Henry
Limouze
Spring
1998
Thursdays 7:00-9:50
(All readings from Bizzell and Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition, unless otherwise noted) April 2 What is rhetoric? A few attempts at defining the term General Introduction, 1-15 Aristotle, Rhetoric, I, 144-58 Quintilian, 293-297, Institutes (Book II, ch. 14-17), 318-329 Blair, 796-7, Lecture XXV, 818-822 Perelman, 1066-1068, The Realm of Rhetoric, 1072-1077 April 9 Structures of argument Aristotle, Rhetoric, II, 179-194 Cicero, 195-199, De Oratore, II, 232-246 Quintilian, Inst. (II, ch. 1-4), 297-307 Campbell, 746-749, Philosophy of Rhet., ch. V, 755-760 Whately, 828-831, Elements of Rhet., ch. III, 846-858 Compositionists (Day, Bain, Hill, & Hill), 859-884 Toulmin, Uses of Argument, 1104-1122 From Lanham, A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms, read the following articles: Rhetoric (131); Dialectic (50); Dissoi Logoi (57); Declamatio (44); Progymnasmata (120); Elenchus (62); Enthymeme (65); Decorum (45); Thesis (150); Topics (152); Exposition (75); Definition (47); Proof (121); Fallacy (77) April 16 Rhetorical approaches to style Anon., Rhetorica ad Herennium (Bk. IV), 251-292 Erasmus, De Copia, 499-524 Blair, Lecture XIV, 810-818 From Lanham: Figures of Rhetoric (78); Difficult Ornament (54); Trope (154); Amplificatio (8); Auxesis (26); Allegory (4); Zeugma (159); Homoioteleuton (83); Irony (92); Pun (126); Significatio (138); Enallage (62); Proverb (124); Period (112); Ciceronian Style (35); Senecan Style (136); Vices of Language (157); Euphuism (72), among others April 23 Persuasion and style Aristotle, Rhetoric, II, 160-178 Campbell, Philos. of Rhet., VII-X, 771-795 Blair, Lecture XXXII, 822-827 Burke, Grammar of Motives, 989-1018 Exercises on Style Due April 30 Rhetoric and ethics Gorgias, Encomium of Helen, 38-42 Plato, Gorgias, 55-72 Cicero, De Oratore, II, 200-211 Quintilian, Inst., XII, 346-363 Weaver, "Language is Sermonic," 1042-1054 Prospectus for Paper Due May 7 Rhetoric and Truth--I Plato, Phaedrus, 113-143 Augustine, De Doctrina (Bk. IV), 381-422 Bacon, Novum Organum, 631-633 May 14 Rhetoric and "truth"--II Vico, "On the Study Methods of our Time," 711-727 Nietzsche, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense," 885-896 Bakhtin, 924-963 Burke, "Terministic Screens," 1034-1041 May 21 Other voices, other rhetorics--I Foucault, "The Order of Discourse," 1154-1164 Derrida, "Signature Event Context," 1165-1184 May 28 Other voices, other rhetorics--II Christine de Pisan and Laura Cereta, 483-498 Margaret Fell and Sarah Grimke, 670-696 Helene Cixous and Julia Kristeva, 1224-1266 June 4 Rhetoric and composition Handouts--Paper Due June 11 Possible class, if needed--Exam Due
Text: Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, eds. The
Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical
Times to the Present. Boston: St. Martin's.
1990.
Richard A. Lanham. A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms.
2nd ed. Berkeley: U California P, 1991.
Handouts
Online Guide, "Style: A Starting List of Schemes and Tropes"
Requirements:
Style Exercise 15%
Group Presentation in class on a reading (see below) 15%
Final long paper (c. 10 pages, open topic); prospectus
due April 30; paper due June 4 35%
Rhetoric discussion group 15%
Final take-home essay exam, due June 11 15%
Attendance and Participation 5%
Group Presentations Each class member will belong to a group of two or three persons responsible for presenting one of the readings to the class. Presentations can vary, and each group should work to its strengths, especially in deciding to use particular teaching styles, visual aids, handouts, etc. Whatever approach it adopts, each group should try to help us understand the reading by giving us information about subjects like its authorship, intellectual background, philosophical and rhetorical assumptions, sources, and/or importance in the history of rhetorical thought. Presentations should be polished, professional, and expert. I encourage groups to be imaginative and resourceful in their presentation of information and to involve the class in lively and interesting discussion of their topics. I will evaluate the presentations on the depth and accuracy of their content and research and on the degree to which they engage the class. Where more than one writer is named, the group should decide on one, not try to cover all. (Selections should be made by April 16.) Here is the schedule of presentations: April 23 Group 1 Kenneth Burke April 30 Group 2 The Sophists May 7 Group 3 Augustine May 14 Group 4 Vico or Nietzsche or Bakhtin May 21 Group 5 Foucault or Derrida May 28 Group 6 Feminist rhetorical theory [June 4 Group 7 (if needed) Toulmin or Gates or a modern application] Rhetoric Discussion Group [newsgroup: "wright.eng.english711-01"] I have created an online newsgroup for this class. This group will take the place of a journal for the course. CATS will set you up with a student computing account, if you don't already have one. The help desk in the library basement has instruction sheets for newsgroup use. You will want to read the postings regularly, at least twice a week. Use the newsgroup to converse weekly (or more frequently) with your classmates about the week's reading and discussion, to note relationships among readings, to raise questions, confusions or concerns, to argue points we can't always get to in class, or to alert the rest of us to an interesting find in your research/outside reading. One useful approach might be to quote a passage from one of the week's readings and frame a discussion around it. Another would be to describe a real-world situation in which you observed or experienced rhetoric at work. Sometimes I will suggest a discussion topic. Mostly, though, the newsgroup is your forum. In order to receive a grade of C for newsgroup participation you will need to make 4 substantive postings, either raising and following up on an issue for discussion or responding in depth to an ongoing discussion. A grade of B requires 7 substantive postings, while a grade of A requires 10 substantive postings. Do not put your newsgroup participation off until the end of the quarter. I will count no more than two entries in each of the final three weeks of the course, so if you want an A for the newsgroup discussion section of the course, you will need to post at least four substantive messages during weeks one through seven. Start early and post often! Attendance and Participation Your active participation in every aspect of this course is crucial to your success in it and to the success of your classmates and of the course as a whole. You must be present to participate, so attendance will be important. However, participation goes beyond merely "showing up" and pertains to both small group and whole class discussion. I will be looking for frequent meaningful and thoughtful comments, insightful and thought-provoking questions, and pertinent information from your experience and from other courses and readings. A greater-than- minimum involvement in our electronic discussion group can also help here; I will give some participation credit to those class members who are active posters and replyers on the newsgroup. Thought and language are the subject matter of this course, so show the class your thought through your language. Final Paper The final paper in rhetoric is not expected to be inordinately long by graduate school standards--approximately 10 pages of text (a minimum of 8), typed, double spaced, and appropriately formatted and documented (correctly using APA or MLA format). The normal standards of writing competence and effectiveness at the graduate level in English studies will naturally be applied to these papers, so please edit and proofread carefully, and please try to give yourself enough time to write and revise a substantial paper by planning ahead and budgeting your time. "Last-minute" papers, often attended by last-minute computer crashes or printing problems, are unnecessarily stressful for all concerned, and rarely yield high-quality work. The topic is open to any subject in the field of rhetoric, its history, its theory, its applications and/or implications. Successful papers in the past have run the gamut--they have included the rhetorical study of the style of a famous writer or orator (or of a single speech or literary work), the exploration of ancient and modern rhetorical theory with the purpose of developing a feminist rhetoric, the study of the relation of rhetorical theory with interpretative and/or linguistic theory, the comparison of ancient rhetorical pedagogy with the modern teaching of composition, and many others. There are very good bibliographical resources in our textbooks, and many good topics could be suggested by your reading of the primary texts or the introductions. You are limited only by your imagination. To develop your topic and get a jump on your research early, you should prepare a prospectus for this paper, due in class on April 30. A prospectus is a tentative preliminary statement of the working hypothesis of the paper, together with a discussion of the likely direction you plan to develop it. The prospectus will give us a chance to see what you are planning to work on; it will require you to begin the planning process while there's still time to find adequate resources (through Ohiolink or whatever); and it will give you the opportunity to benefit from our preliminary response as you develop your paper. Your prospectus should be written in the form of a short essay, at least one page long (250 words); it should state the topic and outline the likely arguments in support of your thesis; it may also (but does not have to) suggest the final paper's organization. It should be accompanied by a tentative bibliography, also one page long, of the major sources (at least five) you plan to consult for the paper. The paper will be graded as follows: Prospectus meets minimal standards, on time -- 10% (5% if it is late--up to 1 week) Paper due June 4 by 7:00 p.m. -- 90% Note that a paper with no prospectus (or with a prospectus more than one week late) can get a grade no higher than a B+. Any prospectus which is on time and meets minimal standards for length, bibliography, and coverage will automatically get full credit. The paper itself is due 7:00 p.m. on June 4. I will deduct 5% of the grade (1/2 of a letter grade) for each weekday it is late. Please see me if you have any questions about this assignment. Instructor: Henry Limouze Office: 438 Millett Hours: M-F 12-2 & by appt. Phone: 775-2093 (or 3136) email: henry.limouze@wright.edu webpage: http://hypatia.wright.edu/Dept/ENG/limouze/limou.htm newsgroup: wright.eng.english711-01
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