The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies

Abstract

One of the most remarkable trends in the humanities and social sciences in recent decades has been the resurgence of interest in the history, theory, and practice of rhetoric: in an age of global media networks and viral communication, rhetoric is once again “contagious” and “communicable” (Friedrich Nietzsche). Featuring 60 commissioned chapters by eminent rhetoric scholars from 12 countries, The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies offers students and teachers an engaging but sophisticated one-volume introduction to the multidisciplinary field of rhetorical studies. The Handbook traces the history of Western rhetoric from ancient Greece and Rome to the present and surveys the role of rhetoric in more than 30 academic disciplines and fields of social practice. This combination of historical and topical approaches allows readers to chart the metamorphoses of rhetoric over the centuries while mapping the connections between rhetoric and law, politics, science, education, literature, feminism, poetry, composition, critical race theory, philosophy, drama, criticism, deconstruction, digital media, art, semiotics, architecture, and other fields. In addition to offering an accessible and comprehensive introduction to rhetoric in the European and North American context, the Handbook includes an introduction with summaries of all 60 chapters, a timeline of major works of rhetorical theory, translations of all passages in Greek and Latin, and a glossary of more than 300 rhetorical terms. Taken together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate that rhetoric is not merely an art of stylish communication but a pragmatic, inventive, and critical art that operates in myriad social contexts and academic disciplines.