DOCSLIB.ORG

Ivan's Final Dissertation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ivan's Final Dissertation Copyright by Ivan Angus Wolfe 2009 The Dissertation Committee for Ivan Angus Wolfe certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Arguing In Utopia: Edward Bellamy, Nineteenth Century Utopian Fiction, and American Rhetorical Culture Committee: Jeffrey Walker, Supervisor Mark Longaker Martin Kevorkian Trish Roberts-Miller Janet Davis Gregory Clark Arguing In Utopia: Edward Bellamy, Nineteenth Century Utopian Fiction, and American Rhetorical Culture by Ivan Angus Wolfe, A.A.S.; B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of English The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2009 Dedication To Alexandra Acknowledgements I would like to thank my entire dissertation committee for their invaluable feedback during every step of my writing process. Jeffrey Walker was an invaluable director, always making time for my questions and responding with feedback to my chapters in a timely manner. Martin Kevorkian, Mark Longaker, Janet Davis, and Trish Roberts-Miller all also gave excellent advice and made themselves available whenever I needed them. Gregory Clark not only provided the initial impetus for my interest in this area, but graciously joined the committee despite his numerous commitments. Most graduate students would feel blessed to have such a conscientious and careful committee. I would also like to thank my wife, Alexandra, for her help. She has likely read this dissertation more times than anyone but me. Elizabeth Cullingford also deserves special thanks for being an excellent English department chair and making me feel welcome my first semester at UT as her Teaching Assistant for E316K. Linda Ferreira-Buckley also has done a remarkable job in her capacity as the chair for the department of rhetoric and writing, and Wayne Lesser has been very helpful as a graduate advisor. I could name several more people here, but overall I would like to thank the entire community in the UT-Austin English and Rhetoric departments for being supportive, helpful, and welcoming. v Arguing In Utopia: Edward Bellamy, Nineteenth Century Utopian Fiction, and American Rhetorical Culture Publication No._____________ Ivan Angus Wolfe, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2009 Supervisor: Jeffrey Walker As Aristotle wrote, rhetoric is an art or faculty of finding the available means of persuasion in a given circumstance, and the late nineteenth century was a time in American history when many authors used utopian fiction as the best available means of persuasion. For a few years, the utopian novel became a widespread, versatile and common rhetorical trope. Edward Bellamy was the most popular of these writers. Bellamy’s utopian novel Looking Backward was not only the third best-selling book of nineteenth century America, it inspired over a hundred other utopian novels and helped create a mass movement of “Bellamy clubs” along with a political party (Nationalism). During the latter part of the nineteenth century, American public discourse underwent a general shift from a focus on communal values to a focus on individuals as the source of truth. Utopian fiction of the era helps illuminate why and how this shift occurred. In nineteenth century America, literature was generally not considered to be rhetorical. At most, critics treated fiction as a form of epideictic rhetoric, aiming only to vi delight, educate, or create discussion. When fiction was used to promote legislative agendas and thus entered into the realm of deliberative rhetoric, critics argued that its transgression of rhetorical boundaries supposedly ruined its appeal. Utopian literature came the closest to breaking down the barriers between literature and rhetoric, as hundreds of utopian novels were published, most of them in response to Edward Bellamy. A close rhetorical reading of Looking Backward details its rhetorical nature and helps account for its rhetorical success. I treat each of the novels as participants in the larger cultural conversation, and detail the ways in which they address Bellamy, each other, and issues such as the temperance movement and the decline of classical languages in higher education. In modern times, though Bellamy has faded from the public memory, he has proven useful in a variety of contexts, from a political punching bag to a way to lend an air of erudition to various types of popular fiction. vii Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................................................... 01 Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Edward Bellamy in a Rhetorical Context.............. 08 Chapter 2: Looking Closely at Looking Backward ............................................. 30 Chapter 3: Booth, Burke, and Bellamy: Utopian Conversations ......................... 78 Chapter 4: Utopia Comes to an End..................................................................155 Chapter 5: Bellamy as Rhetorical Trope ...........................................................193 Afterword.........................................................................................................234 Works Cited .....................................................................................................236 Vita... ...............................................................................................................252 viii Introduction Rhetoric is, as Aristotle said, “the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion,” and while that definition is subject to clarification (Kenneth Burke’s claim that rhetoric also includes “identification,” for example), I find this to be the best available definition of rhetoric. This dissertation deals with a time when one of the best “available means of persuasion” came in the form of utopian novels. Thus, I have two primary audiences in mind. And when one has more than one audience to address, the “available means” of presenting your case in order to persuade that audience can become complex. In your attempts to appeal to one audience, you may bore or offend another. The first audience I aim to address are rhetoricians, and more specifically those who study the history of rhetoric. In the history of rhetoric, literature (including utopian literature) receives scant attention. At most, poetry receives some attention because of the historical connection between the two disciplines (along with shared material in historical handbooks that teach rhetoric and poetry). Literature sometimes receives consideration as a form of epideictic rhetoric, but rhetorical historians often pass it over in favor of the other two major branches of rhetoric, judicial and deliberative, usually with a focus on pedagogy. Reading through George Kennedy’s Classical Rhetoric and Its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times, Thomas M. Conley’s Rhetoric in the European Tradition, Thomas P. Miller’s The Formation of College English: Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the British Cultural Provinces, or any other standard history of rhetoric makes this point quite clear. All of the aforementioned works mostly skip over literature, often relegating it to the realm of belles lettres or leaving it 1 out of the picture. Even more focused discussions of the history of rhetoric, such as Gregory Clark and S. Michael Halloran’s Oratorical Culture in Nineteenth-Century America: Transformations in the Theory and Practice of Rhetoric and Thomas W. Benson’s Rhetoric and Political Culture in Nineteenth-Century American may mention literature in passing, but they mostly focus on speeches and writing outside the realm of literature. There are, of course, many academic attempts to look at literature from a rhetorical perspective, or in the context of rhetorical practices of the time. Janet Gabler- Hover’s Truth in American Fiction: The Legacy of Rhetorical Idealism uses ideas of rhetorical truth in nineteenth-century America as a way to understand the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, and others. However, even there a wall separates rhetoric and literature, and they are treated as two separate entities. Steven Mailloux’s excellent books Rhetorical Power and Reception Histories, which introduce his idea of “rhetorical hermeneutics” or “us[ing] rhetoric to practice theory by doing history” (Reception Histories ix), allow for valuable insights into the way that literary (and other) texts were received by American culture – but he still does not place literature into the history of rhetoric. For Mailloux, rhetoric is a way to analyze history, but he does not treat literature as part of the history of the practice of rhetoric. Even Wayne Booth’s justifiably celebrated The Rhetoric of Fiction only treats rhetoric as one way to discuss literature – Booth approaches literature through rhetoric, rather than as rhetoric. In the end, we are left with rhetoric and literature as separate domains that only occasionally cross over. However, there are some works that do help detail the ways rhetoric and literature are not completely separate. Jeffrey Walker’s Rhetoric and Poetics in Antiquity 2 details the relationships between the two and helps show the boundaries are not as clear cut as they often seem. This dissertation is done with much the same aim. Literature can not only do rhetorical work, it can function as the type of rhetoric histories of rhetoric tend to discuss. Utopian fiction explicitly functions as both literature
Load more

Recommended publications
  • American Political Thought: Readings and Materials Keith E. Whittington
    American Political Thought: Readings and Materials Keith E. Whittington Index of Materials for Companion Website 2. The Colonial Era, Before 1776 II. Democracy and Liberty John Adams, Letter to James Sullivan (1776) John Cotton, The Bloudy Tenent Washed and Made White (1647) John Cotton, Letter to Lord Say and Seal (1636) Jacob Duche, The Duty of Standing Fast in Our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties (1775) Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) James Otis, Rights of the British Colony Asserted and Proved (1764) Elisha Williams, The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants (1744) Roger Williams, The Bloudy Tenent Yet More Bloudy (1652) John Winthrop, Arbitrary Government Described (1644) John Winthrop, A Defense of an Order of Court (1637) John Winthrop, Defense of the Negative Vote (1643) III. Citizenship and Community Agreement among the Settlers of Exeter, New Hampshire (1639) Combination of the Inhabitants of the Piscataqua River for Government (1641) Robert Cushman, The Sin and Danger of Self-Love (1621) Fundamental Agreement, or Original Constitution of the Colony of New Haven (1639) Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty Speech (1775) William Livingston, “The Vanity of Birth and Titles” (1753) Oath of a Freeman in Massachusetts Bay (1632) Thomas Tryon, The Planter’s Speech to His Neighbors and Countrymen (1684) IV. Equality and Status Address of the Mechanics of New York City (1776) Jonathan Boucher, Sermon on the Peace (1763) Charles Inglis, The True Interest of America (1776) William Knox, Three Tracts Respecting the Conversion (1768) William Byrd, Letter to Lord Egmont (1736) Samuel Sewall, The Selling of Joseph (1700) John Saffin, A Brief and Candid Answer (1701) John Woolman Some Considerations on Keeping Negroes (1762) V.
    [Show full text]
  • The Salon of Mabel Dodge
    DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91125 THE SALON OF MABEL DODGE Robert A. Rosenstone To be published in Peter Quennell, ed., Salon (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980). HUMANITIES WORKING PAPER 24 January 1979 THE SALON OF ~WillEL DODGE Robert A. Rosenstone Mabel Dodge's salon ••• burst upon New York like a rocket. Margaret Sanger It was the only successful salon I have ever seen in America. Lincoln Steffens Many famous salons have been established by women of wit or beauty; Mabel's was the only one ever established by pure will power. And it was no second-rate salon; everybody in the ferment of ideas could be found there. Max Eastman 2 It is indeed the happy woman who has no history, for by happy we mean the loving and beloved, and by history we designate all those relatable occurences on earth caused by the human energies seeking other outlets than the biological one. • . That I have so many pages to write signifies, solely, that I was unlucky in love. Most of the pages are about what I did instead •. Mabel Dodge 1 Mabel Dodge was rich and attractive and more than a little lucky. For two years -- from 1912 to 1914 -- she played hostess to the most famous and no doubt the most interesting salon in American history. This success was no accident, but the result of a subtle interplay between her individual needs and ambitions and the historical moment. It was a very special period in the cultural life of the United States, one when expatriate Irish painter John Butler Yeats cocked an ear and heard "the fiddles • tuning as it were allover America.
    [Show full text]
  • Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
    individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Ted Nelson History of Computing
    History of Computing Douglas R. Dechow Daniele C. Struppa Editors Intertwingled The Work and Influence of Ted Nelson History of Computing Founding Editor Martin Campbell-Kelly, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK Series Editor Gerard Alberts, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Advisory Board Jack Copeland, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Ulf Hashagen, Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany John V. Tucker, Swansea University, Swansea, UK Jeffrey R. Yost, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA The History of Computing series publishes high-quality books which address the history of computing, with an emphasis on the ‘externalist’ view of this history, more accessible to a wider audience. The series examines content and history from four main quadrants: the history of relevant technologies, the history of the core science, the history of relevant business and economic developments, and the history of computing as it pertains to social history and societal developments. Titles can span a variety of product types, including but not exclusively, themed volumes, biographies, ‘profi le’ books (with brief biographies of a number of key people), expansions of workshop proceedings, general readers, scholarly expositions, titles used as ancillary textbooks, revivals and new editions of previous worthy titles. These books will appeal, varyingly, to academics and students in computer science, history, mathematics, business and technology studies. Some titles will also directly appeal to professionals and practitioners
    [Show full text]
  • A Weak Argument: Laurence Gronlund Condemns the Action of the Bolters: Berger’S Platform Analyzed and Its Defects Pointed out — Americans Demand a Practical Movement
    Gronlund: A Weak Argument [June 23, 1898] 1 A Weak Argument: Laurence Gronlund Condemns the Action of the Bolters: Berger’s Platform Analyzed and Its Defects Pointed Out — Americans Demand a Practical Movement. by Laurence Gronlund Published in The Social Democrat [Chicago], v. 5, no. 24 ( June 23, 1898), pg. 1. The reason why I condemn Comrade [Vic- liarly German, and which surely ought in the fu- tor] Berger of Milwaukee and his followers for se- ture to be avoided and eliminated. ceding from the Social Democracy is because they First, it starts out with the old, threadbare thereby intended to break up and destroy a new truism that labor, manual and mental, is the source and splendid instrument for the emancipation of of all wealth, and then follows a string of proposi- the masses. It is a childish procedure. It is just like tions ending with a demand for public ownership. a child who refuses to play anymore with its It is a way of reasoning that is very powerful to playfellows because it cannot have its will in a par- the German and French mind, but that has just ticular point. No matter how right they have been as little effect on an American as water poured on on the question of political action vs. coloniza- the back of a duck. It is the old deductive way of tion, they should for the time being have bowed argument that was such a favorite with the French to the will of the majority and afterwards tried to philosophers of the last [18th] century, but which persuade and convince their comrades.
    [Show full text]
  • The Place of the Intellectual in Mark Twain's and Edward Bellamy's Visions of Distant Societies
    Magic and the great trust : the place of the intellectual in Mark Twain's and Edward Bellamy's visions of distant societies Autor(en): Heim, Otto Objekttyp: Article Zeitschrift: SPELL : Swiss papers in English language and literature Band (Jahr): 10 (1997) PDF erstellt am: 11.10.2021 Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-99948 Nutzungsbedingungen Die ETH-Bibliothek ist Anbieterin der digitalisierten Zeitschriften. Sie besitzt keine Urheberrechte an den Inhalten der Zeitschriften. Die Rechte liegen in der Regel bei den Herausgebern. Die auf der Plattform e-periodica veröffentlichten Dokumente stehen für nicht-kommerzielle Zwecke in Lehre und Forschung sowie für die private Nutzung frei zur Verfügung. Einzelne Dateien oder Ausdrucke aus diesem Angebot können zusammen mit diesen Nutzungsbedingungen und den korrekten Herkunftsbezeichnungen weitergegeben werden. Das Veröffentlichen von Bildern in Print- und Online-Publikationen ist nur mit vorheriger Genehmigung der Rechteinhaber erlaubt. Die systematische Speicherung von Teilen des elektronischen Angebots auf anderen Servern bedarf ebenfalls des schriftlichen Einverständnisses der Rechteinhaber. Haftungsausschluss Alle Angaben erfolgen ohne Gewähr für Vollständigkeit oder Richtigkeit. Es wird keine Haftung übernommen für Schäden durch die Verwendung von Informationen aus diesem Online-Angebot oder durch das Fehlen von Informationen. Dies gilt auch für Inhalte Dritter, die über dieses Angebot zugänglich sind. Ein Dienst der ETH-Bibliothek ETH Zürich, Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zürich, Schweiz, www.library.ethz.ch http://www.e-periodica.ch Magic and the Great Trust: The Place of the Intellectual in Mark Twain's and Edward Bellamy's Visions of Distant Societies Otto Heim One of the most interesting aspects of the Gilded Age is the apparent discontinuity between the outward manifestations of power and the internal transformations within the structure of power itself.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of Socialism in America.† [Published January 1900]
    A Brief History of Socialism in America [Jan. 1900] 1 A Brief History of Socialism in America.† [Published January 1900] Published in Social Democracy Red Book (Terre Haute, IN: Debs Publishing Co., 1900), pp. 1-75. Introduction. ignated as that in which the gestation of Socialism, as native to American soil, was going on. It began with The history of Socialism in America, using the the appearance of Gronlund’s book, The Cooperative word socialism to embrace the various steps by which Commonwealth, which was soon followed by Bellamy’s enemies of the present social system have sought to Looking Backward. work toward a final deliverance, seems to divide itself 7. From 1897 down to the present time. The into seven quite clearly defined periods, as follows: period in which American Socialism having “chipped 1. The earliest period, embraced between the the shell” first asserts itself as a force in American poli- years 1776 and 1824, when the communistic ventures tics through the formation of the Social Democracy of the Shakers, Rappites, and Zoarites had the entire of America, the Socialist Labor Party, by its trans- field to themselves. planted methods, having failed to reach the American 2. From 1825 to 1828, when Robert Owen made ear. Two factors which helped prepare the field for the America the theater of his attempts to put his Utopian new party were the agitation work of Eugene V. Debs dreams into practice, by communistic experiments. and the proselyting powers of Editor J.A. Wayland, 3. From 1841 to 1847, the period when Four- successively of The Coming Nation and The Appeal to ierism swept over the country as a craze, leading to the Reason.
    [Show full text]
  • American Periodicals: Politics (Opportunities for Research in the Watkinson Library)
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Watkinson Library (Rare books & Special Watkinson Publications Collections) 2016 American Periodicals: Politics (Opportunities for Research in the Watkinson Library) Leonard Banco Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/exhibitions Part of the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Banco, Leonard, "American Periodicals: Politics (Opportunities for Research in the Watkinson Library)" (2016). Watkinson Publications. 23. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/exhibitions/23 Series Introduction A traditional focus ofcollecting in the Watkinson since we opened on August 28, 1866, has been American periodicals, and we have quite a good representation of them from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries. However, in terms of "discoverability" (to use the current term), it is not enough to represent each of the 600-plus titles in the online catalog. We hope that our students, faculty, and other researchers will appreciate this series of annotated guides to our periodicals, broken down into basic themes (politics, music, science and medicine, children, education, women, etc.), all of which have been compiled by Watkinson Trustee and volunteer Dr. Leonard Banco. We extend our deep thanks to Len for the hundreds of hours he has devoted to this project since the spring of 2014. His breadth of knowledge about the period and his inquisitive nature have made it possible for us to promote a unique resource through this work, which has POLITICS already been of great use to visiting scholars and Trinity classes. Students and faculty keen for projects will take note Introduction of the possibilities! The Watkinson holds 2819th-century American magazines with primarily political content, 11 of which are complete Richard J.
    [Show full text]
  • Populism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the People's Party
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge American Politics Political Science 1974 Populism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the People's Party Peter H. Argersinger University of Maryland Baltimore County Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Argersinger, Peter H., "Populism and Politics: William Alfred Peffer and the People's Party" (1974). American Politics. 8. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_political_science_american_politics/8 POPULISM and POLITICS This page intentionally left blank Peter H. Argersinger POPULISM and POLITICS William Alfred Peffer and the People's Party The University Press of Kentucky ISBN: 978-0-8131-5108-3 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-86400 Copyright © 1974 by The University Press of Kentucky A statewide cooperative scholarly publishing agency serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky State College, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University- Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky
    [Show full text]
  • Ijiji '!!.=~:;~~~~"!:~~~!:T:I' LIFE Amer, Mosl Wanted Amel Mo.St Wanted Amel Most Wanled Amer
    SA McCreary County Record, Tuessday, Apri124, 2012, Whitley City, Kentucky Saturday Evening April 28, 2012 .;11!1•• ;111•• 1'!'.... 113'!1. I I .111!1· ... ·f·I'II._t'..IICII- WATE/ABC The Blind Side Local TV GUIDE WVLTA:lSS NCIS The Mentalist 48 Hours Mystery Local WBIRINBC Escape Routes The Firm Law & Order: SVU Local Saturday Night Live WDKYIF0X... NASCAR Racing Aleafraz New Girl ILocal April 25 - May 1 AIl,E Storage IStorage Storage IStorage Flipped Oft Flipping Bosto.n Storage IStorage A~e Braveheart Braveheart CMT Road House Texas Women Southern Nights Texas Women Southern Nights CNN. CNN Presents Piers Mo.rgan To.night CNN Newsro.om CNN Presents 24/7 Mayweather e , , II ;; .. , , , , II II DISC Secret Service Killing bin Laden Seal Team 6 Auction Auction Seal Team 6 'MorJ F~m IApt. 23 Ravenga Loc;)I Nlgl:illl~a Jimmy Kimmel uve DISN Austin [Josslu Phineas IAustin Austin Austin Austin Jessie Jessie [Josslu IIfIIl'r1Oa5 Sul'liwr: One Wo~d CrimI 00I Min d~ :CSt C,lme 800110 Local: la10 Sh Ow Loll.IIl'IIm 'llalG WSIRINBC 8<lny Ie.FF E! Legally Blonde Kate·Will lce-Coc« The Soup Chelsea Fashio.n Po.lice WOK V/FOX Am eilc9.n idOl local ESPN NBA Basketball NBA BasKetball ESPN2 Ouarterback Year/Ouarterback Baseball Tonight SportsCenter SportsCenter SI..-a gil ISlora (/Cl lSI ora go IDug DuC!<D. Duel( D. DUel( D, IDuCKD, Siurage 'ISlorag1l FAM />JIIC Norm Counlry Pirates·Dea d Alice in Wonderland Finding Neverland CMf E> treme-Homs 'Ilea ventura At;(! Ventura FoX Dear John Dear John l.oule ILo.uie CNN Anderson Coiltler %0 Pllirs Morgan Tonlgl,t AndGf~O" Coiltler 360 E.
    [Show full text]
  • SCMS 2019 Conference Program
    CELEBRATING SIXTY YEARS SCMS 1959-2019 SCMSCONFERENCE 2019PROGRAM Sheraton Grand Seattle MARCH 13–17 Letter from the President Dear 2019 Conference Attendees, This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Formed in 1959, the first national meeting of what was then called the Society of Cinematologists was held at the New York University Faculty Club in April 1960. The two-day national meeting consisted of a business meeting where they discussed their hope to have a journal; a panel on sources, with a discussion of “off-beat films” and the problem of renters returning mutilated copies of Battleship Potemkin; and a luncheon, including Erwin Panofsky, Parker Tyler, Dwight MacDonald and Siegfried Kracauer among the 29 people present. What a start! The Society has grown tremendously since that first meeting. We changed our name to the Society for Cinema Studies in 1969, and then added Media to become SCMS in 2002. From 29 people at the first meeting, we now have approximately 3000 members in 38 nations. The conference has 423 panels, roundtables and workshops and 23 seminars across five-days. In 1960, total expenses for the society were listed as $71.32. Now, they are over $800,000 annually. And our journal, first established in 1961, then renamed Cinema Journal in 1966, was renamed again in October 2018 to become JCMS: The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. This conference shows the range and breadth of what is now considered “cinematology,” with panels and awards on diverse topics that encompass game studies, podcasts, animation, reality TV, sports media, contemporary film, and early cinema; and approaches that include affect studies, eco-criticism, archival research, critical race studies, and queer theory, among others.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Dissertation 7-20.Pdf
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of English AT THE INTERSECTION OF UTOPIA AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE: THE SPATIAL-RHETORICAL NEGOTIATIONS OF 19TH-CENTURY WOMEN A Dissertation in English by Michelle C. Smith ! 2010 Michelle C. Smith Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2010 The dissertation of Michelle C. Smith was reviewed and approved* by the following: Cheryl Glenn Liberal Arts Research Professor of English Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee John L. Selzer Professor of English Hester Blum Associate Professor of English Melissa Wright Associate Professor of Geography Robert E. Burkholder Associate Professor of English Associate Head of the Department of English *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT The primary goal of this dissertation is to understand the role of space in women’s participation in 19th-century intentional communities and publics. Through their participation in 19th-century utopian experiments, my subjects were exposed to unconventional ideas about space, gender, labor, and community. Like many other participants in such communities, my subjects also formed rhetorical alliances with larger American communities concerned with business, politics, and social norms. The project follows these rhetorical trajectories from utopian space to the public sphere, guided by my overarching question: how does space affect the rhetorical alliances of 19th-century women? Following the theoretical and methodological orientation in Chapter Two, I go on to examine three female rhetors, drawing from their published writings and speeches and archival sources within their communities or pertaining to the women themselves. Chapter Three explores the infamous Frances Wright.
    [Show full text]