Rhetoric Society Quarterly Mar 2010

The Genius of the Nation: Rhetoric and Nationalism in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Don Paul Abbott University of California, Davis

Abstract

This article examines the claim that rhetoric declined precipitously, and perhaps even “died,” sometime in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. While various causes have been proposed for the presumed demise, the rise of both Romanticism and nationalism has been advanced as destructive of the rhetorical tradition. Nationalism, in particular, is said to be incompatible with rhetoric because it replaced an older, universal, Latinate culture and thus displaced the classical tradition of which rhetoric was a key part. Contrary to such claims, I argue that the rise of British nationalism certainly influenced rhetoric, but did so in ways that benefited the development of modern rhetoric in Britain. I argue further that classicism and nationalism functioned, not in opposition, but in concert, contributing to a resurgence of rhetoric, elocution, and oratory in Britain in the eighteenth century and beyond.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2010-03-26
DOI
10.1080/02773940903413399
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism public rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Cowan (2021)
    The Constitutive Rhetoric of Late Nationalism: Imagined Communities after the D…
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Poster (2015)
    A Good Dissenter Speaking Well: William Enfield’s Educational and Elocutionary …
    Advances in the History of Rhetoric

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CrossRef global citation count: 5 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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