The Languages of Edison's Light (review)

Abstract

In 1995, Henry Krips, J. E. McGuire, and Trevor Melia attributed the recent "burgeoning interest in the rhetoric of science" to the fact that "the rhetorical perspective brings insights to the study of science not captured by history, sociology, philosophy, [End Page 175] anthropology . . . that is, rhetoric can occupy a 'clearing' that is obscured in these other approaches to science studies"(viii). Charles Bazerman demonstrates much of the clarity rhetorical understanding adds to the study of science in The Languages of Edison's Light. In this insightful text,Bazerman explores the ways in which Edison and his colleagues spoke the languages of America's social matrix, "giving electric light and power meaning and values and incorporating it into our existing cultural systems" (2). Operating from a structuralist perspective, Bazerman's analysis provides insight into the rhetorical workings of Edison's emergent technology and forwards timely conceptions of the text and critical practice of particular interest to rhetoricians. However, this approach also impedes textual consistency and limits the account from reaching the full clarity a rhetorical perspective provides for science and technology.