This history of rhetoric course will be a bit unique in its approach to the course material. Most “history of” courses begin at, well, the beginning, and work their way to the present. That works, but it’s sort of boring. And it’s counter to how most of us actually encounter and learn texts, which we tend to do in more haphazard ways. If I can use a geologic analogy, we rarely discover complete dinosaur skeletons. It’s more the random femur and tooth that we stumble upon. A good friend of mine has developed what he calls the “drilling down” method of teaching a history of rhetoric class–starting at the present and working back in time. I like that, and, keeping with the excavation metaphor, it’s how much knowledge is actually created. In this course, we will combine the best of both of these two methods. Our own metaphor will be that of the syncline, a geologic feature that, once time exposes and weathers it, reveals very ancient and very new rock simultaneously.
As an example, instead of beginning with the Sophists in ancient Greece and working to contemporary theory, our readings will be paired in ancient/contemporary combos. We’ll read the ancient Sophists, but along with those contemporary theorists who have re-embraced or reinvigorated sophistic theories of rhetoric. This approach will allow us to see some of the more cyclical and dialogic relationships in rhetorical theory and the history of rhetoric.
Don’t worry (be happy!)–the paired text system of reading will not be as complicated as it may sound.¹ Students in this course will survey the history of Western rhetoric. No geology expertise is required or expected.
1. Special thanks to Jim Brown (University of Wisconsin) for the “drilling down” metaphor, and to Matt King (University of Texas at Austin) for reminding me to remind grad students to “be happy!”.
Required Texts:
- The Rhetorical Tradition, edited by Bizzell and Herzberg
- Rhetoric in the European Tradition, by Thomas Conley
- The Rhetoric and the Poetics of Aristotle, with Introduction by Edward PJ Corbett
- The New Rhetoric, by Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca
