Boon – In Praise of Copying

Boon, Marcus. In Praise of Copying. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010. Print. Introduction B. recalls Baudrillard’s meditations on Disney World as “model” or produced, intentionally designed space that recalls another space but can exist in almost any place. . . an inorganic simulation of the original space. B. notes that in this book he’s going to argue that copying is what makes us human and is a fundamental... Read More

Ulmer – Heuretics: The Logic of Invention (selections)

Ulmer, Gregory L. Heuretics : The Logic of Invention. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. Print Preface U. notes that Heuretics is an ongoing (at this time 2 decades long) project of “applying to academic discourse the lessons arising out of a matrix crossing French postructuralist theory, avant-garde experiments, and electronic media” in the context of education (xi).  He’s theorized/practiced this work as a means... Read More

Chapter One from Conley – Rhetoric in the European Tradition

Chapter One from:  Conley, Thomas.  Rhetoric in the European Tradition.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Conley begins by highlighting two important details from a scene in Homer’s Odyssey: 1) public discussion – with debate and consensus – was the traditional method for making decisions in ancient Greece; and 2) the ethos of the speaker is instrumental in the resolution of conflict/problems. Conley also highlights how language is... Read More

Muckelbauer – The Future of Invention

Muckelbauer – The Future of Invention Chapter One – “The Problem of Change” Muckelbauer situates his book around one premise: the supposedly distinct scholarly approaches of humanism/postmodernism, foundationalism/anti-foundationalism, universalism/relativism have all hinge on a dialectical notion of change.  This means that if change is dialectical, every “new” reading academics perform is merely a negation of an existing reading. .... Read More

Jarratt & Ong – Aspasia: Rhetoric, Gender, and Colonial Ideology

Jarratt & Ong – “Aspasia: Rhetoric, Gender, and Colonial Ideology” In this piece the authors hope to address the first two of Gorgias’ questions from On the Nonexistent with respect to Aspasia:  Did Aspasia exist?  Can she be known?  They’ll do this by considering classical sources and contemporary commentary.  Afterwards they will ask the 3rd question from Gorgias’ ontological argument: Is knowledge of Aspasia communicable? ... Read More