Contested histories of rhetoric: The politics of preservation, progress, and change
- 1 November 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Quarterly Journal of Speech
- Vol. 78 (4) , 403-428
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00335639209384008
Abstract
This essay argues that the two principal modes of organizing rhetorical theories in histories of rhetoric, according to influence or systems, are problematic. Influence and systems histories frequently mask or distort the particularity of rhetoric's history, and they implicitly disenfranchise future retheorizing of rhetoric. These problems result from the preservative and progressive politics that inhere in the ostensibly neutral organizational devices of influence and systems respectively. In conclusion, the essay forwards an alternative critical history that privileges the notions of text, particularity, change, and criticism.Keywords
This publication has 54 references indexed in Scilit:
- Die Makarij-Rhetorik (Knigi sut' ritoriki dvoi po tunku v vopresekh spisany), Renate Lachmann, ed.; De arte rhetorica libri X, Kijoviae 1706 of Feofan Prokopovič, Renate Lachmann, ed.; Clavis Poetica. Eine Handschrift aus der Leninbibliothek Moskau aus dem fahre 1732,Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1990
- The politics of historiographyRhetoric Review, 1988
- Magic and Rhetoric From Antiquity to the Renaissance: Some RuminationsRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1988
- The Ancient Word: Rhetoric in Aztec CultureRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1987
- The Democratic Critics: An Alternative American Rhetorical Tradition of the Nineteenth CenturyRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1986
- Pre-Modern Jewish Study of Rhetoric: An Introductory BibliographyRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1985
- Charles Rollin's Traité and the Rhetorical Theories of Smith, Campbell, and BlairRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1985
- Ancient Egyptian RhetoricRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1983
- Aristotelian and Ramist Rhetoric in Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan: Pathos versus Ethos and LogosRhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, 1983
- Milton's Alleged RamismPMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 1952