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Wayne Booth and Western Rhetorical Perspectives on Literary Criticism

Author: WangJianFeng
Tutor: LiuYaMeng
School: Fujian Normal University
Course: Comparative Literature and World Literature
Keywords: Wayne C. Booth rhetoric Western literary criticism a rhetorical perspective
CLC: I06
Type: PhD thesis
Year: 2009
Downloads: 411
Quote: 1
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Executive Summary


As a well-known contemporary Western rhetorician and literary critic, Wayne Booth is what we term an "amphibian scholar" whose scholarly interests cover both of the fields of rhetorical theory and literary theory. Booth has yielded fruitful achievements both in rhetorical theory and literary criticism, with the former exerting a strong impact upon the latter one. In Booth we could identify a close and hardly dissociated relationship between literary criticism and rhetoric and also a tendency for contemporary Western literary criticism to return to the ancient path of rhetoric. However, little attention has thus far been paid by domestic Chinese scholars specializing in Western literary theories to this unique perspective which is indispensable and of great importance for us to understand Booth in an overall way. In the long past, Booth has always been regarded as an accomplished literary critic in narrative theories, with his dual and inseparable identities and the importance of these two for a true understanding of his literary theories being unfortunately ignored. In order to introduce an all-around Booth as a scholar to Chinese scholarly community, and for a true and better understanding and mastery of his rhetorical and literary theories including his narrative and novel theories, and also for our awareness of the long-held and complex relationship between rhetorical thoughts and literary thoughts, this dissertation makes an attempt to reinterpret and re-observe Booth and his works and the intellectual climate in which he used to do literary critical practice from a Western rhetorical perspective.Xiuci, as a term understood in a Chinese context, is no equivalent for "rhetoric" as it has been understood and practiced in a Western context. Seen from both their denotations and connotations in a Chinese context and a Western one respectively, these two terms could hardly mean the same. Having a long history of theoretical studies in the West and being extremely profound and complex in its theories, rhetoric has long been accepted as the departure for literary theory and served as its theoretical framework. Western rhetoric attaches great importance to the discursive effect and assumes itself as the only channel for producing discourse. In this sense, rhetorical theories and discourse theories form a relationship of overlapping over each other. Thus, literary studies mainly concerned with the social effect of a literary work, must rely on a rhetorical perspective. In the contemporary West, Booth has set a successful example for us by applying his rhetorical theories into his literary critical practice and theoretical construction. From the so-called intrinsic criticism embodied in The Rhetoric of Fiction to the so-called extrinsic criticism embodied in The Company We Keep, rhetoric has always been Booth’s central concern. There being no doubt that both Booth’s rhetorical theories and his literary theories have their drawbacks and historical limitations, no reasons could possibly account for our neglect of the rhetorical tradition of Western literary criticism, with Booth as one of the most successful practitioners of this tradition.This tradition, with a long history, has been carried forward by some contemporary Western literary critics among who are Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, Paul de Man and Terry Eagleton. As masters in literary theories, they are all literary-theorists-as-rhetoricians. They always keep a close eye on rhetoric while practicing literary criticism. It could be adequately assumed that a spectacular and grand "rhetorical turn" of literary criticism is currently underway in the West. Booth being a topic and writing platform for us, we hold that the stakes are high in attending to the rhetorical tradition of Western literary criticism and its latest theoretical development.

Full-text Catalog


Abstract     2-3
Abstract     3-5
Chinese Abstracts     5-10
catalog     10-14
Introduction     14-34
first section topics reason     14-16
First, the topics of reason     14-15
two, topics significance     15-16
Section II literature review     16-31
one study abroad Overview     17-21
domestic cloth rhetorical theory and fiction in Sri Lanka Theory Research     21-29
Third, the proposed research questions     29-31
Section 3 research objectives, content and research methods     31-34
first chapter of rhetoric, language, discourse, academic and literary criticism     34-84
origin of the first section of Western rhetoric     34-36
the definition of the two Western rhetoric     36-38
Section III Western rhetoric conceptualization process Overview     38-39
the fourth quarter of rhetoric essential attribute of its scope     39-42
Section V, \different definition     47-50
section VII of Chinese and Western rhetoric concepts     50-53
section VIII of language, discourse, academic, literary criticism and rhetoric     53-82
First, the definition of language and language concept     53-59
the definition of two, discourse and its rhetorical nature of     59-65
, academic and rhetoric     65-69
, rhetoric and literary criticism     69-71
, rhetoric and interpretation     71-73
six Chinese Literary Criticism of the rhetorical perspective Overview     73-82
section IX of this chapter Summary     82-84
Wayne Booth, Chapter II - In the field of Rhetoric and Literary Criticism renowned achievements of the amphibious scholars     84-170
first section of Booth's life     84-87
Section II Booth academic identity     87-95
an English teacher and rhetorician     88-91
two, Booth and the \home     95-112
Booth inheritance and development of critical thinking of Aristotle, rhetoric     96-98
two re-interpretation of the performance of rhetoric     98-107
, rhetoric and reality     107-108
four, three real-world division     108-112
the fourth quarter Booth the rhetorical ideological foundation     112-157
, under the impact of modernism rhetoric     113-114
Second, the rhetoric of crisis     114-115
Third, Booth severely criticized the modernist dogma     115-125
Fourth, agree rhetoric - Booth rhetorical core of the idea     125-130
V. the self is the self-set the field \; 141-143
agreed to rhetoric, \br /> Section V anti-Yu rhetoric theory     157-164
Section VI Booth and literary criticism multiple perspectives     164-167
section VII, Summary     167-170
Chapter III of rhetoric and narrative - \-173
Section II, \; 175-177
Third, the critique of the modernist novel concept and a new criticism     177-178
Section III Rhetoric and Poetics.;   178-188
four novels rhetoric \  190-224
The first section to reposition Ethical Criticism     190-202
Section II, \section of contemporary Western aesthetic and ethical criticism dispute     209-224
one caused the background of the debate     210-213
Second, the argument of both sides of the main ideas and debate strategies     213-224
Chapter Booth inspiration and rhetoric of Western literary criticism of the traditional     224-248
first section of Western literary criticism and rhetoric of traditional sources - Historical Review     224-226
Section II Kenneth Burke - Contemporary Western Rhetoric and Literary Criticism synthesizer     226-230
Burke Rhetoric and literary form     226-230
Section III of contemporary literary criticism tends to return to the rhetorical criticism     230-247
Rhetoric and Deconstruction     231-240
Terry Eagleton on the rhetoric and literary criticism     240-247
Section 4 Summary     247-248
conclusions     248-252 < br /> References     252-267
during the study for a degree of commitment to research tasks and the main results of     267-268
thank     268-270
personal CV     270

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