Describes the nature of the relationship between hermeneutics and rhetoric to clarify rhetoric's epistemic function and, in turn, to provide important theoretical directives for rhetorical criticism. (JMF)

Examines Kenneth Burke's and Friedrich Nietzsche's similar understanding of the hortatory nature of language-using, weighed against their radically differing conceptions of the negative, which allows a distinction between two genres of dramatism, and illustrates contrasting orientations toward symbolic activity in general. (SR)

Examines Syron's novel as a strategic rhetorical response to the problems of racism in America with far-ranging implications in American social and institutional history. Argues that the novel's shaping vision illuminates the ethical dilemma of the liberal humanist and explores the ramifications of violence for self-definition and social reform.…

Applies Kenneth Burke's "Five Dogs" segment in "Language as Symbolic Action" to analyze Mother Teresa's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. (MM)

Using a Burkeian perspective, the authors focus on the six debates during the 1980 Republican primary debate. (PD)

Explores the rhetorical problem of concretizing the ideal via the relationship between form and fact in Richard Weaver's theory of truth. Reveals that reliance on analogic form permits Weaver's arguments to function externally and internally. Suggests that analogic structure, example, and analogy are fundamental ways of rhetorical knowing. (JMF)

Analyzes Audre Lorde's speech which interweaves commentary on the silence surrounding breast cancer with insights about silence drawn from her experiences as a member of several subordinated communities. Finds she comments on silencing and power, sexism, verbal abuse, violence and sexualized aggression, shame, and hostile social environments--her…

Argues that textual criticism can offer a theoretically sound and practically useful base for the rhetorical reading of texts. Maintains that the study of controversy, approached through "representative anecdotes," offers an appropriate frame for expanding textual criticism into an intertextual arena. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same issue. Sets Michael Leff's style of criticism in context by describing a taxonomy of critical methods, revealing its commitments and indicating its strengths and weaknesses. Argues that the dialectic Leff proposes with postmodernism is problematized by an incommensurability between that approach and his own…

Explores the ways in which rhetorical scholars have embraced Mikhail Bakhtin as a rhetorical theorist in spite of the fact that he disdained rhetoric. Argues that the reception of Bakhtin suggests a pattern in rhetorical studies. Notes that it is dangerous to disregard the danger of rhetoric in pursuit of a higher status for rhetoric. (SG)

Through a critical analysis of the public discourse surrounding the capture and rescue of Jessica Lynch, this essay investigates how Lynch's body "comes to matter" in political debates regarding women in combat. This article argues that popular representations of Lynch's natural femaleness rearticulate the seemingly biological distinctions between…

This essay examines the rhetorical persona of the "Fool" as employed by General Charles Gordon in six volumes of journals recorded during the siege of Khartoum by Mahdist forces from September to December, 1884. After identifying the particular rhetorical aspects of the "Fool" as social critic/site of ideological contestation,…

Examines recent attempts by a number of theorists to develop a "rhetoric of the human sciences." Argues that contemporary tendencies to elevate rhetoric at the expense of such traditional notions as scientific objectivity, ontology, and epistemological foundationalism are mistaken. (JK)

Sketches a brief history of the 1858 debates and analyzes their argumentative patterns. Speculates about the transformation of controversial questions through public debate. (PD)