Abstract

While it has become increasingly commonplace to claim Kenneth Burke as a proto-ecocritic, the question of how his thinking and criticism was influenced by the science of ecology has not been addressed. This article places Attitudes toward History, the work in which Burke first mentions ecology by name, back within ecological conversations of the mid 1930s and argues not only that the science of ecology was fairly well known to Burke and his contemporaries but that ecological rhetoric saturates Attitudes toward History; in particular, it underlies Burke's critique of efficiency and his idea of the "comic frame."

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2004-10-01
DOI
10.1207/s15327981rr2304_6
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Philosophy & Rhetoric
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Rhetoric Society Quarterly

Cites in this index (1)

  1. College English
Also cites 8 works outside this index ↓
  1. Burke, Kenneth. The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action. 3rd ed. Berkeley: U of Californi…
  2. Clements, Frederic. Plant Succession: An Analysis of the Development of Vegetation. Washington: Carnegie Inst…
  3. 10.1017/S0021875801006697
  4. Meeker, Donald O., Jr., and Daniel L. Merkel. "Climax Theories and a Recommendation for Vegetation Classifica…
  5. 10.1086/216112
    The American Journal of Sociology 38.3 (  
  6. 10.1093/isle/4.2.39
    ISLE 4.2 (  
  7. 10.1126/science.75.1956.649
    Science  
  8. 10.2307/1354095
    Cultural Critique  
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