression. In addition, this juxtaposition may prove interesting since Foucault wrote from a pronounced leftist perspective and Strauss wrote from a perspective that is typically regarded as conservative and that, more recently, has been associated with the American neo-conservative movement.
In selecting these three texts, I also want to take advantage of the fact that each writer occupies a different status in contemporary rhetoric studies. As I mentioned above, Foucault has been enormously influential, and his "Order of Discourse" has been granted canonical status. On the other hand, Leo Strauss's writings are rarely considered by rhetoricians, even though his work is largely in the history of political philosophy, a realm of history that certainly overlaps the history of rhetoric. It is likely that various reasons account for the relative absence of interest in Strauss's work among contemporary rhetoricians; however, a reason that should not be left unspoken is Strauss's political reputation, which we will consider during our final class session.
WEEK 14 (Nov 26): Two Views of the Relationship of Language and Politics: Foucault and Strauss
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Readings
- Michel Foucault, "The Order of Discourse" (photocopy)
- Leo Strauss, "Persecution and the Art of Writing" (photocopy)
Recommended Readings
- Barbara Biesecker, "Michel Foucault and the Question of Rhetoric" (photocopy)
- Robert Howse, "Reading Between the Lines: Exotericism, Esotericism, and the Philosophical Rhetoric of Leo Strauss" (photocopy)
WEEK 15 (Dec 03): Rhetoric and the War on Terror
Session 3 (Tue, Sep 02)
Required Readings
- Barbara A. Biesecker, "No Time for Mourning: The Rhetorical Production of the Melancholic Citizen-Subject in the War on Terror" (photocopy)
- Nicholas Xenos, "Leo Strauss and the Rhetoric of the War on Terror," (photocopy)
