Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy: The Living Art of Michael C. Leff(Rhetoric & Public Affairs)

What distinguishes the study of rhetoric from other pursuits in the liberal arts? From what realms of human existence and expression, of human history, does such study draw its defining character? What, in the end, should be the purposes of rhetorical inquiry? And amid so many competing accounts of discourse, power, and judgment in the contemporary world, how might scholars achieve these purposes through the attitudes and strategies that animate their work? Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy: The Living Art of Michael C. Leff offers answers to these questions by introducing the central insights of one of the most innovative and prolific rhetoricians of the twentieth century, Michael C. Leff. This volume charts Leff ’s decades-long development as a scholar, revealing both the variety of topics and the approach that marked his oeuvre, as well as his long-standing critique of the disciplinary assumptions of classical, Hellenistic, renaissance, modern, and postmodern rhetoric. Rethinking Rhetorical Theory, Criticism, and Pedagogy includes a synoptic introduction to the evolution of Leff ’s thought from his time as a graduate student in the late 1960s to his death in 2010, as well as specific commentary on twenty-four of his most illuminating essays and lectures.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction Part 1. Greek and Latin Rhetorical Theory Tradition and Agency in Humanistic Rhetoric The Uses of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Contemporary American Scholarship Genre and Paradigm in the Second Book of De Oratore The Topics of Argumentative Invention in Latin Rhetorical Theory from Cicero to Boethius Part 2. Contemporary Extensions of Classical Rhetorical Theory Piety, Propriety, and Perspective: An Interpretation and Application of Key Terms in Kenneth Burke’s Permanence and Change (with Thomas Rosteck) Topical Invention and Metaphoric Interaction Up from Theory: Or I Fought the Topoi and the Topoi Won The Habitation of Rhetoric Decorum and Rhetorical Interpretation: The Latin Humanistic Tradition and Contemporary Critical Theory In Search of Ariadne’s Thread: A Review of the Recent Literature on Rhetorical Theory Part 3. Theories of Criticism Interpretation and the Art of the Rhetorical Critic Textual Criticism: The Legacy of G. P. Mohrmann Words Most like Things: Iconicity and the Rhetorical Text (with Andrew Sachs) Things Made by Words: Reflections on Textual Criticism Hermeneutical Rhetoric Part 4. The Practice of Rhetorical Criticism Lincoln at Cooper Union: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Text (with G. P. Mohrmann) Lincoln at Cooper Union: A Rationale for Neo-Classical Criticism (with G. P. Mohrmann) Instrumental and Constitutive Rhetoric in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (with Ebony A. Utley) Lincoln among the Nineteenth-Century Orators Part 5. Rhetorical Pedagogy Teaching Public Speaking as Composition Kenneth Burke in the Classroom Theory and Practice in Undergraduate Education Cultivating the Useless: Rhetoric and Liberal Arts Education in an Age of Consumerism What Is Rhetoric?

About the Author :
Antonio De Velasco is associate professor of rhetoric in the Department of Communication at the University of Memphis. John Angus Campbell is professor emeritus in the Department of Communication at the University of Memphis. David Henry is chair and Sanford Berman Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Review :
“Featuring both canonical essays and lesser- known works, this book brings together studies demonstrating the sweep and depth of Leff ’s distinguished scholarship. It reminds us how much rhetorical studies have been enriched by the commitment, insight, and passion of this remarkable man.” —David Zarefsky, Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus of Argumentation and Debate, professor emeritus of Communication Studies, Northwestern University