Inventing Public Speaking: Rhetoric and the Speech Book, 1730-1930

Rhetoric & Public Affairs Dec 2012

Inventing Public Speaking: Rhetoric and the Speech Book, 1730-1930

J. Michael Sproule

Abstract

Abstract Formerly a synonym for oratory and elocution, "public speaking" after 1900 signaled, instead, a paradigm shift whereby extemporaneous-conversational speechmaking replaced declamation and oratorical composition. This study of more than 200 key titles published between 1730 and 1930 demonstrates that the modern public-speaking book emerged, not as an innovation in whole cloth, but rather from a generation-long process of selectively recombining materials extracted from preceding text genres. As a practical revolution, the new public speaking contributed to democratic, argument-rich public affairs and, as an intellectual movement, furthered the emergence of speech as a separate academic discipline.

Journal: Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published: 2012-12-01
DOI: 10.2307/41940622
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

Cope (2015)

“Inspiration of Delivery”: John A. Broadus and the Evangelical Underpinnings of…

Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Galbraith et al. (2014)

The Impact of Presentation Form, Entrepreneurial Passion, and Perceived Prepare…

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

CrossRef global citation count: 14 View in citation network →