In this study, we explore discussions of literature in a high school English Language Arts (ELA) classroom, examining how students read rhetorically. Reading rhetorically considers the ethical effects of narrative content as it is mediated through character dialogue and action, narrator discourse, and the author's organization: a narrative as a…

We argue for a course in which students analyze writing about a common topic--in this case World War I--from multiple genres (e.g., poetry and technical manuals). We address the divide between instruction in pragmatic and literary writing and calls to bridge that gap. Students working in disparate areas of English learn the strengths and the…

The rhetorical strategies used to justify "new" readings by thematic critics reveal the essentially trivial nature of the thematic approach.

Considers the quest for meaning to be the primary function of the rhetorical critic--meaning that goes from the text outward and that is interpreted by the reader. (RB)

Literary criticism must recognize its origins in common with rhetoric. Only through this recognition can (both) grow to show in a more full measure how literature functions to instruct, delight, express, and move. (Author)

Describes a method of teaching composition that focuses on rhetorical strategies in fiction, poetry, drama, and the essay, and by considering how these strategies are used effectively to achieve particular effects. (TO)

Reviews scholarship on the interdependence of rhetoric and poetic language, and proposes a performance as argument model for the oral interpretation of literature. Relates the model to current work on the relationship of narrative to argument and suggests benefits gained from its adoption. (SR)

In criticism, as in real life, we should take into account what the dramatic speaker is doing in the act of uttering a piece of discourse. (JH)

A dialectical heuristic that can be used to guide students through the stages of writing about a literary experience is discussed in this paper. The first section of the paper provides a working definition of literature as an area of discourse and divides the process of reading and writing about literature into three general phases: progressive,…

To help students develop a broadly generative approach to reading and writing about literature, teachers of literature should employ not only systematic procedures, but also the eclectic and utilitarian spirit of rhetorical invention. A semiotic perspective offers the most solid theoretical foundation for establishing a genuinely heuristic…

Explores how Edmund Burke's discourse on the sublime helps illuminate attacks on the vulgarization of culture (as typified by Allan Bloom), both for the presumedly "vulgar" reader and for the champions of high culture. (MG)

Presents an exchange between two English professors who offer opposing perspectives on the profession of English. Covers arguments on the understanding of theory, literary history, reading, curricular design, and pedagogy through the examination of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Minister's Black Veil." (MM)

Focuses on the interdependence of rhetoricity and literarity. Reviews some historical, functional, formal, generic, and aesthetic aspects to determine if there is any clear distinction between the rhetorical and the literal. Concludes that no distinction exists and that rhetoricity is ubiquitous: it is present in every communication process. (PD)

This paper (1) examines textbooks in group performance of literature to determine how they describe the use of stage light in production; (2) explicates the four qualities and five functions of stage light; (3) explicates the four structural tensions of a text as defined by J. H. Maclay (1972); (4) considers their application to the production of…

Drawn from talks given at a conference held at the University of New Hampshire in October 1984, the papers in this collection explore the relationship of composition to reading and literature studies. Following an introductory chapter written by Thomas Newkirk, which contains background information about that relationship as well as an overview of…