Classical Rhetoric Research Articles

КОМПОЗИЦІЯ Й РИТОРИЧНІ СТРАТЕГІЇ ІСПАНСЬКОЇ АВТОРСЬКОЇ КОЛОНКИ: ¿RES NON VERBA?

This article examines the Spanish author's newspaper column in the key of the basic concepts of classical rhetoric as an interdisciplinary science, which at the present stage allows to combine the "linguistics of expressiveness" with the consideration of linguistic material in the light of the communicative-discursive paradigm. The author's column is an example of "journalism of opinions", where thematic diversity, stylistic originality, linguistic creativity is due to the figure of the journalist with his thoughts, ideas, positions and the ultimate goal, which determines the nature of the selection of rhetorical strategies, arguments, compositional organization in order to influence the reader's perception and create a discourse of persuasion. This time the illustrative material was short columns by Manuel Vicente, a famous contemporary Spanish writer and long-time journalist of "El País". It is revealed that in the production of an analytical text there is an interpenetration of intention, arguments inventio, the order of presentation of materials dispositio with the help of appropriate discursive-expressive means elocutio. Just as it is impossible to distinguish these three rhetorical operations as purely sequential in a linear creative process, so res and verba are not absolutely separate concepts, they can be variably combined, since discourse is built according to the coordinates of integration into a heterogeneous network of texts, where the planes of res and verba are often woven into one, common linguistic fabric. This is the nature of publications demanded by the modern demanding reader, who is no longer a "passive recipient" of information. The journalist has to appeal to his mind, emotions, feelings, memory in order to "surprise" him, which means that elocutio goes beyond the simple "decoration" of speech, and returns us to the words, the process of their logical, contextual selection, combination, merging in the context to create in its compositional integrity the strength, effectiveness and persuasiveness of the article.

Encomio de Moisés (Basil., Hex. 1, 1)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the exordium of Basil of Caesarea’s Hexaemeron. Its elaboration is crafted in two parts, the first one as an exordium that fills the expected purposes of rhetoric, while the second one belongs to the particular construction of an encomium of Moses, because it is a «miniature» that fulfills to the minimum extent the stipulated topoi of classical rhetoric. This brief encomium at the same time is part of the exegetic argumentation on Genesis 1, 1: «In the beggining God created the heaven and the earth».

On the Rhetorical Effectiveness of Implicit Meaning—A Pragmatic Approach

This paper explores the interface between pragmatics and argumentation by considering the impact of different types of implicit meaning on different types of rhetorical effects. On the rhetorical front and drawing on classical rhetoric but going beyond the Aristotelian rhetorical triangle (ethos, logos, pathos), the paper discusses an open list of rhetorical effects affecting speakers, audiences, messages and the conversational flow of interaction. On the pragmatic front, the paper accounts for how specific features of different types of implicit meaning (presupposition, implicature and back-door speech acts) are likely to trigger specific rhetorical effects. In so doing, it discusses and justifies the need for and the feasibility of an experimental investigation of the rhetorical effectiveness of implicit meaning.

Topisches Erzählen bei Adalbert Stifter: Untersuchungen zur Gestaltung von Bildungsgängen in ausgewählten Werkkomplexen by Hendrik Achenbach

Reviewed by: Topisches Erzählen bei Adalbert Stifter: Untersuchungen zur Gestaltung von Bildungsgängen in ausgewählten Werkkomplexen by Hendrik Achenbach Jan Hohenstein Hendrik Achenbach, Topisches Erzählen bei Adalbert Stifter: Untersuchungen zur Gestaltung von Bildungsgängen in ausgewählten Werkkomplexen. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2021. 467 pp. Bildung, or education, assumes a critical role in the writings and biography of Adalbert Stifter. Many of his stories depict the development of children, adolescents, and young adults. Moreover, Stifter became directly involved in the educational institutions of the Habsburg Empire when he served as a school inspector for the district of Upper Austria. Ever since the reading public rediscovered his works at the turn of the twentieth century, critics have attempted to characterize the educational practices and processes in them. In Topisches Erzählen bei Adalbert Stifter: Untersuchungen zur Gestaltung von Bildungsgängen in ausgewählten Werkkomplexen, critic Hendrik Achenbach applies the concept of "topisches Erzählen," or "topical narration," to elucidate the problem of Bildung in Stifter's works. His study provides a concise history of the concept of the topos and its place within modern literary criticism. Readers with an interest in that history and those wanting to learn more about Bildung in selected works of Stifter will find what they are looking for in this book. The study offers a concise survey of the history of the term topos—from its origins in classical rhetoric and decline beginning in the eighteenth century—and a profile of the Topikforschung as a current within modern literary criticism, influenced by the works of the prominent Romanist Ernst Robert Curtius. Achenbach defines the topos as a "zeichenhaftes, im Gedächtnis gespeichertes Vorstellungsmuster" (19) for his analysis. The study presents the model of the topos and "topisches Denken," or thinking along the lines of the topos, as [End Page 63] a founding principle of literature and approaches the characters in Stifter's stories as "Konstrukte, an die sich kulturell determinierte Vorstellungsmuster anlagern" (3), with the aim to isolate these culturally determined cognitive patterns on the level of character development. Achenbach posits that topoi can only develop their full potential for literary analysis if critics address them by finding a "Deskriptor," a phrase that encapsulates the "Deskription," that is, the content of a pattern. In addition, the author utilizes charts to synthesize his findings from the close readings of individual texts. Achenbach limits the scope of his analysis to three different "Werkkomplexe": the stories "Die Narrenburg," "Turmalin," "Kazensilber," and "Der Waldbrunnen"; then, Die Mappe meines Urgroßvaters, with a focus on the second and fourth editions of the novella; and, lastly, the novel Der Nachsommer. This selection—which excludes most of Stifter's pre-1848 works—reflects Achenbach's assumption that different topoi can and do occur in more than one of Stifter's works and that Stifter's engagement with them often continued after their publication. For the benefit of his readers, Achenbach prefaces his own analysis in each of these sections with an account of the scholarship on each "Werkkomplex" and then follows up with a summary of individual findings before moving on to the next. In his textual analyses, Achenbach reconstructs how topoi related to Bildung manifest themselves, such as, for example, the topos of the "Mittelpunkt der kultivierten Natur" in the character of the "wilde Mädchen" in the first group of texts or the topos of the "Macht der Leidenschaften" in the Freiherr von Risach in Der Nachsommer. This methodology allows Achenbach to combine and systematize the findings of other scholars, leaving the reader with a detailed account of how the problem of Bildung recurs in different topoi across various texts. A strength of Achenbach's study, as the author himself highlights, is that the model of the topos as a comprehensive category accounts for central aspects of Stifter's prose such as artificiality, repetition, and (infamously) the lack of plot. Also, Achenbach's knowledge and adroit handling of the scholarship on Stifter makes his isolating and naming of individual topoi overall cogent. That the author chose to include graphic representations of these topoi is a welcome addition. There are still a few things to consider: The author...

The “Because Science” meme as virtual commonplace

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship in virtual rhetorics has demonstrated that we must abandon static notions of place if we wish to account for the rhetorical effects of internet memes and other forms of virtual argumentation. However, displacing virtual rhetorics entirely effaces grounds for collective political action, particularly political resistance organized in virtual environments such as internet forums. We can restore this crucial grounding, without sacrificing an orientation to circulation, by treating memes as commonplaces in a topological framework. A commonplace approach to virtual rhetorics further revivifies for us the essential virtuality of Aristotle’s original topical doctrine. This interanimation of current and classical rhetorics is dramatized via a case study of the ironic reversal of political polarity in the “Because Science” meme.

Klassieke retoriek as basis vir hedendaagse openbare spraakkommunikasieleerinhoude

This article explores a number of characteristics of the conceptual structure and teaching of classical rhetoric, and indicates that the subject contents of rhetoric were based at the outset on certain principles and con texts of public communication events in the world in which people lived. This approach to the identification of the subject contents of oral communication has not changed substantially over time, nor have the basic categories by which public communication was originally distinguished as a field of study. What has changed considerably, is the human concept of the fundamental nature and scope of communication principles and contexts, the perspectives from which it is approached and its ontological and philosophical basis. The ordering and systemisation of these are naturally expressed in a more comprehensive and scientific conceptual system than was the case in the classical era. In order to gain a thorough understanding of the complex system, however, It is necessary to study its classical rhetorical roots.

Comparison as a means of persuasion and a technique of manipulation: features of application in media space

Manipulative techniques of verbal communication have rather recently moved into the focus of research attention (classical rhetoric was focused on honest argumentation and touched upon the problem of manipulation only in terms of criticism of “unsuitable persuasion techniques” used by sophists). In numerous modern studies, virtually the entire tropic is considered to be manipulative techniques, and it remains unclear what transforms the method of enhancing figurativeness and expressiveness into a destructive method of latent influence. Of course, this ambiguity is generated by the essence of the object: to explain manipulativeness, it is necessary to dive into the spheres of the intentional, which is difficult to verify. However, it is extremely important to distinguish between the tropics in its original role, on the one hand, and tropics used for manipulative purposes, on the other. Based on discursive analysis, which makes it possible to identify manipulation, using the inductive-deductive method and the method of linguopragmatic analysis, the authors study the conditions under which the use of linguistic means in general and the comparison trope in particular becomes manipulative. On the example of the trope comparison the authors attempt to clarify the conditions of its incorrect, it means manipulative, use. Manipulation is destructive, even if it bases on the tropics, and therefore for the cultivation of public space it is necessary to detect this technique.

DIGITALIZATION OF RHETORIC IN XXI CENTURY

The article examines the essence and basic approaches to the interpretation of the concept of "digital rhetoric" in modern times, which is characterized by an extremely close combination of real and digital worlds. It is proposed to highlight another new stage - digital rhetoric, along with such generally accepted stages of rhetoric development as classical rhetoric and neorhetoric. The need to single out such the stage is explained by the general trends of changing communicative practice today.

The Visual Rhetoric of Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Fulfilling Noël Carroll’s Hopes for a Classification of Sight Gags

Abstract In his 1990s studies of visual humor, Noël Carroll left to “future researchers” the laborious task of developing a “comprehensive and rigorous classification of the phenomena” pertaining to “the sight gag.” Carroll contributed five possible items belonging to such a taxonomy, i. e., “the mutual interference gag” (e. g., a character’s perspective vs the viewer’s one), “mimed metaphors” (e. g., Chaplin’s bread rolls as dancing feet), “the object analog” (e. g., a tuba used as an umbrella), “the switch image” (i. e., reinterpretations forced by montage) and “the solution gag” (e. g., the character’s inventiveness surprises the viewer). Following the implicit reference to rhetoric built in the very names of some of these items, this article shows how the well-established tropes of classical rhetoric, indeed three hundred of them, can be employed, with a modicum of analogical creativity, in order to address the visual component of comedic sketches, as exemplified by Monty Python’s famous Flying Circus.

Alone Together: Poetics of the Passions in Late Medieval Iberia

Alone Together: Poetics of the Passions in Late Medieval Iberia

A holistic homiletical approach to preaching based on ancient and modern texts

This article proposes a homiletical model as an alternative to traditional homiletical approaches in response to the recent membership decline in evangelical churches in Korea. While socio-economic and sociocultural aspects may contribute to the membership decline, the article considers evangelical preaching and its alternative. Evangelical churches have been struggling with the decline of church membership since the early 2010s. While the Korean sociocultural value has changed, evangelical preaching has remained unchanged in its content and homiletical approach. The premises of this article considers how and what the preacher should preach in Korea by analysing and revisiting both classical persuasive rhetoric and the current homiletical approaches as a literature study. The literature study shows how both the elements of classical rhetoric and different homiletical approaches are evident in Paul’s speech at Areopagus in Acts 17. As a sample, the article shows how one can implement the new alternative homiletical approach to Judges 6 in the current social context in Korea. In the act of preaching, the message moves the listeners towards fulfilling God’s missional calling by engaging in the new norm of social distancing in these times of pandemic crisis.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The proposed holistic homiletical approach results from an interdisciplinary discussion synthesising non-religious classical rhetoric and modern religious homiletical approaches. Furthermore, the holistic approach treats different elements within classical rhetoric and homiletical approaches based on intradisciplinary discussion. The Korean preachers should consider the new proposed holistic model in response to church membership decline in Korea.

Marcin Kromer (1512–1589) w walce o reformę Kościoła w Polsce. „Sermo de tuenda dignitate sacerdotii”

The author of this article discusses the circumstances of delivering a speech Sermo de tuenda dignitate sacerdotii by Martinus Cromerus, analyzes its content and style. Proves that iuvenilis sermo is worth attention because of the author’s great rhetorical workshop, excellent biblical and patrological preparation as well as general erudition. The speech was composed according to the priciples of classical rhetoric and it is inspired by the speeches of Cicero.

The Double Use of the Locution ועתה as a Rhetorical Device in the Discourses of the Old Testament

In biblical texts, repetition is very often seen by scholars as an indication of an addition or of different sources. In the Old Testament we find a group of speeches characterized by the double or triple use of the adverbial phrase ועתה within the same speech. The phenomenon of double ועתה appears in seventeen texts: Gen 44:18–34; 45:4b-13; Exod 3:7–10; Josh 22:2–5; Ruth 3:10–13; 1 Sam 24:18–22; 26:18–20; 2 Sam 2:5–7; 19:10–11; 1 Kgs 5:17–20 (cf. 2 Chr 2:2–9); 8:23–53 (cf. 2 Chr 6:14–42); 18:9–14; 1 Chr 29:10–19; 2 Chr 2:11–15; 28:9–11; Ezra 10:2–4; Dan 9:4–19. In four cases it has to do with a triple use of ועתה , namely in Josh 14:6–12; 1 Sam 25:24–31; 2 Sam 7:18–29 (cf. 1 Chr 17:16–27) and Ezra 9:6–15. This study analyses these texts and tries to answer the questions raised by the repetition of the particle ועתה : Why use the same locution twice? What are the common characteristics of these discourses? And what is the origin of this phenomenon? The first part of the research is dedicated to the presentation of the general characteristics of ועתה , while the second part concerns the persuasive character of these discourses. The third part consists in the analysis of the function of the double ועתה in the structure of the discourses, as compared with classical rhetoric. The fourth part identifies the context of the speeches with the double/triple ועתה . Finally, the fifth part is dedicated (1) to the importance of the argumentation introduced by the first ועתה in a specific discourse, as it is related to a request for forgiveness (deprecatio), and (2) to the origins of the use of the double ועתה as a rhetorical device.

I'm Just a Rhetorical Dirtbag, Baby

Rhetoric has acquired a bad reputation in the modern age. Many hear the word in contemporary news and discourse and ideologically wince. It has gone from a neutral term to one that connotes deception and ill-intent. Rhetoric has also unfairly become synonymous with the Right-wing. In the following piece, I will argue that not only must rhetoric be stripped of its pejorative connotations, but that the spice and flair the Right unapologetically utilize must be wielded by the Left, with ethical moderations, of course. This piece will show how, by abandoning the pointless and outdated notions of impartiality and decorum, the Left can be more effective communicators and finally be on a level playing field with the Right.
 This paper was written as part of a course on Modern and Classical Rhetoric.

Civic rhetoric and social inclusion

Abstract The subject of the study is current civic rhetoric with regard to the inclusive rhetorical mechanisms employed in it. In classical rhetoric, we rely on the Aristotle’s deliberative type of rhetoric. We are interested in the citizen’s predisposition for involvement in deliberation (deliberative competence including its rhetorical aspect), the identity of rhetorical deliberative subjects, as well as the rhetorical procedures and genres in civic rhetoric. We work on the assumption that inequality of deliberation actors is the impetus for the creation of inclusive rhetoric. In this paper we distinguish three functions of inclusive rhetoric: (1) coordination function (coordination of various individual or group interests, opinions, intentions), (2) compensatory function (compensating for knowledge, information and other deficits) and (3) solidarity function (strengthening collectivity as a prerequisite for the influence and success of proposals in the negotiation phase of civic rhetoric. These particular functions characterize inclusive rhetoric in the public debate phase of civic rhetoric (i.e., deliberation in its own sense). We characterize and illustrate them through the rhetorical speeches and deliberative practices of the founder of the civic initiative IG24.

Pictorial as readable: ekphrasis in a literary work and reader’s p

The interaction of arts which poets, writers, artists, scholars and philosophers have always paid considerable attention, has gained popularity recently and it has been given serious consideration in art history, literary and cultural studies, and aesthetics. Some researchers explain a growing interest in the phenomenon of increasing significance of visuality in modern culture. The aim of the article is to clarify the status quo in the study of ekphrasis in literary and cultural studies. To achieve the aim pursued, the following research methods have been used: cultural-aesthetic, comparative and hermeneutic. The paper focuses on the concept of ekphrasis and its use in literary works and studies the current trends in the study of ekphrasis, regarding its definition, typology, functions, ekphrastic genre invariants, and reader’s perception of ekphrasis. Some exemplary instances of ekphrasis description in English ekphrastic poetry and emotive prose have been considered, and the verbal means of ekphrasis generation have been analysed. The analysis of the most popular works of domestic and foreign scholars such as: N.S. Bochkareva, L. Geller, N.N. Yefimova, A.Yu. Krivoruchko, V. Cunningham, J. Hollander, L. Spitzer and many others, has allowed to make the conclusion that most scholars use the definition of ekphrasis as a “poetic description of a pictorial or sculptural work of art” suggested by Leo Spitzer, although, the definition of ekphrasis as a “verbal representation of visual representation” of James Hefferman, which is a broader concept is also popular. Different classifications of ekphrasis have been suggested by the researchers. N. Braginskaya, for instance, distinguishes the dialogical and monological ekphrasis on the basis of the internal structure of the text, the main difference being the manner of presenting information to the reader. The typology of ekphrasis and its main functions are mainly given on the basis of creative works of a particular writer or poet and many researchers pay attention to sense general features of ekphrasis as the process which combines iconic and sign images in verbal discourse. Ekphrasis, being the representation of other arts in literature, expands considerably the narrative space. The origin of ekphrasis goes back to the ancient times where it is seen as a rhetorical device. In classical rhetoric, ekphrasis could refer virtually to any extended description of art objects. Ekphrasis, an ancient rhetorical term, has been now revived in academic circles, in the studies of art and literature. After languishing in obscurity until 1967, when Murray Krieger published a notable essay on it, ekphrasis is commanding major attention, “ploughing the inexhaustibly fertile ground where literature meets visual arts”. There are various approaches to the study of the ekphrastic tradition, and the historical approach being one of them, can be seen in many works. Ekphrasi in modern research is a multifaceted and polyfunctional phenomenon. The typology of ekphrasis and its main functions are mainly given on the basis of the particular poet`s or writer`s creative works, paying attention to some general features of ekphrasis which combines iconic and sign images in verbal discourse. The phenomenon of ekphrasis merits further consideration, especially, due to the availability of Liliane Louvel’s The Pictorial Third: An Essay into Intermedial Criticism, which provides the author’s innovative approach to the understanding of the relationships between the literary text and image.

The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity by Carolyn Eastman

Reviewed by: The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity by Carolyn Eastman Sandra M. Gustafson The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity. By Carolyn Eastman. Williamsburg, Va., and Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021. Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. 358 pages. Cloth, ebook. The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity is an impressive achievement. Carolyn Eastman's reconstruction of the life and career of the Scottish cultural entrepreneur James Ogilvie is at once deeply researched, expertly situated in several bodies of scholarship, and a delightful reading experience. From the title forward, The Strange Genius of Mr. O aims to appeal to both experts in the field of early American history and interested general readers. Eastman's study also has broad implications, engaging questions concerning the historical nature of celebrity, the place of opium in the transatlantic world, responses to religious skepticism in the early republic, constructions of masculinity both in the classical world and on the North American frontier, the different valences of oratorical and print culture, and the relationship of historical maladies to present-day understandings of mental illness. Tracing all these themes as they radiate from the core narrative of Ogilvie's life, Eastman provides her readers with a tale of postrevolutionary America that underscores central tensions between the classical republican thought that fueled the revolution and the emerging realities of a modern commercial republic. The "strange genius" that Ogilvie possessed was a talent for oratory, which he transformed into a lucrative performance art while advocating for its central role in a republican system of education. Ogilvie's choice of form has a distinctly antiquarian flavor today, when people give speeches, addresses, sermons, or lectures but not "orations." Ogilvie, though, belonged to a world where oratory was not only a recognized practice; it was celebrated as the preeminent republican genre. Ogilvie made a name for himself as a celebrity orator starting late in the first decade of the nineteenth century. But he sank into oblivion within a few years, in part because of his lingering association with atheism. This too reflected specific features of the early republic; as Eastman notes, the modern sense of "celebrity"—that is, one who is fashionable or popular—emerged [End Page 315] later in the United States than in Britain or France. In Ogilvie's day, the term retained the sense of an "exemplary" (129) figure, a meaning that complicated his reception, particularly after his religious skepticism came to public attention. A relevant body of scholarship that Eastman overlooks is the work of the historians who analyzed early American political culture through the lens of "classical republicanism"—Bernard Bailyn, Gordon S. Wood, J. G. A. Pocock, and Joyce Appleby, among others—emphasizing the Renaissance-era recovery of Greek and Roman thought and its impact on Europe's North American colonies.1 As one influential aspect of this movement, classical oratory was elevated to a place of eminence in the political imagination and given a central role in higher education. Students were trained in classical rhetoric, read orations by Demosthenes and Cicero, and practiced to become great orators themselves. The republican enthusiasm for oratory shaped a public culture in which Dr. Joseph Warren's decision to wear a toga while delivering the annual Boston Massacre Oration in 1775 evoked, as Eastman notes, "the classical opposition to tyranny" (146).2 By the time Ogilvie donned a toga for his lecture tour of the United States in the 1810s, his mode of dress had become such an unremarkable feature of modern republican iconography that reviewers rarely mentioned it; indeed, Eastman notes that by the early 1800s, the toga no longer conveyed a revolutionary spirit but rather signified "the social stability of a culture that would not succumb to extralegal violence, as had the French Revolution" (146). The common thread linking these two meanings of the toga was devotion to the preservation of the republic, whether from foreign tyranny or internal disorder. The significance that Eastman assigns to Ogilvie's Roman attire captures...

Rabbis and Classical Rhetoric: Sophistic Education and Oratory in the Talmud and Midrash, written by Hidary, Richard

Rabbis and Classical Rhetoric: Sophistic Education and Oratory in the Talmud and Midrash, written by Hidary, Richard

Lives, Letters, and Quilts: Women and Everyday Rhetorics of Resistance by Vanessa Kraemer Sohan

Reviewed by: Lives, Letters, and Quilts: Women and Everyday Rhetorics of Resistance by Vanessa Kraemer Sohan Sarah Walden Vanessa Kraemer Sohan. Lives, Letters, and Quilts: Women and Everyday Rhetorics of Resistance. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2019 232 pp. ISBN 978-0-8173-2038-6 In Lives, Letters, and Qailts, Vanessa Kraemer Sohan argues for the value of “everyday rhetorics of resistance” or “the conscious, purposeful recontextualization of the seemingly ordinary means and materials available in order to mediate thought and action, and to persuade others” (3). She examines three women or groups of women who demonstrate the power of persistent, everyday acts that recontextualize the means available to them in a particular time, place, and space. Throughout the book Sohan emphasizes two key arguments. First, she argues for the importance of a translingual and transmodal framework in order to avoid oversimplifying language, to understand difference as the norm, to “recover and reclaim the ways individual composers recontextualize within and across languages, genres, modes, and media,” and to adopt “more democratic and descriptive approaches to language” (9). Sohan’s second key argument involves the need to expand what counts as rhetoric, to redefine resistance, and to reframe how scholars situate rhetors who do not necessarily fit within the typical heroic narratives. For example, when Sohan discusses the ministry of Eliza P. Gurney, she describes the legend that one of Gurney’s letters was in President Abraham Lincoln’s breast pocket the night he was assassinated. She writes, in one of the most powerful lines of the book, that this myth serves as “a reminder of how a powerful, feminist rhetorical figure can be pigeonholed and, as a result, remain hidden in plain sight, because her rhetorical practice is evaluated solely in relation to the men with whom she came in contact, rather than on its own merit” (70-71). Sohan’s commitment to feminist rhetorical scholarship is clear throughout the book as she works to articulate and examine the everyday rhetoric available to women and to argue for its value as a site of study. In chapter one, Sohan explores the letter-writing campaigns of the Townsend Movement, a populist movement that advocated pension reform for the elderly by establishing local clubs that could organize and promote the plan through letter-writing campaigns, voter-registration drives, and petitions. These clubs promoted literacy through workshopping letter-writing, which allowed members to “collaboratively imagine” their future without financial worries (41). Pearl Buckhalter, president of the Oregon [End Page 209] City, Oregon, Townsend Club No. 1, is an example of a leader who recontextualized the means available to position herself as an expert, using her own experience as her ethos, rather than simply repeating the words prescribed by Townsend headquarters (52). Sohan argues convincingly that the translingual and transmodal literacy practices of the Townsend Movement allowed individuals like Buckhalter to transform their lives through the literacy training they receive as part of their activism, even if the movement they promote ultimately fails, as the Townsend Movement did. Nevertheless, she argues, this is exactly why rhetorical scholars must fight against the impulse to examine only heroic narratives of activism and must include the everyday in their analyses. In chapter two, Sohan examines the life and work of Quaker minister and activist Eliza P. Gurney. Gurney, Sohan argues, skillfully blends the epideictic form of classical rhetoric with the “nondirective, nonconfrontational, conversational rhetorical approach” of the Quaker community (71-72). Sohan examines several key parts of her ministry: her development as a minister, her traveling ministry in Europe, and her relationship with President Lincoln. Sohan argues that Gurney harnessed silence and kairos to establish an ethos with potentially hostile audiences, at a time when ethos was assumed to be more fixed than fluid. In her discussion of Gurney’s meeting and correspondence with Lincoln, Sohan demonstrates how Gurney recontextualized the epideictic to develop a relationship with the president and to plead with him to imagine a more peaceful and just world. In this chapter, Sohan significantly builds on prior scholarship on Gurney to establish her as a skillful activist and rhetorician through a detailed exploration of Gurney’s speeches, letters, and meetings. Chapter three is perhaps...

Language and style in The Gruffalo

This article studies the popular children’s book The Gruffalo (1999) written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Its popularity is attested to by the fact that the book has sold over 13.5 million copies and has been translated into more than 80 different languages. The question that this article seeks to address is, to what extent has the language and style of The Gruffalo played a part in these commercial and cultural achievements? The article primarily explores the phenomena of meter, rhyme, rhythm and lexical repetition from interrelated linguistic and stylistic perspectives. It also brings these findings into a dialogue with some of the precepts and principles from both classical rhetoric and modern orality theory, especially pertaining to memory and delivery. Having weighed the linguistic evidence, the supposition is put forward that it is highly probable that the motivated language choices that have been made by the author, and the way those choices have been arranged and deployed in the story, have played a substantial role in the book’s success.