Abstract

Fahnestock and Secor’s “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism” characterized literary criticism of the 1970s as conservative and self-celebratory. However, although literary theory has since undergone significant change, few rhetorical analyses of recent literary criticism as the preferred genre of a disciplinary discourse community have been conducted. This analysis of 28 articles of literary criticism published between 1999 and 2001 reveals that because of their flexibility, the stasis and special topoi conventions of earlier literary criticism continue to function. However, the shared values assumed in literary criticism have shifted away from a preference for isolated meditation on textual particulars. Instead, criticism is now portrayed as a conversation in which knowledge about literary texts and their historical contexts is socially negotiated and accumulative. Moreover, this scholarly project is frequently assumed to work toward social justice. The article ends with implications for understanding how knowledge is built within disciplinary communities.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2005-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088304272751
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (15)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  3. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  4. Written Communication
  5. Written Communication
Show all 15 →
  1. Research in the Teaching of English
  2. Pedagogy
  3. Pedagogy
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Written Communication
  6. Written Communication
  7. Written Communication
  8. Written Communication
  9. Written Communication
  10. Rhetoric Review

References (98) · 11 in this index

  1. 10.2307/463426
  2. 10.1093/oseo/instance.00258598
  3. Writing and reading differently: Deconstruction and the teaching of composition and literature
  4. 10.1177/004839318101100305
  5. Shaping written knowledge: The genre and activity of the experimental article in science
Show all 98 →
  1. 10.2307/1346167
  2. 10.2307/j.ctt7zwb7k
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. 10.1086/493002
  5. What’s left of theory? New work on the politics of literary theory
  6. Practicing theory in introductory college literature courses
  7. English
  8. Understanding scientific prose
  9. 10.1353/dia.1999.0028
  10. Bridging the gap: Literary theory in the classroom
  11. Journal of English and Germanic Philology
  12. Constructing rhetorical education
  13. Critical Exchange
  14. Narrative
  15. Literary theory: An introduction
  16. Citizen critics: Literary public spheres
  17. 10.1353/nlh.1999.0034
  18. Written Communication
  19. Rhetorical figures in science
  20. Written Communication
  21. Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in pr…
  22. 10.2307/468981
  23. Style
  24. 10.2307/2712277
  25. Desire for origins: New language, old English, and teaching the tradition
  26. ADE Bulletin
  27. 10.1086/448968
  28. 10.1353/elh.1999.0034
  29. Textual dynamics of the professions: Historical and contemporary studies of writing in pr…
  30. 10.1353/crt.2001.0004
  31. 10.2307/2903028
  32. 10.1353/dia.2000.0014
  33. 10.1353/nlh.1999.0007
  34. 10.1086/449022
  35. Professing literature: An institutional history
  36. When writing teachers teach literature: Bringingwriting to reading
  37. Written Communication
  38. Critical Exchange
  39. Studies in Philology
  40. Research in the Teaching of English
  41. Written Communication
  42. Studies in Philology
  43. 10.2307/377930
  44. Written Communication
  45. Written Communication
  46. Professional academic writing in the humanities and social sciences
  47. The preachers of culture: A study of English and its teachers
  48. 10.1353/elh.1999.0018
  49. 10.1353/elh.2001.0007
  50. Criticism
  51. 10.1353/elh.2000.0007
  52. 10.1086/448996
  53. English language, English literature: The creation of an academic discipline
  54. 10.1353/phl.1994.0012
  55. Written Communication
  56. Studies in Philology
  57. College Literature
  58. English in America: Aradical view of the profession
  59. The writing teacher’s sourcebook
  60. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  61. The new rhetoric: A treatise on argumentation
  62. 10.1086/448929
  63. When writing teachers teach literature: Bringing writing to reading
  64. The open society and its enemies
  65. When writing teachers teach literature: Bringing writing to reading
  66. 10.2979/VIC.1999.42.2.227
  67. 10.1353/elh.1996.0019
  68. Advances in writing research
  69. 10.2307/2903114
  70. Textual power: Literary theory and the teaching of English
  71. The rise and fall of English: Reconstructing English as a discipline
  72. Pre/text
  73. 10.1353/elh.2000.0038
  74. Pedagogyis politics:Literary theory and critical teaching
  75. Creating American civilization: A genealogy of American literature as an academic discipline
  76. 10.2307/463056
  77. Token professionals and master critics: Acritique of orthodoxy in literary studies
  78. Modern skeletons in postmodern closets: A cultural studies alternative
  79. The end of education: Toward posthumanism
  80. 10.2307/463266
  81. Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings
  82. 10.1353/nlh.2000.0012
  83. Sensational designs: The cultural work of American fiction, 1790-1860
  84. An introduction to reasoning
  85. 10.9783/9781512819113
  86. The letters of the Republic: Publication and the public sphere in eighteenth-century America
  87. Journal of Teaching Writing
  88. Journal of English and Germanic Philology
  89. Written Communication
  90. Style
  91. Marxism and literature
  92. Writing like an engineer: A rhetorical education
  93. 10.1353/nlh.2000.0034