Emerson and the History of Rhetoric

Author:   Roger Thompson
Publisher:   Southern Illinois University Press
ISBN:  

9780809336128


Pages:   176
Publication Date:   27 October 2017
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Emerson and the History of Rhetoric


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Overview

Much has been written about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s fundamental contributions to American literature and culture as an essayist, philosopher, lecturer, and poet. However, despite wide agreement among literary and rhetorical scholars on the need for further study of Emerson as a rhetorical theorist, not much has been published on the subject. Emerson and the History of Rhetoric fills this gap in our knowledge, reenvisioning Emerson’s work through his significant engagement with rhetorical theory throughout his career and providing a more profound understanding of Emerson’s influence on American ideology. Moving beyond dominant literary critical thinking about Emerson’s public speaking by discussing it in the context of rhetorical history, Thompson argues that for Emerson, rhetoric was both imaginative and nonsystematic. The book covers the influences of rhetoricians from a range of periods on Emerson’s model of rhetoric, including Plato, Augustine, Edmund Burke, and Hugh Blair. Thompson analyzes Emerson’s application of Plato’s search for transcendental truth and democratic access to the means of persuasion; the Ciceronian rhetoric of Edmund Burke, which Emerson conceived as the perfect balance between common and aristocratic speech; and Augustine’s idea of submission. Drawing on Emerson’s manuscript notes, journal entries, and some of his rarely discussed essays and lectures as well as his more famous works, the author demonstrates not only Emerson’s relevance to rhetorical history but also rhetorical history’s relevance to Emerson and nineteenth-century American literature and culture. This book bridges the divide between literary and rhetorical studies, expanding our understanding of this iconic nineteenth-century man of letters.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roger Thompson
Publisher:   Southern Illinois University Press
Imprint:   Southern Illinois University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.280kg
ISBN:  

9780809336128


ISBN 10:   080933612
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   27 October 2017
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

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Reviews

The scholarship behind this brief study is superior, indeed prodigious. Thompson freshly brings rhetorical history to Emerson and Emerson to students of rhetoric. Few readers on either side will fail to be enlightened. --Phyllis Cole, author of Toward a Female Genealogy of Transcendentalism and past president of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society I have sensed for some time that Emerson is important to the study of rhetoric--and, particularly, American rhetoric--but I have not found a thorough summary explanation of how that is so. Roger Thompson's unpretentious and careful book provides precisely that sort of explanation in ways that offer a fresh perspective on Emerson's rhetorical theory and practice. His examination of this Emersonian rhetoric is rich, and as he juxtaposes his findings with current research and scholarship in rhetorical studies he informs and invites further work in rhetorical theory and, in particular, American rhetoric. --Gregory Clark, author of Civic Jazz: American Music and Kenneth Burke on the Art of Getting Along


The scholarship behind this brief study is superior, indeed prodigious. Thompson freshly brings rhetorical history to Emerson and Emerson to students of rhetoric. Few readers on either side will fail to be enlightened. --Phyllis Cole, author of Toward a Female Genealogy of Transcendentalism and past president of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society I have sensed for some time that Emerson is important to the study of rhetoric--and, particularly, American rhetoric--but I have not found a thorough summary explanation of how that is so. Roger Thompson's unpretentious and careful book provides precisely that sort of explanation in ways that offer a fresh perspective on Emerson's rhetorical theory and practice. His examination of this Emersonian rhetoric is rich, and as he juxtaposes his findings with current research and scholarship in rhetorical studies he informs and invites further work in rhetorical theory and, in particular, American rhetoric. --Gregory Clark, author of Civic Jazz: American Music and Kenneth Burke on the Art of Getting Along


Author Information

Roger Thompson is an associate professor and the director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stony Brook University. He is the coeditor of four books, including The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: ""De doctrina Christiana"" and the Search for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric. His essays on rhetoric and Emerson have been published in a number of journals and books. He is a member of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society advisory board.

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