Pursues a rhetoric of visual fragments by considering the disjunctive packaging of two particular fictional films: Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 classic "Vertigo" and Christopher Reeve's 1997 adaptation of Alice Elliott Dark's short story, "In the Gloaming." Considers how "Vertigo" offers conflicting stories about the…

Contrasts two conferences that occurred in the 1960s: one considered significant by historians of composition studies, the other recognized as important in the development of poststructuralism. Argues that theoretical currents associated with the conferences can usefully critique each other. Proposes a variation on the new advocacy of…

Discusses T. Eagleton's view of rhetoric as a study of the political power of discursive practices, comparing it to views of other theorists. Argues that composition faculty should welcome Eagleton's socialist-inflected revival of rhetoric because he embeds it in a deconstruction of the polarities that marginalize writing teachers and empower the…