Reading List (Comp/Rhet) - 6 months 'til Fall Semster!

[sf210]

My anxiety over not getting accepted anywhere was almost immediately replaced by anxiety that I'm not prepared enough.  There is another thread about reading lists, but it seems to be lit focused.  So, comp/rhet people, what should I have already read (that I may have missed)?

[KenAnderson]

Well, there is no set cannon as with Literature.....some are more Rhet leaning and some more Composition leaning.

If you teach composition, Peter Elbow is a must read,

 

This is University of Oregon Rhet/Comp PhD reading list:

 

STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION EXAMINATION READING LIST

 

 

Plato, “Gorgias,” “Phaedrus,” “Protagoras”

 

Aristotle, Rhetoric, Topics

Demetrius, On Style

Rhetorica ad Herennium

Cicero, de Oratore, de Inventione

Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria

Longinus, On the Sublime

Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana

Vinsauf, Poetria Nova

Alcuin, Disputatio de rhetorica...

Bede, De Topicis Differentia

Margery Kempe, The Booke of Margery Kempe

 

Erasmus, “On Copia of Words and Ideas”

Christine de Pisan, The City of Ladies

Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie

Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique

Ramus, Brutinae Quaestiones

Vico, Institutiones Oratoriae

Hobbes, Briefe of the Arte of Rhetorique

Bernard Lamy, De l'arte de parle

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres

George Campbell, Philosophy of Rhetoric

Edward Channing, Lectures to the Seniors at Harvard

Sojourner Truth, selected speeches

Kenneth Burke, Rhetoric of Motives, Grammar of Motives

Chiam Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric

Wayne C. Booth, Rhetoric of Fiction, Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent

Julia Kristeva, “The System and the Speaking Subject”

Adrienne Rich, selected essays

James Crosswhite, Rhetoric of Argumentation

Andrea Lundsford, et al, eds., Reclaiming Rhetorica Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her

[ProfLorax]

THANK YOU FOR THIS! I wanted to ask a very similar question, especially since my BA and MA are both in lit. 

 

Thanks, KenAnderson, for that comprehensive list! 

 

Do any rhet/comp folks have a favorite reader/anthology? 

[bluecheese]

Well, there is no set cannon as with Literature.....some are more Rhet leaning and some more Composition leaning.

If you teach composition, Peter Elbow is a must read,

 

This is University of Oregon Rhet/Comp PhD reading list:

 

STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION EXAMINATION READING LIST

 

 

Plato, “Gorgias,” “Phaedrus,” “Protagoras”

 

Aristotle, Rhetoric, Topics

Demetrius, On Style

Rhetorica ad Herennium

Cicero, de Oratore, de Inventione

Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria

Longinus, On the Sublime

Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana

Vinsauf, Poetria Nova

Alcuin, Disputatio de rhetorica...

Bede, De Topicis Differentia

Margery Kempe, The Booke of Margery Kempe

 

Erasmus, “On Copia of Words and Ideas”

Christine de Pisan, The City of Ladies

Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie

Wilson, The Arte of Rhetorique

Ramus, Brutinae Quaestiones

Vico, Institutiones Oratoriae

Hobbes, Briefe of the Arte of Rhetorique

Bernard Lamy, De l'arte de parle

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women

Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres

George Campbell, Philosophy of Rhetoric

Edward Channing, Lectures to the Seniors at Harvard

Sojourner Truth, selected speeches

Kenneth Burke, Rhetoric of Motives, Grammar of Motives

Chiam Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric

Wayne C. Booth, Rhetoric of Fiction, Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent

Julia Kristeva, “The System and the Speaking Subject”

Adrienne Rich, selected essays

James Crosswhite, Rhetoric of Argumentation

Andrea Lundsford, et al, eds., Reclaiming Rhetorica Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Man Cannot Speak for Her

 

Hardcore. I'm going to read things that catch my fancy (poetry, novels, some new materialism and affect theory stuff), and then worry about moving. That said, I'm still in school so I'm going to need to decompress for a week or two after I finish my thesis, etc. 

 

(O, I'm not applying in Rhet/Comp sorry). Heh.

Edited February 22, 2013 by bluecheese

[KenAnderson]

This is the anthology we used last year in my English 514 Contemporary Composition Theory....some excellent essays.

 

Susan Miller, ed.  The Norton Book of Composition Studies.   New York: W. W. Norton, 2009.   (NBCS)  

 

ESSAYS:

Horner, "The Roots of Modern Writing Instruction:  Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century  Britain," (1990) NBCS 33-52

           

Connors, from Composition-Rhetoric: Backgrounds, Theory, and Pedagogy (1997).  NBCS 685-705.

 

Connors, "The Rise and Fall of the Modes of Discourse" (1981).  JSTOR.

Hairston, "The Winds of Change:  Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of  Writing" (1986).  NBCS 439-450.

 

EXPRESSIVISM

Rohman and Wlecke, from Pre-Writing:  The Construction and Application of Models for Concept Formation in Writing (1964).  NBCS 216-227.

           

Kinneavy, "Expressive Discourse," from A Theory of Discourse: the Aims of Discourse   (1971).  NBCS 372-386.

            

  Britton et al., "Shaping at the Point of Utterance" (1980).  NBCS 461-466.

 

Macrorie, from Telling Writing (1985).  NBCS 297-313.

 

Peter   Elbow, "Some Thoughts on Expressive Discourse:  A Review Essay" (1991).  NBCS 933-942. 

Peter Elbow's iconic text, Writing With Power.

 

Hashimoto, "Voice as Juice: Some Reservations about Evangelic Composition"  (1987).JSTOR.

 

 

COGNITIVISM

 

  Emig, from The Composing Process of Twelfth Graders (1971), NBCS 228-251.

  Emig, "Lynn: Profile of a Twelfth-Grade Writer"

 

  Young, "Paradigms and Problems:  Needed Research in Rhetorical Invention" (1978).   NBCS 397-41.

         

   Flower and Hayes, "The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem" (1980).  NBCS 467-478.

           

 

  Flower, "Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing"( 1979).  JSTOR. 

                                  

  Sommers, "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers"  (1980)  NBCS 323-332.

            

   Bizzell, "Cognition, Convention, and Certainty: What We Need to Know about  Writing" (1982).  NBCS 479-501.

 

  Bartholomae, "Inventing the University" (1985).  605-630.

 

 

SOCIAL-EPISTEMIC

 

  Berlin, "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class" (1988). NBCS 667-684. 

 

 Bruffee, "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind'" (1984).  NBCS             545-562.   

 Maxine   Harris, "The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing" (1989).  NBCS 748-758.

 

  Peter Elbow, "Reflections on Academic Discourse: How It Relates to Freshmen and                Colleagues" (1991).  JSTOR.

 

Bartholomae, “Writing With    Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow,” and

Elbow, “Being a Writer vs. Being and      Academic: A Conflict in Goals” (1995) 

 

 

EMOTION IN COMPOSING, WAC

 

  Brand, "The Why of Cognition:  Emotion and the Writing Process" (1987).  NBCS 706-     713.

  Russell, ""American Origins of the Writing-across-the-Curriculum Movement" (1992).            NBCS 15-170.

Charles  Bazerman, "The Problem of Writing Knowledge" (1988).  NBCS 502-514.

  Clifford, "The Subject in Discourse" (1991).  NBCS 861-873.

 

BASIC WRITING

Shaughnessy, Introduction to Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic   Writing (1977).  NBCS 387-396.      

 Min-Zhan Lu, "Redefining the Legacy of Mina Shaughnessy:  A Critique of the Politics            of Linguistic Innocence" (1991).  NBCS 772-782.

 Hull, Rose et al., Remediation as Social Construct: Perspectives from an Analysis of class room discourse   NBCS 783-812.

           

WHAT'S NEXT?

 

Brodkey, "On the Subjects of Class and Gender in 'The Literacy Letters'" (1989).  NBCS 631-646.

Royster, "When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own," NBCS 1117-1127

 Reynolds, "Interrupting Our Way to Agency:  Feminist Cultural Studies and Composition   (1998).  NBCS 897-910.

 Villanueva, "Maybe a Colony:  And Still Another Critique of the Comp Community"   (1997).  NBCS 991-998.

 Selfe, "Technology and Literacy:  A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention"             (1999).  NBCS 1163-1185.

 George, "From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing"          (2002).  NBCS 1429-1449.

[ProfLorax]

This is the anthology we used last year in my English 514 Contemporary Composition Theory....some excellent essays.

Thank you! This looks PERFECT! These essays can help my brain gears start moving again, and then I'll try to tackle some of the other books on your list during the summer. 

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

I've got several UNI reading lists on my home computer- I'll cross check and add a few.

Off the top of my head; I'd recommend G. Olson and touching up on a little Toulmin.

[sf210]

Thank you Ken for that excellent list!

 

I also second the Norton Anthology --- I own it and have read most of it --- lots of good stuff in there!

 

I think the "Handbook of Writing Research" ed. MacArthur also provides a nice overview of the field

 

 

Off the top of my head I would add -

 

1) Nystrand - "Social and Historical Context for Writing Research"

2) Lester Faigley "Competing Theories of Process..."

3) Chris Anson "The Classroom and the Real World as Contexts" --maybe a little specific to my intests, but an excellent read

4) If you are new to teaching -- I found this book really interesting -- Jessica Restaino, "First Semester: Graduate Students, Teaching Writing, and the Challenge of the Middle Ground"

 

Happy Reading

[damequixote]

THANK YOU FOR THIS! I wanted to ask a very similar question, especially since my BA and MA are both in lit. 

 

Thanks, KenAnderson, for that comprehensive list! 

 

Do any rhet/comp folks have a favorite reader/anthology? 

 

I'd definitely recommend The Norton Book of Composition Studies. I bought literally shelves full of comp/rhet books when I decided to switch from lit to comp/rhet and this book was by far the best at helping me get a sense of both the history of the discipline and where we are now. I then devoured Bedford's Teaching Developmental Writing which gave me a really good sense of my particular subfield. After reading these, I find that I can identify the scholarly currents more recent comp/rhet articles are tapping into. Also, if you're interested in Madison, definitely pick up David Flemming's From Form to Meaning. It's a great read and I think it's going to be discussed at the visit weekend.

[KenAnderson]

Excuse the typo in my posting above! it is "canon," not cannon!   Although, there are some intersting

metaphors that could be argued with  "cannon"...    I have been reading "Metaphors We Live By" by Lakoff and Johnson, another book I would add to the reading list....although it is more language - linguistic in nature... but still very relevant with Rhetoric and Composition theory...  I am fascinated by the cognitive process involved with writing...  

Edited February 22, 2013 by KenAnderson

[sf210]

Thanks for the reminder!  That one -- "Metaphors We Live By" -- I've been wanting to read for awhile, but it had slipped my mind

[KenAnderson]

SF210:   "Slipped my mind" ...ah, a metaphor Lackoff and Johnson would note!  It is such a great book... Johnson was teaching at Oregon. One of my undergrad Linguistic professors (Discourse Analysis...great class...wish I could go back and take it again..) studied with Johnson....  

[YesPhDinHumanities]

One of the better readers is Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. Lots of the expected scholars, but (clearly, given the title) organized by tensions/debate/discussion. The Norton is pretty good, but not very up-to-date. Cross-Talk was maybe put out in 2003? So, a little dated, but I like the way it's put together.

 

I'd also say reading up on recent longitudinal studies in comp pedagogy, esp. Anne Beaufort's College Writing and Beyond and Elizabeth Wardle's early results from her longitudinal study. 

 

I'd recommend David Bartholomae's Writing on the Margins if you haven't read that collection of his essays. 

 

Also, if anyone is at all interested in concepts of genre, Bawarshi and Reiff's Genre: An Introduction... is available free and online via the WAC Clearinghouse: http://wac.colostate.edu/books/bawarshi_reiff/ and is an EXCELLENT synthesis of approaches to genre in writing studies (broadly conceived).

[ComeBackZinc]

I love these lists. In my opinion, an important addition is issues of research methods and empirical approaches to composition. In part, that's just because I think that empirical work is an essential part of what we do; in part, it's because of prominent calls for more empirical research in the field, such as Richard Haswell's call for RAD research; and in part, because I think defending the funding and disciplinary identity of our departments is going to have to involve speaking the language of research in the way the university writ-large understands it. (I recognize that this is a political, theoretical, and epistemelogical can of worms. Sorry for that.)

[ComeBackZinc]

... and my recommendation in that area would be Composing Research by Cindy Johanek, which is both a good primer on methods and a really wonderful discussion of the methodology wars in rhet/comp.

 

Edit: Also, the issue of College Composition and Communication from this past September is a really wonderful primer on different methodologies that might be applied moving forward in the field.

Edited February 28, 2013 by ComeBackZinc

[Rabbitry]

Two of my favorite r/c books (more comp-y): 

 

Terms of Work for Composition. Bruce Horner.

Bootstraps: From an Academic American of Color. Victor Villanueva.

[ProfLorax]

I need some suggestions! I'm looking for a quick, clear, and comprehensive introduction to rhetorical theory. I'm trying to get a head start and read some rhetoric classics, but I'm stumped at a lot of the terms (enthymeme, syllologism, etc). My background is in lit, so this is all new to me. And not surprisingly, the Internet is not that helpful; I'm only finding overly complicated, overly simplistic, or conflicting definitions of rhetorical terms. Anyone know of a great resource to help me learn the terminology of my new field (so I don't look the fool in my first semester as a PhD student)? Thanks!

[toasterazzi]

I second the above recommendation of Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. That's the book we used in my rhet/comp class last semester and it covers quite a bit of ground. 

[ComeBackZinc]

I need some suggestions! I'm looking for a quick, clear, and comprehensive introduction to rhetorical theory. I'm trying to get a head start and read some rhetoric classics, but I'm stumped at a lot of the terms (enthymeme, syllologism, etc). My background is in lit, so this is all new to me. And not surprisingly, the Internet is not that helpful; I'm only finding overly complicated, overly simplistic, or conflicting definitions of rhetorical terms. Anyone know of a great resource to help me learn the terminology of my new field (so I don't look the fool in my first semester as a PhD student)? Thanks!

 

First, I would recommend The Rhetoric of Rhetoric by Wayne Booth. It's more of a high-atmosphere global view, but it really helps to situate rhetoric's purpose and to examine some of the consistent concerns of the field. Second, to identify more of the subject matter and terminology, I really love Rhetoric in the European Tradition by Thomas Conley. It's accessible and short, but also comprehensive. It really cuts through a lot of minutiae to give you a great sense of how European rhetoric developed and evolved. Finally, you should read Aristotle's Rhetoric (though you surely will in your program) because as much as the field has evolved and as good as it is that people are looking earlier than Aristotle now for rhetorical history, his book remains a touchstone, and does as good a job of any as defining and explaining those key terms you're interested in.

 

Incidentally, a syllogism is a form from deductive logic where a certain set of givens lead necessarily to a particular conclusion. Like, all bears are brown; John is a bear; therefore John is brown. An enthymeme is often defined as a probabilistic syllogism; the conclusions are only likely to proceed from the assumptions. Many people have drawn a broader analogy about the difference between logic and rhetoric from this distinction. Logic is a language of certitude that typically requires more information than we ever enjoy in real life; rhetoric is a language of probability which is designed to be practically useful in real-life contexts.

[ProfLorax]

First, I would recommend The Rhetoric of Rhetoric by Wayne Booth. It's more of a high-atmosphere global view, but it really helps to situate rhetoric's purpose and to examine some of the consistent concerns of the field. Second, to identify more of the subject matter and terminology, I really love Rhetoric in the European Tradition by Thomas Conley. It's accessible and short, but also comprehensive. It really cuts through a lot of minutiae to give you a great sense of how European rhetoric developed and evolved. Finally, you should read Aristotle's Rhetoric (though you surely will in your program) because as much as the field has evolved and as good as it is that people are looking earlier than Aristotle now for rhetorical history, his book remains a touchstone, and does as good a job of any as defining and explaining those key terms you're interested in.

 

Incidentally, a syllogism is a form from deductive logic where a certain set of givens lead necessarily to a particular conclusion. Like, all bears are brown; John is a bear; therefore John is brown. An enthymeme is often defined as a probabilistic syllogism; the conclusions are only likely to proceed from the assumptions. Many people have drawn a broader analogy about the difference between logic and rhetoric from this distinction. Logic is a language of certitude that typically requires more information than we ever enjoy in real life; rhetoric is a language of probability which is designed to be practically useful in real-life contexts.

You rock. Thank you. My question arose from reading Aristotle's Rhetoric; I was flustered upon the first few pages, but fortunately, I pushed through and discovered that he does eventually define the terms he uses. I'm grateful for the more modern recommendations to read once I am done; then, I can see how the conversation has evolved since Aristotle. It looks like I won't be taking a foundations of rhetoric course until my second semester, so I'll need to build my own foundation in the meantime. 

 

Thank you for always taking the time to give such helpful feedback and guidance! 

[KenAnderson]

I am taking History of Rhetoric this term and the text we are using is" The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present" (Bizzell and Herberg).  It is one I will keep on my shelf, but I would wait until the summer to buy it...much cheaper.... used around 25 bucks!