Techne, from Neoclassicism to Postmodernism: Understanding Writing as a Useful, Teachable Art

Abstract

Kelly Pender Lauer Series in Rhetoric and Composition Edited by Thomas Rickert and Jennifer Bay Information and Pricing 978-1-60235-207-0 (paperback, $27); 9 78-1-60235-208-7 (hardcover, $60.00); 978-1-60235-209-4 (PDF; $19.99), ©2011 by Parlor Press. 197 pages, with notes and bibliography. Bookstores : Order by fax, mail, or phone. See our "Sales and Ordering Page" for details. About This Book The word techne has no equivalent in English and so is usually understood as one of the three terms that approximate its original Greek meaning: art, skill, craft.  As a kind of productive knowledge, techne is often defined by its close association with rationality and instrumentality . Techne, from Neoclassicism to Postmodernism: Understanding Writing as a Useful, Teachable Art is a book about the relationships among the many meanings of this complex term. Kelly Pender tells the story of techne’s presence in the development of rhetoric and composition as an academic discipline in the mid-twentieth century, the influence of postmodern theory on that development, and what is often taught or not taught under the rubric of “writing” in contemporary composition courses.  The arguments Techne, from Neoclassicism to Postmodernism makes about these relationships are deconstructive and seek to challenge some of the field’s most firmly entrenched binaries about what writing is and how (or if) it should be taught.  To make these arguments, Techne, from Neoclassicism to Postmodernism uses Samuel Weber’s retranslation of the Heideggerian term “Ge-stell” as a form of emplacement to show how composition theories and pedagogies based on techne work simultaneously to both “close down” and “open up” possibilities for experiencing writing as an inherently valuable, nonrational mode of bringing-forth. What People Are Saying Pender’s final provocative suggestion—that it is precisely through the apparent opposition between “closed” and “open” that writing itself has been marginalized within the w