The phenomenon of the Octalog came into being at the 1988 CCCC when James J. Murphy, with support from Theresa Enos and Stuart Brown, proposed and chaired a roundtable composed of eight distinguish...

This essay suggests that readers of Aristotle's Rhetoric should take a broader view than is usually applied to understanding the book. Specifically, the reader is asked to explore Aristotle's other works to identify his metarhetoric-that is, Aristotle's notion of the prior knowledges a rhetor needs to have in order to be rhetorical. The essay employs four examples from Aristotle's On Memory and Recollection to demonstrate how ideas from even one of his other books can enhance our comprehension of the Rhetoric. It concludes with a suggested plan for studying Aristotle's metarhetoric.

One of the major figures in this book, the Roman educator Quintilian, points out that writing -- unlike speaking -- must always be learned from a teacher since it cannot be learned by natural imitation as oral language is. He uses the example of a two-year-old who can understand and speak even though the child is years away from being able to be taught even the rudiments of the written alphabet. Writing instruction therefore plays an important role in any literate culture. This book offers a survey of the ways in which writing has been taught in Western culture, from ancient Greece to present-day America. Although there have been many studies of individual periods or specific educators, this volume provides the first systematic coverage of teaching writing over the 25 centuries from the ancient Sophists to today. It is hoped that the modern reader will find useful ideas in this account of the ebb and flow of teaching methods and philosophies over the years.

An Early Commentary on the “Poetria Nova”; of Geoffrey of Vinsauf. Marjorie Curry Woods, ed. New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc., 1986. Pp. Ixvi + 505. Studying Writing: Linguistic Approaches. Charles R. Cooper and Sydney Greenbaum, eds. (Written Communication Annual, Vol. 1.) Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Rhetoric and Praxis: The Contribution of Classical Rhetoric to Practical Reasoning. Edited by Jean Dietz Moss. Washington, D.C.: Catholic U of America P, 1986, Pp. xi + 172.

Rhetorical history as a guide to the salvation of American reading and writin James J. Murphy -- Remarks on composition to the Yale English Department / E Hirsch, Jr. -- Restoring the humanities / James Kinneavy -- The Phaedrus idy as ethical play / Virginia N. Steinhoff -- Classical practice and contempora basics / Susan Miller -- Ciceronian rhetoric and the rise of science / S. Michael Halloran and Merrill D. Whitburn -- John Locke's contributions to rhetoric / Edward P.J. Corbett -- Rhetoricin the liberal arts / Winifred Bry Horner -- Nineteenth-century psychology and the shaping of Alexander Bain's English composition and rhetoric / Gerald P. Mulderig -- Three nineteenth-century rhetoricians / Nan Johnson -- Two model teachers and the Harvardization of English departments / Donald C. Stewart -- Concepts of art and the teaching of writing / Richard E. Young.