The Rhetorical Imagination Of Kenneth Burke

Blending the genres of biography, intellectual history, and rhetorical theory, this study presents an analysis of Burke's (1897-1993) early essays and his eight theoretical works, placing them in the context of their social and political history. Wolin (humanities and rhetoric, Boston University) casts each work as a re-articulation and extension of the ideas imbedded in Burke's previous efforts. The tactics of conflict, cooperation, and motivation are emphasized. c. Book News Inc.

"The system is a coherent and total vision, a self-contained and internally consistent way of viewing man, the various scenes in which he lives, and the drama of human relations enacted upon those scenes."—W. H. Rueckert, Kenneth Burke and the Drama of Human Relations

Kenneth Burke's Logology And Literary Criticism by Robert Garlitz Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (December 21, 2004) ISBN: 1413464084 DESCRIPTION One of America's greatest writers, critics and theorists, Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) engaged questions in nearly every field of knowledge and studied the ways language and literature relate to symbolic action in all aspects of life. His works have influenced the fields of aesthetics, ethics, rhetoric, communication, semiotics, and sociology, as well as literary studies. Kenneth Burke's Logology and Literary Criticism emphasizes the importance of religious ideas and religious rhetoric in the development of his work. "My Outlaw Book" is how Burke himself often referred to his book The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology. Robert Garlitz closely studies the four essays on Logology and argues that they show us more clearly than many of his other books the analogical forms of thought that shape Burke's brilliant contributions to twentieth century American letters. Garlitz concludes his book with a logological meditation on Joseph Conrad's epic novel, Nostromo. An Appendix publishes for the first time seven letters Kenneth Burke wrote to Garlitz in 1980-81. "One of the best studies of The Rhetoric of Religion . . . . Quite good for its detail, accuracy, and clarity. Garlitz is especially adept at putting complex material in perspective. More than other commentators . . .he fully recognizes the centrality of the analogy at the heart of the book, embracing the logic-narrative problem that Burke contemplates." --Ross Wolin author of The Rhetorical Imagination of Kenneth Burke. University of South Carolina Press, 2001. Robert Garlitz received his PhD from the University of Chicago and is Professor of English at Plymouth State University. He is the author of Robert Lax: Speaking Into Silence and with Rupert Loydell, Snowshoes Across the Clouds.

Kenneth Burke was an influential thinker, literary critic, and rhetorician in the transition between the 20th and 21st centuries. This volume, edited by an influential Burkean scholar, addresses the question: Who was Burke and how can his work be helpful to those who must face new problems and challenges?

Kenneth Burke and Contemporary European Thought reflects the present transitory nature of rhetoric and society. Its purpose is to relate the rhetorical theory and critical approaches of American critic Kenneth Burke to four major European philosophers - Jurgen Habermas, Ernesto Grassi, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida - as they discuss the nature of language and its central role in society. Supporting transitory forces in society, all these thinkers reject traditional, scientific, objective, reductionist thought and point to language or symbols as the basis for understanding experience and knowledge. Burke, Habermas, and Grassi approach language by establishing global theories. In contrast to these global approaches, Foucault and Derrida attack language and the human situation microscopically. Michel Foucault examines "discursive practices" to discover relationships among the concepts of rhetoric, knowledge, and power. Derrida focuses on the methods of difference and deconstruction because he believes human beings are trapped by their own language, which inherently carries multiple meanings that need to be unpacked or deconstructed.

Kenneth Burke, arguably the most important American literary theorist of the twentieth century, helped define the theoretical terrain for contemporary literary and cultural studies. His perspectives were literary and linguistic, but his influences ranged across history, philosophy, and the social sciences. In this important study, first published in 1996, Robert Wess traces the trajectory of Burke's long career and situates his work in relation to postmodernity. His study is both an examination of contemporary theories of rhetoric, ideology, and the subject, and an explanation of why Burke failed to complete his Motives trilogy. Burke's own critique of the 'isolated unique individual' led him to question the possibility of unique individuation, a strategy which anticipated important elements of postmodern concepts of subjectivity. Robert Wess' study is a judicious exposition of Burke's massive oeuvre, and a crucial intervention in debates on rhetoric and human agency.

A deconstructive reading of the three texts that constitute the apex of Burke's career: A Grammar of Motives, A Rhetoric of Motives, and The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology. Confronting challenges posed by postmodernity to social theorists and critics alike, Biesecker (U. of Iowa) argues that a radicalized rereading of Burke's theory of the negative opens the way toward a rhetorical theory of social change and human agency. Of interest to philosophers, social theorists, graduate students, and precocious undergraduates. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR