Hawhee, Debra : University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Summary
Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students revives the classical strategies of ancient Greek and Roman rhetoricians
and adapts them to the needs of contemporary writers and speakers.
This is a fresh interpretation of the ancient canons of composing: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.
It shows that rhetoric, as it was practiced and taught by the ancients, was an intrinsic part of daily life and
of communal discourse about current events. This book gives special emphasis to classic strategies of invention,
devoting separate chapters to stasis theory, common and special topics, formal topics, ethos, pathos, extrinsic
proofs, and Aristotelian means of reasoning. The authors' engaging discussion and their many contemporary examples
of ancient rhetorical principles present rhetoric as a set of flexible, situational practices. This practical history
draws the most relevant and useful concepts from ancient rhetorics and discusses, updates, and offers them for
use in the contemporary composition classroom.
Features :
Lively, contemporary examples show rhetoric in everyday practice in civic discourse.
Ancient means of invention, including kairos, stasis theory, and the commonplaces, receive extensive treatment.
Treatment of argument covers arguments from ethos and pathos, and the chapter on commonplaces emphasizes political
argument.
Ancient rhetorical exercises, the progymnasmata, are explained and exemplified throughout.
A brief history of ancient rhetorics gives students necessary and interesting background information about
their course of study.
Chapter on memory includes advice for strengthening memory.
Relevance of classical commonplaces to American political ideologies is thoroughly discussed.
New To This Edition :
Chapters on the commonplaces and ideology, memory, and delivery have been rewritten.
Sections on cultural memory and visual rhetoric now appear in the chapters on memory and delivery respectively.
The brief history of ancient rhetorics now appears as a part of Chapter 1.
The chapter on reasoning (logos) now appears before the chapters on ethos and pathos.
New examples drawn from popular and academic writing about controversial issues appear throughout the text.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
1. Ancient Rhetorics: Their Differences and the Difference They Make.
INVENTION.
2. Kairos and the Rhetorical Situation: Seizing the Moment.
3. Stasis Theory: Asking the Right Questions.
4. The Common Topics and the Common Places: Finding the Available Means.
5. Logical Proof: Reasoning in Rhetoric.
6. Ethical Proof: Arguments from Character.
7. Pathetic Proof: Passionate Appeals.
8. Extrinsic Proofs: Arguments Waiting to Be Used.
ARRANGEMENT.
9. The Sophistic Topics: Define, Divide, and Conquer.
10. Arrangement: Getting It Together.
STYLE, MEMORY, AND DELIVERY.
11. Style: Composition and Ornament.
12. Memory: The Treasure-House of Invention.
13. Delivery: Attending to Eyes and Ears.
RHETORICAL EXERCISES.
14. Imitation: Achieving Copiousness.
15. The Progymnasmata, or Rhetorical Exercises.
Glossary of Terms.
Appendices.
Bibliography.
Index.
