Ettlich – Theories of Invention in Late 19th Century American Rhetoric

Ettlich, Ernest Earl.  “Theories of Invention in Late Nineteenth Century American Rhetoric.”  Western Speech Journal 30 (1966):  233-241. E. notes that the topic of rhetorical invention has long been problematic/contested.  E. observes that Ramus’ revision of the liberal arts curriculum during the 1500s was the most serious challenge to rhetorical invention (classically conceived) before the 19th century.  Ramus assumed that invention... Read More

Berlin – The Transformation of Invention in 19th Century American Rhetoric

Berlin, James A. “The Transformation of Invention in Nineteenth Century American Rhetoric.”  Southern Speech Communication Journal 46 (1981):  292-304. 11 In this piece Berlin traces how the disappearance of invention as discovery occurred in the 19th century because of the “supremacy” of Campbell, Blair, and Whately in rhetorical theories of the 18th century.  In these three thinkers he identifies ideas that were compatible with... Read More

Rhetorica ad Herennium

Pseudo-Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herenium (paginations are from the Harry Caplan/Harvard UP edition 1964). The text dates from sometime in the 90s BCE.  The piece is one of the first to explain a Latin system of style; further, it was also responsible for the codification of argument into a standard format consisting of exordium (like the ‘hook’ – this section of the argument grabs the writers attention and connects them to a specific topic),... Read More

DeVoss and Porter – Why Napster Matters to Writing

DeVoss, Danielle Nicole, and James E. Porter. “Why Napster Matters to Writing: Filesharing as a New Ethic of Digital Delivery.” Computers and Composition 23 2 (2006): 178-210. Print. DeVoss and Porter push against traditional disciplinary understandings of authorship and ownership in this essay.  Specifically, the authors argue that p2p file sharing in general – and Napster in particular – are representative of a new “digital ethic’... Read More