Advances in the History of Rhetoric Jan 2013

Anxieties of Legitimacy: The Origins and Influence of the “Classicist Stance” in American Rhetoric Studies

Elizabeth Kalbfleisch

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes an origin of the “classicist stance,” Nan Johnson's term for the emphasis on the classical past in American rhetoric historiography. It argues that adherence to the classical past arises from an anxiety about conducting research evident in the field in the early twentieth century, an anxiety that develops into fears about institutional legitimacy later in the century. The article closes by urging scholars of rhetoric in the modern era to embrace print modernity as their researh framework, rather than classicism.

Journal
Advances in the History of Rhetoric
Published
2013-01-01
DOI
10.1080/15362426.2013.764833
CompPile
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Topics
multimodality race and writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Hawhee (2006)
    Performing Ancient Rhetorics: A Symposium
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Murphy et al. (1988)
    The politics of historiography
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Corbett (1985)
    The Cornell school of rhetoric
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Bilsky et al. (1953)
    Looking for an Argument
    College English
Also cites 15 works outside this index ↓
  1. Blair (1992)
    Contested Histories of Rhetoric: The Politics of Preservation, Progress, and Change
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  2. Bryant (1953)
    Rhetoric: Its Functions and Scope
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  3. Duhamel (1949)
    The Function of Rhetoric as Effective Expression
    Journal of the History of Ideas  ↗
  4. Graff (2007)
    Professing Literature: An Institutional History
     ↗
  5. Graff (2005)
    Revisionist Historiography and Rhetorical Traditions
     ↗
  6. Hochmuth (1952)
    Kenneth Burke and the ‘New Rhetoric.’”
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  7. Hudson (1923)
    The Field of Rhetoric
    Quarterly Journal of Speech Education  ↗
  8. Israel (2001)
    Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650–1750
     ↗
  9. Leff (1993)
    The Uses of Aristotle's Rhetoric in Contemporary American Scholarship
    Argumentation  ↗
  10. Marshall (2010)
    Vico and the Transformation of Rhetoric in Early Modern Europe
     ↗
  11. Porrovecchio (2010)
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  12. Spoel (2001)
    Rereading the Elocutionists: The Rhetoric of Thomas Sheridan's A Course of Lectures on El…
    Rhetorica  ↗
  13. Struever (2009)
    Rhetoric, Modality, Modernity
     ↗
  14. Thompson (1963)
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    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
  15. Walter (1963)
    On Views of Rhetoric: Whether Conservative or Progressive
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network →

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