Rhetorical Dimensions of Popular Culture (Studies in Rhetoric and Communication (Hardcover)) - Hardcover

Brummett, Barry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0817305165 ISBN 13: 9780817305161

Publisher: University of Alabama Press, 1991

Synopsis

The main argument of this book is that most rhetorical theory defines rhetoric as its manifestations - speeches, essays, poems and so forth. It proposes that rhetoric be regarded as the social function that manages meaning - a function with many complex manifestations. The author develops a theoretical scheme to explain this concept and details principles for critical and pedagogical application of his theory. In the second part of the book, the author applies theory and critical principles to the complex and fragmented texts of popular culture - television programmes, science fiction, horror films, popular periodicals and novels - and to the arena of urban race relations.

About this title

About the Author:

Barry Brummet 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.

Review:

"A timely study of rhetoric and popular culture that could be successfully used by various [scholars] interested in ethics, communications, popular culture, social influences, and rhetoric."--Popular Culture in Libraries

"Brummett's exciting volume challenges us to acknowledge the necessarily subversive elements implicated in the study of popular culture. . . . His book is much more than a study of the persuasive elements of nontraditional rhetorical forms, and more than a study of the rhetorical aspects of film, television or the mass media. Brummett’s argument represents the theoretical and critical framework for a new perspective on what it means to "be rhetorical" in a media age. . . . What Brummett has provided is no less than a theoretical rationale for the study of popular culture as well as a beginning framework of how to undertake that study. For students of the rhetoric of popular culture, this volume is necessary. For others, certainly its first three chapters are provocative in the way they challenge accepted issues within the ancient tradition of rhetorical theory and criticism--Quarterly Journal of Speech

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Alabama Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0817305165
• ISBN 13: 9780817305161
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 220