Shakespeare's lifetime coincided with the consolidation of modern capitalism, and his plays reveal his interest in economics--defined as a rational system for calculating and comparing the value of commodities--and especially the economics of time. Shakespeare's plays offer a critique of the new capitalism by showing the extent to which it can and…

The term androgyny, with its sex-related etymology, is based on untenable social stereotypes and for feminist critics is a dead end. The androgyny myth, like matriarchal myths and myths which deify women, should be replaced. However, a replacement would have to fill a wide niche in order to allow critics to focus from a propitious vantage point on…

This paper argues that people can be trained to use language to respond to varieties of literature with more discrimination and with more confidence than in the past. This is true first, because there are now studies which detail categories of response to literature; and second, because clinical psychiatrists and psychological counselors have…

The mass production of books dealing with hitherto taboo subjects for children, such as drug use, divorce, illegitimacy, and death, is a growing trend in children's literature. This paper attempts to demonstrate the inherent difficulties in judging such books critically through a discussion of the handling of death in current children's fiction.…

Four books are discussed as being helpful in the teaching of playwriting at the college level: Kenneth Macgowan's "A Primer of Playwriting" (1951); Walter Kerr's "How Not to Write a Play" (1955); Bernard Grebanier's "Playwriting" (1961); and Sam Smiley's "Playwriting: The Structure of Action" (1971). The books are discussed individually and are…

This paper examines the Scopes trial's contribution to American intellectual history by studying the historical context of the controversy from a rhetorical perspective. The trial became a rhetorical vehicle which focused on the modernist-fundamentalist religious controversy and polarized these movements. By analyzing the rhetorical…

For at least two kinds of literature instructors, classroom use of a film derived from a Shakespeare play is potentially promising: a Shakespeare course instructor can present one attempt to visualize the implications of the printed word, and a teacher of a course which compares film and literature has at least one respectable film adaptation of a…

An assessment of Black Elk's poetry reveals that Indians' attitudes toward words differ from ours. For example, on certain occasions Indian songs become instruments which bring an influx of energy into a whole society or draw rain or heal sickness. Words which recreate or conjure the agents of the poet's vision are relevant because they uplift the…

Seal printing is explored as a literary topic in 28 works dating from the third millennium B.C. to A.D. 1613 (from Sumerian times through Shakespeare's). This ancient printing method is mentioned in the literature of the Egyptians, Greeks, Hebrews, and Arabians. It occurs in the works of Herodotus, Plutarch, and Marco Polo, as well as Chaucer and…

The perception of literary value is a function of the reader's interpretation of literary structures in relation to other creative works in that reader's repertoire and of the "deep structure" of literary imagination within the individual unconscious. This critical model suggests, therefore, that unique experiences with literature and with life…

Explores the relationship between literary criticism and ethics by analyzing two shifts regarding ethics in literary criticism: (1) a taboo against engaging in ethical criticism, encouraged during the 1930s to 1950s; and (2) the undermining of that taboo, caused by the eruption of social problems concerning race, sex, and class. (MM)

Maintains that John Quincy Adams'"Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory" and Adams Sherman Hill's "Principles of Rhetoric" reveal significant differences in what their authors perceive to be the most salient environmental conditions facing their students. (JK)

Based on a newly developed holistic theory of knowledge and learning, this paper critically evaluates several contemporary theories of adult learning. Most of existing adult learning theories tend to narrowly define knowledge and learning and fail to offer adequate explanation for adult learning. Implications for HRD theory, research, and practice…

This paper proposes the examination of the "rhetorical compact" as a new genre of rhetorical criticism. The paper contends that the study of rhetorical compacts and the resulting influence on rhetorical patterns can serve as a tool to the scholar seeking to identify the implicit strategies in textual analysis. It suggests a linear…

This paper considers the ongoing debate between two organizations (National Association of Scholars and Teachers for a Democratic Culture) in higher education. The rhetorical positions of each side resemble those of the "cold war" between the United States and the Soviet Union of the 1950s and 1960s where each side created a mirror image…