DOCSLIB.ORG

Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies DOCUMENT RESUME ED 395 315 CS 215 285 AUTHOR Berlin, James A. TITLE Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies. Refiguring English Studies Series. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-4145-5; ISSN-1073-9637 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 218p. AVAILABLE FROMNational Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 41455-3050: $18.95 members, $25.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Historical Materials (060) Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *College English; *Cultural Context; *Curriculum Evaluation; Educational H:story; *English Departments; *English Instruction; Higher Education; Humanities; Language Role; Literary Criticism; *Rhetoric; Teacher Student Relationship IDENTIFIERS *Critical Literacy; Cultural Studies; Departmental Politics; Literary Canon; Poetics; Postmodernism ABSTRACT . This book, the final work of a noted rhetorician and scholar, examines the history and development of English studies, and the economic and social changes that affect the understanding of the humanities today. Noting that while rhetoric once held a central place in the college curriculum, the book describes how rhetoric became marginalized in college English departments as the study of literature assumed greater status in the 20th century--a result of the shift in decision-making in practical and political matters from the "citizenry" to university-trained experts. The first section of the book provides relevant historical background and explores the political uses of English as a discipline. The second section, "The Postmodern Predicament," shifts the focus to the contemporary scene. The third section, "Students and Teachers," explores the general guidelines recommend3d for the pedagogy of a refigured English studies. It is argued that the classroom should become the center of disciplinary activities, the point at which theory, practice, and democratic politics interact. In the final section, "Departmental Directions," three English departments that have addressed concerns about English studies are profiled and recent research that attempts to correct failings in traditional approaches to Loth literary and rhetorical studies is discussed. Also, research in rhetoric and composition is examined. An afterword by Janice Lauer concludes the book. (NKA) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** U S. DEPARTMENTOF EDUCATION <Nice ce Eaucationa, neseamn ano imonwernent EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERIC) Cf This document nas beenreproauced as Points of view or opinions stated in this ecetved horn the person or organization document do not necessanly represent originating it official OERI position or policy. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI BEST COPY AVAILABLE Refiguring English Studies provides a forum for scholar- Refiguring ship on English Studies as a discipline, a profession, and ENGLISH a vocation. To that end, the series publishes historical work that considers the ways in which English Studies STUDIES has constructed itself and its objects of study; investiga- tions of the relationships among its constituent parts as conceived in both disciplinary and institutional terms; and examinations of the role the discipline has played or should play in the larger society and public policy. In addition, the series seeks to feature studies that, by their form or focus, challenge our notions about how the written "work" of En- glish can or should be done and to feature writings that represent the professional lives of the discipline's members in both traditional and nontraditional settings. The series also includes scholarship that con- siders the discipline's possible futures or that draws upon work in other disciplines to shed light on developments in English Studies. Volumes in the Series David B. Downing, editor, Changing Classroom Practices: Resources for Lit- erary and Cultural Studies (1994) Jed Rasula, The American Poetry Wax Museum: Reality Effels, 1940-1990 (1995) James A. Berlin, Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies (1996) Robin Varnum, Fencing with Words: A History of Writing Instruction at Amherst College during the Era of Theodore Baird, 1938-1966 (1996) NCTE Editorial Board:Colette Daiute, Hazel Davis, Bobbi Fisher, Keith Gilyard, Gail Hawisher, Ronald Jobe, Richard Ltickert, Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio, Mario Welshons, ex officio NCTE College Section Committee: James L. Hill, Chair, Albany State College; Frank Madden, Assistant Chair, Westchester Community College; Pat Belanoff, SUNY at Stony Brook; Theresa Enos, CCCC Representative, University of Ari- zona; Jeanette Harris, University of Southern Mississippi; Dawn Rodrigues, Kennesaw State College; Cynthia Selfe, Michigan Technological University; Tom Waldrep, University of South Carolina; Collett Dilworth, CEE Representative, East Carolina University; Louise Smith, ex officio, Editor,College English,Uni- versity of Massachusetts at Boston; Miriam Chaplin, Executive Committee Liai- son, Rutgers University; Miles Myers, NCTE Staff Liaison Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures Refiguring College English Studies James A. Berlin Purdue University Refiguring English Studies Stephen M. North, Series Editor SUNY at Albany Ny7 uo \-1 National Council of Teachers of English ct 1111 W. Kenyon Road,Urbana, Illinois 61801-'1096 r: Manuscript Editor: Michael Himick Production Editor: Michelle Sanden Joh las Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design Cover Design: Pat Mayer NCTE Stock Number: 41455-3050 © 1996 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to providea forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching ofEn- glish and the language arts. Publicity accorded toany particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board ofDirec- tors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berlin, James A. Rhetorics, poetics, and cultures : refiguring college English studies / James A. Berlin. p. c. (Refiguring English studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-4145-5 1. English philologyStudy and teaching (Higher)United States. 2. English languageRhetoricStudy and teachingUnited States. 3. PoeticsStudy and teaching (Higher)United States. 4. Language and cultureUnited States. 5. Pluralism (Social sciences). I. Title. II. Series. PE68.U5B47 1996 808'.042'071173dc20 95-42783 Contents vii Editor's Note ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction I. Historical Background 1 1. Building the Boundaries of EnglishStudies 3 2. Where Do English DepartmentsReally Come From? 17 II. The Postmodern Predicament 39 3. Postmodernism, the CollegeCurriculum, and English Studies 41 4. Postmodernism in the Academy 57 5. Social-Epistemic Rhetoric, Ideology,and English Studies 77 III. Students and Teachers 95 6. English Studies: Surveying theClassroOm 97 7. Into the Classroom 115 IV. Department Directions 147 8. Sample Programs and Research 149 9. A Closing Word 177 vi Contents Afterword 181 Janice M. Lauer Works Cited 183 Index 197 Author 205 Editor's Note James Berlin first submitted a manuscript versionof Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College EnglishStudies to NCTE's Refiguring English Studies series in the winter of 1992. Inthe spring of 1993, based on both my ownrecommendations and those of four outside reviewers, the College Editorial Board approved a contractfor the book, pending revisions. Professor Berlin completed the revisionsand resubmitted the project in November 1993, at which pointthe manuscript was sent out for a second round of reviews. In January, Iforwarded those reviews to him, and he made still further revisions. At thetime of his death in Feb- ruary 1994, he was puttingthe finishing touches on the final versionof the manuscript. At the request of the Berlin family, andwith generous support from a number of people at Purdue and elsewhere, we wereable to finalize the changes Professor Berlin had made in thatpenultimate version and sub- sequently to see the project through productionand into print. To the list of names Professor Berlin included inhis acknowledgments, there- fore, I would add the following: PatriciaHarkin, John Trimbur, and Vic- tor Vitanza, for help with sources;Gary Beason, for technical support; and especially Karen Kura lt, for herpainstaking (and often ingenious) work verifying quotations and citations. 1.am verygrateful to all of these people, and I know Jim would be as well.Finally, Professor Berlin's family and I want to offer special thanks to JaniceLauer, without whose stead- fast commitment and thoughtful guidance thisproject could never have been brought to fruition. Stephen M. North Series Editor vii Acknowledgments I would like to thank the PurdueCenter for Humanistic Study for a semester's support and Purdue Universityfor a sabbatical semester, both of which came at crucial times in thework on this manuscript.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 18-Hour Milestone in College English Studies
    18-Hour Milestone in College English Studies The Milestone in College English Studies provides a coherent and rigorous course of study for those pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in English who want to teach English core courses at two-year colleges or dual credit English courses in high schools. It helps to ensure quality in the teaching of English core and dual credit courses by enhancing the expertise of English teachers through study of the body of knowledge and theory that builds a solid pedagogical foundation for the organization and delivery of course content. Those who wish to enter a doctoral program with training and teaching experience may also benefit in regard to teaching assistantships. Note: Completion of the Milestone in College English Studies will be designated on a student’s graduate transcript. Admission Eligibility and Progress: Students pursing the Milestone in College English Studies must be concurrently admitted to the Master of Arts program in English or another master’s program at The University of Texas at Tyler. Students must complete a Milestone Permission Form and maintain a cumulative 3.5 GPA for Milestone courses. Curriculum: The Milestone in College English Studies consists of 18-hours (6 courses) all of which count toward the hours needed to complete a Master of Arts in English at UT Tyler. Course emphasis is on composition, literature, and research and theoretical frameworks for teaching College English. Required courses for the Milestone in College English Studies (15 hours): ENGL 5300 Bibliography and
    [Show full text]
  • Rhetoric As Pedagogy
    16-Lunsford-45679:Lunsford Sample 7/3/2008 8:17 PM Page 285 PART III Rhetoric and Pedagogy Rhetoric as Pedagogy CHERYL GLENN MARTIN CARCASSON Isocrates was famous in his own day, and for many centuries to come, for his pro - gram of education (paideia), which stressed above all the teaching of eloquence. His own works . were the vehicles for his notion of the true “philosophy,” for him a wisdom in civic affairs emphasizing moral responsibility and equated with mastery of rhetorical technique. —Thomas Conley hetoric has always been a teaching tradition, the pedagogical pursuit of good speaking and Rwriting. When Homer’s (trans. 1938) Achilles, “a rhetor of speech and a doer of deeds,” used language purposefully, persuasively, and eloquently, his voice sparked a rhetorical con - sciousness in the early Greeks ( Iliad 9.443) that was carried into the private sphere by Sappho and then into the public sphere by the Greeks and Romans, who made pedagogy the heart of the rhetorical tradition. To that end, competing theories and practices of rhetoric were displayed and put to the test in the Greek academies of Gorgias, Isocrates, Aspasia, Plato, and Aristotle. Later it flourished as the centerpiece of the Roman educational system made famous by such rhetorical greats as Cicero and Quintilian. More than 2,000 years later, the pedagogy of rhetoric played a key role in the early universities of the United States. During the 18th century, for instance, “rhetoric was treated as the most important subject in the curriculum” (Halloran, 1982). It was not until the 20th century that the importance of rhetoric to the cultivation of citizens both began to wane in the shadow of higher 285 16-Lunsford-45679:Lunsford Sample 7/3/2008 8:17 PM Page 286 286 The SAGE Handbook of Rhetorical Studies education’s shift in focus from the development of rhetorical expertise to that of disciplinary knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Race Resistance October 28–29, 2016 the NITTANY LION INN, UNIVERSITY PARK, PA
    Celebrating African American Literature and Language: and racE rEsistancE October 28–29, 2016 THE NITTANY LION INN, UNIVERSITY PARK, PA FEaturEd SpEaKErs Mahogany Kathryn T. John Carmen BROWNE GINES KEENE KYNARD Will Joycelyn Mendi + Keith Mary Helen LANGFORD MOODY OBADIKE WASHINGTON SPONSORS: College of the Liberal Arts, College of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies, the Africana Research Center, Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the Department of African American Studies, the Department of English, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Keith Gilyard, the Equal Opportunity Planning Committee, George and Barbara Kelly Professor Aldon Nielsen, Center for American Literary Studies, and Outreach Greetings Greetings one and all! Welcome to Penn State University’s Celebrating African American Literature and Language: Race and Resistance conference. We are honored to have so many scholars, teachers, creative artists, and community activists joining us to celebrate African American Literature and Language, broadly defined. We delight and celebrate this opportunity to come together to share our work, our visions, our questions, and our challenges. This year events is marked by the tensions between a politics of joy and a politics of resistance, and our paper presentations, roundtable discussions, keynotes, and readings will surely explore those tensions as we think collectively about the dynamics of race and resistance in African American literature, language, and arts. We hope that you will find this to be a most memorable event and one that initiates many new conversations. We are especially grateful to our featured speakers, creative writers and artists, and workshop presenters, including Mary Helen Washington, Joycelyn Moody, Mendi + Keith Obadike, Carmen Kynard, Will Langford, Mahogany Browne, Kathryn T.
    [Show full text]
  • Out of Style: Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Out of Style: Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric Paul Butler Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Butler, Paul, "Out of Style: Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric" (2008). All USU Press Publications. 162. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/162 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 6679-0_OutOfStyle.ai79-0_OutOfStyle.ai 5/19/085/19/08 2:38:162:38:16 PMPM C M Y CM MY CY CMY K OUT OF STYLE OUT OF STYLE Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric PAUL BUTLER UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah 2008 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 © 2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-87421-679-0 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-680-6 (e-book) “Style in the Diaspora of Composition Studies” copyright 2007 from Rhetoric Review by Paul Butler. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC., http:// www. informaworld.com. Manufactured in the United States of America. Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Butler, Paul, Out of style : reanimating stylistic study in composition and rhetoric / Paul Butler. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
    [Show full text]
  • English Studies in Indian Universities
    English Studies in Indian Universities English Studies in Indian Universities: The Present Scenario By Ravindra Baburao Tasildar English Studies in Indian Universities: The Present Scenario By Ravindra Baburao Tasildar This book first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Ravindra Baburao Tasildar All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1166-9 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1166-8 This book is dedicated to My Mother Shanta and The teachers of Sadhana Vidyalaya, Highschool and Junior College, Gadhinglaj, Dist. Kolhapur TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ............................................................................................ viii List of Charts ............................................................................................... x Acknowledgements .................................................................................... xi Introductory Note ..................................................................................... xiv Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1 Introduction Chapter Two .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • English Studies - Volume 5-6 (2005-2008), 259-267
    JOURNAL OF ENGLISH STUDIES - VOLUME 5-6 (2005-2008), 259-267 ENGLISH STUDIES: A NOTE ON THE BIRTH AND USES OF THE TERM SUSANA ONEGA University of Zaragoza ABSTRACT. The need to adapt the current Spanish degree in English Philology to meet the requirements of the European Union has recently materialised in a growing conviction among scholars that the change of contents and format of the degree itself should be accompanied by a change of title, from “English Philology” to “English Studies”. This move justifies the present attempt to briefly recall some of the main lines of discussion involved in the birth and uses of the term in Britain and abroad. In the last forty years or so, the number of academic books and essays devoted to the analysis of the birth of English Studies has been not only too numerous to be mentioned but also widely divergent in their accounts of the phenomenon. Characteristically, early books written by British scholars, like D. J. Palmer’s path- breaking study, The Rise of English Studies: An Account of the Study of English Language and Literature from its Origins to the Making of the Oxford English School, published in 1965, present English Studies as a British phenomenon closely associated with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. According to Palmer (1965: vii-viii), the foundation of the Oxford School in 1893 was a decisive challenge to the long supremacy of classical studies, whose methods and principles they adopted “to secure the advent of English studies as a fully-developed branch of humane learning”.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@USU Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2008 Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric LuMing Mao Morris Young Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Mao, LuMing and Young, Morris, "Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric" (2008). All USU Press Publications. 164. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/164 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REPRESENTATIONS REPRESENTATIONS Doing Asian American Rhetoric edited by LUMING MAO AND MORRIS YOUNG UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS Logan, Utah 2008 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 © 2008 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read Cover art, “All American Girl I” by Susan Sponsler. Used by permission. ISBN: 978-0-87421-724-7 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-725-4 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Representations : doing Asian American rhetoric / edited by LuMing Mao and Morris Young. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-87421-724-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-725-4 (e-book) 1. English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching--Foreign speakers. 2. Asian Americans--Education--Language arts. 3. Asian Americans--Cultural assimilation.
    [Show full text]
  • BA in English & Theatre
    School Of English. BA in English & Theatre Wide-ranging, flexible and rewarding, English Our English & Theatre Degree Literature degrees at Sheffield foster your Our Single Honours Degree in English & On this programme, in each semester, you Theatre is aimed at those who are passionate will take one core (compulsory) module in about both subjects. While students taking English, and one in Theatre, and then choose love of literature, film, theatre and beyond, only English can still choose to take an a third module in either discipline (or, indeed, individual theatre module or two, those from elsewhere in the University). This means developing your critical and ethical thinking, on the English & Theatre course take a that you could opt to balance your overall dedicated series of studio-based and co- degree equally between English and Theatre, and inspiring your creative imagination. ordinated practical modules (not available to or alternatively, do two thirds of your work in other students) in which you will encounter one subject, and one third in the other. an extremely rich and challenging range We are incredibly proud of the students we of texts, practitioners, forms of theatre and approaches to theatre-making which have educated, and of our internationally will allow you to develop your creative, esteemed, civic-minded university. imaginative and intellectual skills. What our students say “I’ve made great friends, studied something I love in the way I want to study it, in a department which supports me, and had a pretty good time along the way.” “Overall, I would say my studies have completely changed me.
    [Show full text]
  • RSA14 Schedule Overview Marriott Rivercenter – San Antonio, TX May 22-26, 2014
    RSA14 Schedule Overview Marriott Rivercenter – San Antonio, TX May 22-26, 2014 Thursday May 22 8:00-5:00 ARST Preconference 8:00-5:00 ASHR Symposium (Session 1) 8:00-5:00 RSA Career Retreat Friday May 23 8:00-11:00 RSA Board Meeting 8:00-11:00 ASHR Symposium (Session 2) 9:30-12:15 RSA Seminar in cooperation with ISHR (Session 1) (sponsored by Northwestern University) 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session A 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session B 12:45-2:00 Concurrent Session C 2:15-4:45 Undergraduate Research Workshops (sponsored by Brigham Young University) 2:15-3:30 Concurrent Session D 3:45-5:00 Concurrent Session E 5:15-6:30 Keynote Address (co-sponsored by University of Denver and Taylor & Francis) 6:30-8:30 Opening Reception (sponsored by Trinity University) Saturday May 24 8:00-9:15 Concurrent Session F 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session G 11:00-2:00 Research Network (sponsored by Penn State University Press) 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session H 12:45-2:00 Concurrent Session I 2:15-4:45 RSA Seminar in cooperation with ISHR (Session 2) (sponsored by Northwestern University) 2:15-3:30 Concurrent Session J 3:45-5:00 Concurrent Session K 5:15-6:30 In Conversation Panels 6:30-8:00 Reception (sponsored by University of Kentucky) Sunday May 25 8:00-9:15 Concurrent Session L 9:30-10:45 Concurrent Session M 11:00-12:15 Concurrent Session N 12:30-2:30 RSA Luncheon (sponsored by: The University of Texas, Austin - Department of Communication Studies & Moody College of Communication) 2:45-4:00 Concurrent Session O 4:15-6:15 RSA SuperSessions 6:30-8:30 RSA Graduate
    [Show full text]
  • Furiousflower2014 Program.Pdf
    Dedication “We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” • GWENDOLYN BROOKS Dedicated to the memory of these poets whose spirit lives on: Ai Margaret Walker Alexander Maya Angelou Alvin Aubert Amiri Baraka Gwendolyn Brooks Lucille Clifton Wanda Coleman Jayne Cortez June Jordan Raymond Patterson Lorenzo Thomas Sherley Anne Williams And to Rita Dove, who has sharpened love in the service of myth. “Fact is, the invention of women under siege has been to sharpen love in the service of myth. If you can’t be free, be a mystery.” • RITA DOVE Program design by RobertMottDesigns.com GALLERY OPENING AND RECEPTION • DUKE HALL Events & Exhibits Special Time collapses as Nigerian artist Wole Lagunju merges images from the Victorian era with Yoruba Gelede to create intriguing paintings, and pop culture becomes bedfellows with archetypal imagery in his kaleidoscopic works. Such genre bending speaks to the notions of identity, gender, power, and difference. It also generates conversations about multicultur- alism, globalization, and transcultural ethos. Meet the artist and view the work during the Furious Flower reception at the Duke Hall Gallery on Wednesday, September 24 at 6 p.m. The exhibit is ongoing throughout the conference, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. FUSION: POETRY VOICED IN CHORAL SONG FORBES CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Our opening night concert features solos by soprano Aurelia Williams and performances by the choirs of Morgan State University (Eric Conway, director) and James Madison University (Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy, director). In it, composer and pianist Randy Klein presents his original music based on the poetry of Margaret Walker, Michael Harper, and Yusef Komunyakaa.
    [Show full text]
  • American Book Awards 2004
    BEFORE COLUMBUS FOUNDATION PRESENTS THE AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS 2004 America was intended to be a place where freedom from discrimination was the means by which equality was achieved. Today, American culture THE is the most diverse ever on the face of this earth. Recognizing literary excel- lence demands a panoramic perspective. A narrow view strictly to the mainstream ignores all the tributaries that feed it. American literature is AMERICAN not one tradition but all traditions. From those who have been here for thousands of years to the most recent immigrants, we are all contributing to American culture. We are all being translated into a new language. BOOK Everyone should know by now that Columbus did not “discover” America. Rather, we are all still discovering America—and we must continue to do AWARDS so. The Before Columbus Foundation was founded in 1976 as a nonprofit educational and service organization dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature. The goals of BCF are to provide recognition and a wider audience for the wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity that constitutes American writing. BCF has always employed the term “multicultural” not as a description of an aspect of American literature, but as a definition of all American litera- ture. BCF believes that the ingredients of America’s so-called “melting pot” are not only distinct, but integral to the unique constitution of American Culture—the whole comprises the parts. In 1978, the Board of Directors of BCF (authors, editors, and publishers representing the multicultural diversity of American Literature) decided that one of its programs should be a book award that would, for the first time, respect and honor excellence in American literature without restric- tion or bias with regard to race, sex, creed, cultural origin, size of press or ad budget, or even genre.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Reality: Rhetoricizing Literature and English Studies
    LITERARY REALITY: RHETORICIZING LITERATURE AND ENGLISH STUDIES By Erin Williams Submitted to the graduate degree program in English and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. James Hartman ________________________________ Dr. Giselle Anatol ________________________________ Dr. Philip Barnard ________________________________ Dr. Frank Farmer ________________________________ Dr. Dave Tell Date Defended: 15 April 2011 ii The Dissertation Committee for Erin Williams certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: LITERARY REALITY: RHETORICIZING LITERATURE AND ENGLISH STUDIES ________________________________ Chairperson Dr. James Hartman Date approved: 26 April 2011 iii Abstract Drawing on conceptual metaphor theory and John Bender and David E. Wellbery‘s description of rhetoricality, I offer a reconceptualization of literature as a conceptual metaphorization of the experience of the cognitive concept of LIFE. I demonstrate the value of such a rhetoricized reconceptualization of literature and literary study by applying them to four American autobiographies written after 1970: Bill Clinton‘s My Life, James Frey‘s A Million Little Pieces, Audre Lorde‘s Zami, and Walter Dean Myers‘ Autobiography of my Dead Brother. I also speculate about what a rhetoricized English studies in contemporary American higher education – one that sees (what Pierre Bourdieu describes as) heteronomy rather than autonomy as its primary organizing principle – might entail. iv Acknowledgements I am indebted to the following individuals for their unflagging support of me and this project: Eva and Leland Maxwell, for my inspiration; Juanita and James Williams, for showing me what WORK really means; Marsha, Emmit, and Erica Williams, for putting up with me; Joseph Braun, for the past year; Drs.
    [Show full text]