
Rhetorical Homologies
Form, Culture, Experience
Barry Brummett(Author)
The University of Alabama Press
Published on 31. October 2004
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-8173-1423-1 (ISBN)
Description
One of the most widely used ideas in scholarship of the humanities and social sciences is that of homology: a formal pattern structuring different kinds of texts, ideas, and experiences. Rhetorical Homologies explores the central meaning of this form in a variety of discourses and also examines the kind of homologies that shape audience responses to personal, public, and political issues. Barry Brummett is most interested in homologies among very different orders of experience and texts: experiences on the battlefield that are homologous to those at a dining room table, for instance. What the common patterns that underlie such cases mean, why they are interesting, and why homology is rhetorical are the subjects of this study. Brummett focuses on a wide range of topics, from the homologies between rhetoric and weapons throughout history to the homology of ritual injuries as manifested in representation of Christian martyrs, Laurel and Hardy films, the African-American practice of playing the dozens, and televised professional wrestling. Brummett also explores the homology of the Wise Woman, using rhetorical representation of Sojourner Truth and Oprah Winfrey. In a concluding chapter, Brummett argues that the idea of homology is important in understanding how social life is organized in general and that the centrality of discourse in organizing experience makes rhetorical homologies an important perspective for general knowledge beyond the boundaries of this study.
Reviews / Votes
This is an exceptionally well-crafted and written work. Highly imaginative as well as at times provocative;... The individual studies in this text stand on their own as refined and sophisticated analyses of the relationship between rhetoric and public culture.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Alabama
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-0-8173-1423-1 (9780817314231)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Barry Brummett is the author of several books, including The World and How We Describe It: Rhetorics of Reality, Representation, Simulation; Reading Rhetorical Theory; and Rhetorical Dimensions of Popular Culture.