To open discussion today, I want to start with a quote from Brooks' "The Formalist Critics" that seems to offer an excellent transition into a useful consideration of rhetorical analysis: Literature is not inimical to ideas. It thrives upon ideas but does not present ideas patly and neatly. It involves them with the "recalcitrant stuff …
Formalism, Using Blogs in Class
I just received the MLA edition on teaching contemporary theory to undergraduates I ordered in preparation for my courses this term, and on a quick browse, it looks less useful than I thought it would be--that is, more theoretical. Which is not bad, but telling.... Why do we assume that if a text like this …