Courses

This course introduces graduate students to rhetorical theory as a techne: a theory-driven craft of doing and making things. We will survey the major rhetoricians of the classical period, the Renaissance, the 20th century, and today, with an emphasis on primary texts. As we do, we will discover that rhetorical theory gives us tools to teach and offer critical responses to questions of enduring import: How do words make peace
(and war)? How does language make people change their minds? How does speech make a person identify as a member of a group? What kinds of expertise do ethical speakers need, and how can we teach our students those skills? Our study will move chronologically, situating major rhetorical theorists in their political and social moments to illuminate theories about the role of words and images in the negotiation of persuasion, meaning making, and the formation of the public.

Rhetoric is what Richard McKeon calls an “architectonic” discipline. It explains and orders all other disciplines. For this reason, graduate students not only in English & Comparative Literature but in all disciplines will find existing scholarly conversations on rhetoric to take part in. You will also find many models of scholars who bring rhetorical theory to bear in research and teaching within your discipline. While our main focus will be Western rhetorics, we will also encounter African, East Asian, and South Asian theories, and you are welcome to explore these traditions further in your course projects.