Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric

Wayne A Rebhorn

ISBN 10: 0801482062 / ISBN 13: 9780801482069

Published by PLYMBRIDGE DISTRIBUTORS LTD Dez 1999, 1999

About this Item

Neuware - Throughout the European Renaissance, authors famous and obscure debated the nature, goals, and value of rhetoric. In a host of treatises, handbooks, letters, and orations, written in both Latin and the vernacular, they attempted to assess the central role that rhetoric dearly played in their culture. Was rhetoric a valuable tool of legitimation for rulers or a dangerous instrument of resistance to political and religious authority Would its employment maintain the social hierarchy or foster social mobility Was rhetoric merely the art of lies or was it a means to arrive at the only form of truth available to human beings In this fascinating volume, Wayne A. Rebhorn enables modern-day readers to follow Renaissance thinkers as they struggle with these and other crucial questions about rhetoric.

Seller Inventory # 9780801482069

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Renaissance Debates on Rhetoric
• Publisher: PLYMBRIDGE DISTRIBUTORS LTD Dez 1999
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801482062
• ISBN 13: 9780801482069
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 235W x 155H x 19D millimeters 235 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 19 millimeters depth
• Weight: 476 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Throughout the European Renaissance, authors famous and obscure debated the nature, goals, and value of rhetoric. In a host of treatises, handbooks, letters, and orations, written in both Latin and the vernacular, they attempted to assess the central role that rhetoric clearly played in their culture. Was rhetoric a valuable tool of legitimation for rulers or a dangerous instrument of resistance to political and religious authority? Would its employment maintain the social hierarchy or foster social mobility? Was rhetoric merely the art of lies or was it a means to arrive at the only form of truth available to human beings? In this fascinating volume, Wayne A. Rebhorn enables modern-day readers to follow Renaissance thinkers as they struggle with these and other crucial questions about rhetoric.

Arranged chronologically, the twenty-five selections in this anthology, most of which have never before appeared in English, include key texts by Petrarch, Valla, Erasmus, Vives, Melanchthon, Ramus, Wilson, Amyot, and Bacon. All the selections have been fully annotated and have headnotes providing essential background information. In addition, the volume features a biographical glossary of frequently mentioned historical and mythological figures, a comprehensive index, and a detailed bibliography.

About the Author

Wayne A. Rebhorn is Celanese Centennial Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of several books, including The Emperor of Men's Minds: Literature and the Renaissance Discourse of Rhetoric, also from Cornell.