The classic rhetoricians divided the art of rhetoric into at least three main stages: invention, disposition , and elocution (also memoryand delivery for oratory). Today, we continue to recognize this tripartite division of the composing process but prefer to substitute a more modern taxonomy for the latinate terms: pre-writing , arrangement, and style. The advancements in rhetorical theory in the past decade and a half are impressive; however, despite this growing insight into the writing process, many of us who teach composition still seem to disregard observations made centuries ago by Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. We are speaking specifically of the inattention paid to the first stage of the tripartite writing process: invention. It is a fad currently to attend conferences in order to discuss heuristics and the invention process, but it seems that most of us fail to do anything about prewriting in the classroom or writing center. Although we were encouraged by Tom Nash's description of invention-oriented methods used in several writing centers ("Hamlet, Polonius and the Writing Center," Writing Center Journal , vol. I, No. 1, 80), we sensed that these experiments with pre-writing were probably the exception not the rule.

Historical Rhetoric. An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Sources in English. Edited by Winifred Bryan Horner. Boston: G. K. Hall and Co., 1980. Pp. xii + 294. The Winged Word. Berkley Peabody. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975. Pp. 562. $40.00. Averroës’ Three Short Commentaries on Aristotle's “Topics,” "Rhetoric.” and “Poetics.” Edited and translated by Charles B. Butterworth. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977. Pp. 3d. & 206. Francis Bacon and the Style of Science. James Stephens. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1975. Pp. xi ‐ 188. $10.95 (Cloth).

Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times. George A. Kennedy. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1980. Pp. 292. $18.00, paper $9.00. Ann Berthoff and the Problem of Method in Writing: A Review Essay on Forming/Thinking/Writing: The Composing Imagination (Hayden Book Co., 1978)

Preview this article: Of Gorgias and Grammatology, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/30/3/collegecompositionandcommunication16224-1.gif

better ways for a writer to gain clarity, copiousness, and flexibility in language. To classical rhetoricians, a paraphrase was a literary exercise, a mode of literary treatment. It consisted of turning poetry into prose and prose into poetry. So far as sentence structure was concerned, poetry and prose were considered to be essentially the same. Thus a theme assignment could be given in poetry or in prose, so the paraphrase was an exercise which laid the founda-

Use of the word multimedia is discussed in terms of cultural history, English grammar, classical rhetoric, communication technology, and recent articles by audiovisualists. Against this background, adjectival usage is seen as traditional, and nominative usage is shown to be justified by precedent and specialist practice, although not yet widely conven- tional. The following definitions are offered for general acceptance: multimedia (adjective)—involving several media; referring to any mixture of communication media, including mediated lectures, TV, film, drama, collages, and slide/tape programs multimedia (noun)—multiple-projection presentations reinforced by sound, and methods or equipment used to make such presentations; a method of communication which uses multi-image techniques combining static and moving projections with live or reproduced sound.

In 1968, Alan Purves and Victoria Rippere published their ground-breaking study, The Elements Writing about a Literary Work, in which they proposed a new system for content analysis response to literature. Beginning with published writings of numerous critics from the time Aristotle, continuing with a pool critical statements about one work provided by contemporary scholars and critics, and finally refining the system on the basis essays drawn from students in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Belgium, Purves and Rippere shifted the focus analysis from the correctness or accuracy a stated response to its content or subject. The which they proposed for analyzing response ranged from such literary devices as allusion and irony to general statements thematic importance or identification 139 elements in all, combined into 24 subcategories and 5 categories (engagement-involvement, perception, interpretation, evaluation,, and miscellaneous). The elements, presented with careful instructions for their use, illustrative studies, and the necessary reliability data, filled a methodological void and helped both to stimulate and to focus a nascent interest in research in response

Preview this article: Are Teachers "Uptaught" on Classical Rhetoric?, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/26/3/collegecompositionandcommunication17104-1.gif

Preview this article: The Theory and Practice of Imitation in Classical Rhetoric, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/22/3/collegecompositionandcommunication19150-1.gif

The revival of interest in rhetoric raises the question of the relevance of the discipline to the modern student, particularly the engineering student. In general, rhetoric can be defined as the study of language emphasizing its practical rather than its aesthetic qualities. As a theory of composition, classical rhetoric stresses writing as communication rather than self-expression, and provides a systematic method for dealing with problems of achieving cooperation among men. As a “systems approach” to composition, rhetoric is suited to the mental style of the engineering student. Moreover, engineers and scientists skilled in rhetoric would be equipped to deal with the problem of alienation between the scientific community and society at large.

Epideictic rhetoric has been traditionally stigmatized as fl attery or empty show without any practical goal. Where does such attitude towards epideictic come from? To answer this question, we explore the ancient debate about the nature and the function of the epideictic genre. In the second part of this paper, we discuss the recent reappraisal of the epideictic among classical scholars and fi nally focus the attention on a promising fi eld of research: epideictic speeches in honor of women.

After a brief historical-methodological overview, this study is meant to prove that the theory of rhetorical genres (deliberative, judicial and epideictic), connected to that of the literary genres, offers scholars more insightful critical opportunities. The nouvelle rhétorique, applied to the analysis of rhetorical and literary genres, permits to unveil the argumentative dimension in literature. We have evaluated some passages of the Decameron and I promessi sposi [The Betrothed], two of the great classics of Italian literature, differing by historical settings, genres and contents. The two books have been analyzed from the rhetorical perspective. I promessi sposi [The Betrothed] may be interpreted as an instance of judicial genre, while the Decameron as deliberative and epideictic genres.

Preview this article: McLuhan in the Light of Classical Rhetoric, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/20/1/collegecompositionandcommunication20213-1.gif

Preview this article: Kenneth Burke, Aristotle, and the Future of Rhetoric, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/17/5/collegecompositioncommunication21015-1.gif

Preview this article: The Contemporaneity of Classical Rhetoric, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/16/3/collegecompositionandcommunication21089-1.gif

Preview this article: Lord Jim, Classical Rhetoric, and the Freshman Dilemma, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/25/1/collegeenglish27292-1.gif

Preview this article: The Usefulness of Classical Rhetoric, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ccc/14/3/collegecompositionandcommunication21222-1.gif