Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Galdós's Segunda Manera: Rhetorical Strategies And Affective Response, Linda M. Willem

Butler University Books

This book explores the change that occurred in the writings of Spanish novelist Benito Pérez Galdós when he entered his segunda manera in 1881 with the publication of La desberedada, his first contemporary novel. By studying his novels in light of how their stories are told, Linda Willem shows that La desberedada marks the beginning of a more sophisticated and varied mode of narrative presentation in Galdós's work. Through close readings of his first seven contemporary novels, Willem shows how the affective response associated with various narrative devices plays a role in the rhetorical strategies of each text.

On The Idea Of Reflexive Rhetoric In Homer, Mari Lee Mifsud Jr.

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

When Henry Johnstone and I translated this passage, we wondered to what extent we could say that Odysseus persuades himself to endure. Is Odysseus involved in self-persuasion, what Johnstone has termed reflexive rhetoric, when he deliberates? Answering this question led us to explore related questions such as, does Odysseus have a "self" to which his deliberation/persuasion can be addressed? If so, how do we know that Odysseus actually persuades himself when he deliberates? If Odysseus does persuade himself, can we say he practices rhetoric on himself? Can we even talk of rhetoric in Homer? Through this essay, I wish …

The Legal Characterization Of Moses In The Rhetoric Of The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The force of law depends on the authority of its promulgator. Self-characterizations by lawgivers play a vital role in persuading hearers and readers to accept law and in motivating them to obey it. Pentateuchal laws therefore join narratives in characterizing law-speakers as part of a rhetoric of persuasion. They present, however, two speakers of law, one divine (YHWH) and the other human (Moses). I will show that this dual voicing of pentateuchal law has two effects: it restricts Deuteronomy's prophetic characterization of Moses to the narrower definition of prophecy presented in the previous books, while it uses Moses' scribal role …

Rhetorical Knowledge In Legal Practice And Theory, Francis J. Mootz Iii

Scholarly Works

Rhetorical Knowledge in Legal Practice and Critical Legal Theory has just been published by the University of Alabama Press as part of its series, Rhetoric, Culture and Social Critique. My central themes are that rhetorical knowledge - however imperfectly pursued and attained - is a feature of social life; that rhetorical knowledge plays an important role in legal practice; and that legal critique is appropriately grounded by the normative injunction to maximize the generation of and reliance on rhetorical knowledge in the administration of justice by legal actors. If nothing else, I want to make clear that by recovering and …

Epideictic Rhetoric And The Formation Of Collective Identity: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Women In Praise Of Polygamy, Robbyn Thompson Scribner

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will proceed as follows: my first chapter will be a general overview of epideictic rhetoric, focusing on the limitations of how it has traditionally been viewed and understood by theorists. At the end of that chapter I will establish a working definition of epideictic which extends traditional views about how epideictic can function in certain types of writings, focusing on the important role of the speaker in epideictic rhetoric and how it can work in enabling a community to create a collective identity. In the remainder of the thesis, I will analyze two texts in which …

The Legal Characterization Of God In The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The Pentateuch develops God's character in stories of divine creation and destruction, promise and fulfillment, battle and redemption. The laws of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers supplement such direct characterization by the impressions provided by YHWH's speech. Speeches always indirectly characterize their speaker by providing the basis for inferring the kind of person who talks this way. So the law codes voiced directly by God provide a powerful impression of the divine character.

Barbara Mcclintock's Socio-Epistemic Discourse And The Canonization Of Transposition In The Genetics' Literature, Christina Ann Dill

Theses Digitization Project

This analysis of scientific writing defines the generic experimental article as socio-epistemic discourse in terms of Charles Bazerman's empirical, social, and literary contraints for scientific activity. Such analysis provides answers to specific questions concerning conflicts between individual rhetorical practices and collaborative knowledge construction in science as claims and new concepts are evaluated.

Epistemic Rhetoric: Its History And Influences, R. Bradley Mcclanahan

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Public Readings And Pentateuchal Law, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

References to reading are remarkably sparse in the Hebrew Bible. Though the variety of forms and styles in the biblical books attests an ancient literary culture in Israel, there is little explicit mention of reading prophecy and virtually no references to reading hymns or history. Most references to reading portray the reading of law.

Such references provide valuable insights into how the Pentateuch's writers expected their work to be read. Reading expectations make up the components of genre and shape the conventions used by writers to compose their works. Thus accounts of law readings also illulllinate the ancient literary conventions …

Rhetorical Strategy In The Composition Of The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The Hebrew Bible rarely depicts the reading of books or documents, but when it does, it usually portrays public readings of entire law codes. Whether by Moses, Joshua, Josiah or Ezra, law readings to public assemblies play prominent roles in various biblical books. It is not my intention in this essay to discuss Israel's tradition of law readings in depth, but rather to explore its implications for the form of Israel's extant laws as found in the Pentateuch. The tradition of public law readings points out the rhetorical function of law in ancient Israel. The accounts of readings depict these …

Slavery Rhetoric And The Abortion Debate, Debora Threedy

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

There are many things that could be, and have been, said about the question of abortion. This article focuses on the rhetoric of the abortion debate. Specifically, I discuss how both sides of the abortion debate have appropriated the image of the slave and used that image as a rhetorical tool, a metaphor, in making legal arguments. Further, I examine the effectiveness of this metaphor as a rhetorical tool. Finally, I question the purposes behind this appropriation, and whether it reflects a lack of sensitivity to the racial content of the appropriated image.

Contemporary Applications Of Classical Ethos, Sheri L. Helsley

English Theses & Dissertations

Ethos is a term from classical Greek rhetoric which, in its contemporary uses and translations, has a wide variety of meanings. Given the multitude and diversity of interpretations and contexts of ethos and other concepts from classical Greek rhetoric, contemporary scholars give serious attention to the relevance of ethos in a wide range of academic areas.

This thesis first explores a portion of the many interpretations of ethos offered by scholars from classical Greece to the present. These definitions are then applied to three areas of contemporary importance in scholarly and pedagogical work: ethos and its relevance to writers, ethos …

Basic Writers, Oral Strategies, And The Writing Process, Deborah Ann Johnson

Theses Digitization Project

Linguistic research (differences and similarities between spoken and written language) -- Features of production (coordinating conjunctions, hedges, neuter pronouns, collocations, etc.) -- Features of interaction (personal pronouns, hyperbole, emphatics) -- Textual analysis evaluation -- Comparison of written words, oral features, and essay grades or scores received.

The Narrative Persona Of Martin Amis: A Transitional Stylistic Bridge Between Postmodernism And New Journalism, Janice Arlene Kollitz

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Modern Rhetoric/Ancient Realities, James Walsh Friedenbach

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

"Words Moving Secretly Toward Some Goal Of Their Own": The Rhetorical Use Of The "As If" In The Fiction Of Flannery O’Connor, Kellie Renee Rayburn

Theses Digitization Project

In an effort to reach readers who do not share her strict Roman Catholic beliefs, Flannery O'Connor employs a number of persuasive devices. Prominent among those devices is her rhetorical use of the "as if" construction. As a theoretical joining of the "reality" of this world with the "unknown" of the supernatural, the "as if" introduces "mystery," a vital part of the reader's experience with any of O'Connor's fictional works. By closely examining O'Connor's various uses of the construction in her short stories, the "as if's" differing effects on the reader become apparent. These effects are further demonstrated by a …

Figures Of Speech And Political Manipulations: The Scapegoating Of The Monarch In Thomas Paines's Common Sense, Katherine Wesley Abu-Shabakeh

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

Sir Winston S. Churchill: An Examination Of Style, Curtis Woodrow Stark Ii

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

The Decline Of The Written Word, William Safire

The Courier

Part of a commencement speech delivered by William Safire to the graduating class of 1978 at Syracuse University, William Safire bemoans the state of rhetoric and the written word, chastising not only the White House but society at large. He argues attention spans have steadily waned over the years, with popular culture filling the void where intellectual discourse used to exist.

An Analysis Of The Speaking Style Of Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Leader, James Francis O'Connor

Theses and Dissertations

The primary function of this thesis was to determine, through the analysis of three randomly selected speeches, the speaking style of Heber C. Kimball. The selected speeches were presented in three different utah locations, and they covered a span of nine years (1856-65). All three speeches were presented to a Mormon audience and were religious in nature.

Seven elements of style have been used for the analysis of the three speeches. They are: accuracy, clarity, propriety, economy, force, striking quality, and liveliness. It was determined that President Kimball's speaking style was weak in the areas of accuracy and clarity. In …

A Study Of Henry James' Development Of The Narrator As A Technical Device In Three Selected Works, Robert Melvin Tarleton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The problem or point of view, or angle of vision, Is one that deeply concerned Henry James all through his writing career. It will be the aim of this study to define James' position on point of view and the use of a narrator, and then, by reference to the works under question, to see how subtly he uses the limited omniscient or the restricted multiple point of view in his early novels and the intensely concentrated single "centre" of consciousness perspective In his later ones. To this writer's knowledge there has been no critical analysis of this specific technique …