Notes that the rhetoric of Frances E. Willard relied primarily on "womanhood" arguments, making her uniquely successful at promoting woman suffrage with conservative audiences. Concludes that the popularization of Willard's strategies represented a transformation of the symbolic context of the suffrage movement. Examines the implications…

Maintains that rhetoric is about the place of human action in the temporal continuum. Identifies critical elements of temporal organization for rhetorical scholars and investigates their potential as argument structures. Introduces a time-vocabulary model as a powerful and pragmatic tool for locating intratextual patterns of temporality. (SR)

Argues that by rereading Helene Cixous's "The Laugh of Medusa" as a rhetoric--that is, an essay which posits what can and must be done by women if they are to intervene effectively in the public sphere through written or oral discourse--both rhetorical and feminist theory and criticism are enriched. (SR)

Explores the rhetorical use of time in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Offers an explanation of the ideological heritage that temporarily unifies the discourse. Describes the letter's recent, historical, and spiritual time frames, accounts for the ideological purpose each serves, and explains on what ground they…

Examines the claim that "scaffold speeches" (speeches by individuals awaiting execution) form a discrete genre. Argues that they constitute a subgenre within the larger genre of apologia. Illustrates the subgenre through analysis of John Brown's final speech at his trial following the Harper's Ferry raid. (SR)

Argues that scientists intending to be revolutionary face certain rhetorical constraints, which contain contradictory requirements and force a rhetorical paradox on the would-be revolutionaries. Examines the nature of this paradox and the available resolutions to it. (SR)

Examines the close formal relationship between the Renaissance rhetoric of letter-writing and the common law system of "writs." Traces a forensic urge reflected in structural and stylistic preferences of two letter-writing exemplars. Compares the graphic form of instructional aids in both systems to illustrate methods for examining their…

Shows why truthfulness, because of its link to spirituality, was the foremost standard for speech in ancient India, and how its practice was defined, emphasizing the consequences of truthfulness and deceit for speakers themselves. Considers possible contributions to current rhetorical and ethical studies. (SR)

Examines within Laurence Sterne's "Tristram Shandy" two representative orientations (reasons and experience) as indices of popular attitudes about the rhetorical arts during the eighteenth century. Argues that, as a satire on rhetorical pretensions and excess, this novel is an important document in the venerable battle between the…

Analyzes, rhetorically, the concept of otherness, a central element in Mexican culture. Argues that the themes of otherness in the writings of Ohio Mexican Americans are symbolic representations of the pervasive ambivalence with which Mexican culture views its history and anticipates its future. (SR)