This book joins together two vital scholarly traditions: rhetorical criticism and critical studies. With updated examples from popular culture throughout the text; updated material on Marxist, psychoanalytic, feminist, media-centered, and culture-centered criticism; as well as a new discussion on "super-signs", neo-Aristotelian methods, and intertextuality, the text enables students to apply the growing and cutting-edge methodologies of critical studies to the study of rhetoric, and to link those new approaches to the rhetorical tradition.
Table of Contents
Preface Part I: Theory 1. Rhetoric and Popular Culture The Rhetoric of Everyday Life The Building Blocks of Culture: Signs The Building Blocks of Culture: Artifacts Definitions of Culture Characteristics of Cultures Summary and Review Looking Ahead 2. Rhetoric and the Rhetorical Tradition Definitions in General The Rhetorical Tradition: Ancient Greece Two Legacies from the Greek Rhetorical Tradition Definitions of Rhetoric after Plato Rhetoric in the Eighteenth Century New Theoreis (and Realities) Emerge in the Twentieth Century Interrelated Twentieth Century Changes The Texts of Popular Culture Summary and Review Looking Ahead 3. Rhetorical Methods in Critical Studies Texts as Sites of Struggle Three Characteristics of Critical Studies Finding a Text Defining a Context "Inside" the Text The Text in Context: Metonymy, Power, Judgment Summary and Review Looking Ahead 4. Varieties of Rhetorical Criticism An Introduction to Critical Perspectives Marxist Criticism Visual Rhetorical Criticism Psychoanalytic Criticism Feminist Criticism Dramatistic/Narrative Criticism Media-centered Criticism Culture-centered Criticism Summary and Review Looking Ahead Part II: Application 5. Paradoxes of Personalization: Race Relations in Milwaukee The Problem of Personalization The Scene and Focal Events Tragedy and Metonymy The Paradox of Identification The Paradox of Action: The Public and the Personal Some Solutions Stepping Back from the Critique 6. On Hip Hop, Written with the Help of the Reader Hip Hop Is about African Americans False Claim #1: African American Culture Is Violent False Claim #2: African American Culture is Sexual False Claim #3: African American Culture Is Crassly Materialistic Conclusion 7. Simulational Selves, Simulational Culture in Groundhog Day Simulation and Groundhog Day 8. Media and Representation in Rec.Motorcycles Tokens of Expertise Tokens of Experience Conclusion Works Cited Suggested Readings Marxist Criticism Visual Rhetorical Criticism Psychoanalytic Criticism Feminist Rhetorical Criticism Dramatistic/Narrative Criticism Culture-centered Criticism Media-centered Criticism
Author Biography
Barry Brummett is the Charles Sapp Centennial Professor in Communication and Department of Communication Studies Chair at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Brummett has authored several articles and books, including Rhetoric in Popular Culture (Sage), A Rhetoric of Style (Southern Illinois University), and Rhetorical Homologies: Form, Culture, Experience (University of Alabama). He studies the rhetoric of popular culture and the theories of Kenneth Burke.
