Rhetorical Criticism Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

An essay that digests some of the themes in my new book entitled Metanoia: Rhetoric, Authenticity, and the Transformation of the Self. A version of this essay was delivered at the September Symposium of the English department at the... more

An essay that digests some of the themes in my new book entitled Metanoia: Rhetoric, Authenticity, and the Transformation of the Self.
A version of this essay was delivered at the September Symposium of the English department at the University of Houston - Downtown in 2019.

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- Rhetoric, Self and Identity, Transgender Studies, Critical Race Theory

Article Marking and responding to the " participatory turn " in rhetorical criticism, the essays in this issue engage the synergies, tensions , and consequences that arise from intertwining rhetorical and qualitative approaches to research. From fleeting encounters to developed relationships with communities, the scholars in this special issue participate with(in) a broad range of rhetorical phenomena, engage in a diverse set of participatory research practices, and demonstrate a range of insights gained from in situ engagement with their topics of interest. This issue develops three pathways, each marking a possible point of productive engagement between rhetorical criticism and qualitative inquiry. First, in (re)introducing rhetorical fieldwork , the issue marks a landmark moment for rhetorical criticism , a time when a participatory approach to rhetorical criticism has become recognized as a valuable way to analyze embodied and emplaced rhetoric. Second, acknowledging this participatory turn necessitates some reflection on the points of overlap, tension, and mutual benefit that emerge when qualitative inquiry and rhetorical criticism look to one another for theories and critical approaches. In particular, the essays highlight how in situ rhetorical fieldwork not only falls within the bricolage of qualitative research, but also how it contributes valuable theoretical, methodological, and praxis-oriented insights to qualitative inquiry. Third, given the value of seeing exemplars of this sort of work, the selected articles offer a range of participatory approaches to critical/cultural studies that draw on a broad cross-section of qualitative and rhetorical theories and methodologies. By advancing these three pathways of conversation within this issue, the individual contributions , as well as the volume as a whole, provide a focal point for additional efforts to more robustly theorize hybrid research approaches like rhetorical fieldwork. We conclude this special issue by focusing on and jump-starting those efforts to further theorize the ways that qualitative and rhetorical inquiry can mutually inform and enhance one another, arguing for a transdisciplinary approach to criti-cal/cultural scholarship propelled by the overarching goal of answering critical questions with the best tools available. We do so by synthesizing some of the theoretical and method-ological resonances found in the essays that compose this issue. First, we return to five of the overlapping points of conversation between rhetorical criticism and qualitative inquiry that we identified in the introduction, discussing how the essays in this issue speak to these connections. Next, we contend that blending qualitative research practices with rhetorical approaches to scholarship can revitalize rhetorical praxis, especially in regard to the critical implications of rhetorical scholarship. Third, we identify some substantive contributions that attentiveness to the assumptions of rhetorical scholarship can offer to qualitative inquiry. Last, we advocate for a 655821C SCXXX10.1177/1532708616655821Cultural Studies ↔ Critical MethodologiesMiddleton et al. Abstract This essay concludes the special issue on the intersections between qualitative and rhetorical inquiry by responding to each of the essays. We highlight the productive tensions between rhetorical and qualitative inquiry, examine the benefits that qualitative inquiry brings to rhetorical fieldwork while also revealing how rhetorical inquiry can contribute to qualitative inquiry. We ultimately argue that rhetorical fieldwork is form of transdisciplinary research that resists replicating rhetorical and qualitative research by subsuming one approach under the other and instead creates a new form of hybrid research that adopts and adapts both research lineages.

- by Danielle Endres and +1
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- Rhetoric, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods, Rhetorical Analysis
- by Elizabeth Weiser
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- Rhetoric, Visual Rhetoric, Rhetorical Criticism, Public Space
- by Jennifer deWinter
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- Discourse Analysis, Communication, Composition and Rhetoric, Textual Criticism
- by Michael Pugh
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- Gender Studies, Film Studies, Film Theory, Violence

Today, individual identities often undergo radical conversions that were thought to be fantastical only decades ago: transformations of race, sex, gender, and more. These transformations are of great interest to the public, as evidenced by the frequent coverage of trans issues and personal transitions of all kinds on television and in popular magazines. Caitlyn Jenner changes from a man into a woman. Rachel Dolezal changes from a white woman to a black one. It is not new that people attempt these renovations of identity – but what is new is the mainstream insistence upon the totality and truth of these transformations. And while race and gender are certainly different matters, the techniques used to signify them in rhetorical contexts are remarkable similar. The growing discourse on these topics indicates that we have perhaps arrived at a " trans-moment " – a cultural impasse with possibilities for new kinds of transformations to occur. This moment calls for a theoretical reconsideration of ethos, how it functions differently now than it has in the past, and how it is successfully communicated in new mediated contexts. Although people who testify to these transformations often posit their new ethos as self-evident, major renovations of personal identity require sophisticated rhetorical performances in order to win the recognition of others.

- by Adam Ellwanger
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- Gender Studies, Media Studies, Self and Identity, Transgender Studies

The present thesis offers a reading of the book of Exodus as a literary artifact. This is accomplished through the investigation of its main literary characters Yhwh, Moses and Israel. The text is understood to be part of a communicative situation between author and reader. This hermeneutical claim and the nature of Exodus itself entail certain consequences with regard to the method of enquiry. The method applied is a modified form of rhetorical criticism, which is understood to provide an interpretive perspective on the text. The particular focus is on the functional aspects of the text which direct the reading process and thus guide the reader. Given the difficulties in determining the circumstances of the origin of Exodus and the paucity of secured knowledge about early Israelite history, the `implied reader' is introduced as a key-term. It is assumed that this implied reader informed the inventio and dispositio of the book. Because of the book's central themes - identity...

- by Stefan Kürle
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- Theology, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Rhetorical Criticism

Exodus is appealing on different levels. First, it is actively challenging its readers to adopt a specific world-view and life-style. Second, it is highly appealing to the aesthetic senses of its readers. Both strings sound together and help to appreciate the theological contribution of the book to the Hebrew canon.
The present thesis proposes a way of reading the book of Exodus as a literary artifact, as a whole in terms of its rhetorical aims. Key questions are: Was Exodus ever intended to be read or heard as a book? How can we, as late-modern readers, do justice to an ancient book composed against the background of a different world view, different literary conventions and general culture? This study attempts to grasp Exodus in its entirety.
The text is understood to be part of a communicative situation between author and reader. This hermeneutical claim and the nature of Exodus itself entail certain consequences with regard to the method of enquiry. Methodologically, the thesis uses ideas from literary criticism and a modified form of rhetorical criticism, which are understood to provide an interpretive perspective on the text. The particular focus is on the functional aspects of the text which direct the reading process and thus guide the reader in the perception of the ideas, concepts and stories presented. Given the difficulties in determining the circumstances of the origin of Exodus and the paucity of secured knowledge about early Israelite history, the ‘implied reader’ or ‘audience’ is introduced as a key term. It is assumed that this implied reader shaped the inventio and dispositio of the book.
This is accomplished through the investigation of its main literary characters Yhwh, Moses and Israel. Exodus is all about the definition of Israel’s identity in relation to Yhwh and presents the implications thereof for their practical behaviour. Thus already at the stage of the inventio of the book the subject of Exodus demands concentration on the characters. The study of these characters should then give insight into the ideational worlds of the author and of the readers for whom he wrote his book.
Three characters have been chosen on account of their continuous involvement in the plot. The introduction of each character into the plot receives special attention. The developing portrayal of each character is closely linked to its paradigmatic qualities and to its influence on the reader.
First discussed is the portrayal of God, particularly in relation to the contributions of the narrative, poetic and legal parts of Exodus. An initial focus is on the epithets placed at important junctures of the book. The first encounter between reader and character deserves close attention and the levels of interaction between the pharaoh and Israel will be examined. The poem of Exodus (Exod 15,1–18) serves as a hinge between the narrative characterisation and the legal characterisation of Yhwh. This lastly mentioned legal characterisation of Yhwh has been neglected to a large extent, but it is a topic of special interest for this present study. Although the legal collections say much about their recipients, they also reveal deep insights into the law-giver’s nature and concerns. Exodus identifies Yhwh as the king who justly claims obedience and service. A further focus is the possibility and the desirability of a relationship between Israel and their king, Yhwh. Second, with regard to Moses, a significant difference is detected between his first appearance in Exod 2–5 and his later development in the plot. Initially Moses is arguably portrayed as an anti-hero. However, later a much more positive picture unfolds. This remarkable tension in the Mosaic portrayal reveals interesting insights into the implied reader’s preconceptions. Here we trace closely the argumentative strategy of the author in his attempts to convince this reader. The later importance of Moses in Jewish thought makes it essential to discuss the description of Moses’ paradigmatic qualities.
In a third part the construction of the collective character Israel reader-identification is at the heart of the enquiry. In the construction of this literary character Exodus bridges the historical gulf between the ancient Israel of the exodus and the Israel as the implied reader experienced it. The complexity of Israel’s portrayal between realism and idealism is a central aspect of Exodus’ rhetoric, urging its readers to comply with the ideal which the author sought to communicate. In the end Exodus creates what Jan Assmann calls ‘cultural memory’, a memory which has shaped Israel’s identity ever since the book was written and maybe also the identity of the church, as it understands itself in continuity to the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
It can be concluded that the text of Exodus keeps an effect-oriented focus. Exodus does not merely satisfy the potential historical interests of its readers; there is more to it than this archival function. I propose that this piece of literature was composed specifically to convince the implied reader to adopt a certain theology, entailing implications for the ideational perception and practical fashioning of the reader’s situation. By concentration on the characters it is possible to put this abstract and general communicational purpose into more concrete terms.
The results of this study provide insights into the specific poetics of Exodus and its management of the reading process. Because of the proposed unity of form and content, it is possible to specify the message of the entire book by taking into account its intriguing mixture of different genres, its clever use of literary forms and skillful implementation of humour. Here the beauty and engagingness of the book as literature comes to the fore. It has been shown that this other aspect of the appeal of Exodus necessitates the abstraction from modern reading-conventions to do justice to this ancient Hebrew text.

- by Stefan Kürle
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- Theology, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies, Rhetorical Criticism

Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) is a transdisciplinary family of theoretical and methodological approaches, focusing on the analysis and critique of discursive practices in relation to broader
ideological processes, as well as the material conditions that shape and are shaped by them (see Wodak and Meyer, 2016; Flowerdew and Richardson, 2017). A CDS approach can be seen as an extension of the Critical Linguistics framework (Fowler et al., 1979; Kress and Hodge, 1979) that developed in and out of Western European contexts. The main premise of the analyses developed from this perspective considers language not as a neutral descriptor of reality, but as
an important instrument in the structuring of power relations in societies. Consequently, CDS strives to uncover how the legitimation of particular control mechanisms occurs, among others, through specific linguistic practices. In spite of its Western European core, and due to its decidedly problem- oriented nature, as well as the constant refinement and broadening of its analytical tools, CDS has progressively become appealing to the larger European continent, as well as to other Western and non- Western contexts such as the US, Australia, or China (Shi-
Xu, 1999; Tracy et al., 2011).

- by Susana Martínez Guillem and +1
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- Discourse Analysis, Communication, Critical Discourse Studies, Rhetoric

The public circulation of temporal discourse fashions the way in which subjects experience and value their time. At the turn of the twentieth century, experts in systematic management mandated that wage-earning women must be prodded into efficient labor in order to increase the overall yield of industry. Against this regime of time, the narrator of The
Long Day: The Story of a New York Working Girl, as Told by Herself (1905) subverted the temporal protocols governing her by re-deploying efficient labor for her own agenda. Analysis of this work highlights the ways in which time is disproportionately articulated to different subjects, the means employed to discipline the corporeal enactment of time, and
the potential for subjects to resist this orthodoxy

- by Leslie Hahner
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Labor History and Studies, Temporality

Typology, alongside media developments, has always been taken into consideration. The advent of the Internet, and in particular the formation of social media, has paved the way for paying further attention to new forms. Given that one of the potentials of social media is to create a platform for dissemination of news and information, both true and false, this paper is an effort to take a step to classify the false artifacts published on social media from a typological perspective. The questions brought up in this writing are whether a collection of false artifacts published on social media can create a particular species? What are the characteristics if such a species is formed? Is it possible to identify such "subspecies" as well? To answer these questions, the research data, which were false (text-video) content published on social media during the period of 2016-19 and confirmed by the WikiHooks authentication website, were analyzed, using rhetorical critique.
Findings of this analysis suggest a new species called "unreality" with stylistic and intrinsic characteristics. The stylistic characteristics of this species, based on the sample of research, broadly speaking are shortness, intermediate narration of the event, have a separate text and video with the interrelationship and intrinsic characteristics of this species, lack of accuracy despite their apparent correctness, lack of validation technique at the first encounter. Also, four sub-types of unreality, Unreal news, Unreal entertaining, Unreal art and Unreal transcendent have been identified for this main species

- by Azam Ravadrad
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Fake News
- by Leland G Spencer
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- Critical Theory, Religion, Christianity, Communication

In this essay, I examine this highly-personal, world shaping, and perhaps sometimes invisible potential for comedy to construct identities and relationships. Specifically, I examine laugh track use in two highly popular television programs, Will & Grace and Roseanne, to consider how the construction of what is or is not supposed to be funny has rhetorical implications for queer identities and relationships. These texts were selected not only for their abundance of queer characters—Will & Grace focused on a gay man/straight woman best friend relationship and Roseanne featured at least one queer character each year beginning with the third season—but also because of their
immense popularity. I argue that these two programs constitute
what I call enduring popular culture texts, popular entertainment that continues to have social relevance throughout time as it weaves itself into a variety of cultures and becomes constitutive of social understanding. As the case studies presented here illustrate, the way enduring texts are immersed in culture might be misleading and even damaging.

- by Jimmie Manning
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- Television Studies, Comedy, Popular Culture, Gay And Lesbian Studies

This Foreword, about robots, written in both poetry as well as prose, introduces the edited collection _Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots in Contemporary Culture and Society_, edited by Steven J. Thompson (IGI Global, 2018). The link on the thumbnail cover at
https://www.igi-global.com/book/_/179222 will take you directly to the published Foreword, which is open access. The attached PDF, sent directly to me from IGI-Global to use here, is presented with written permission of the publisher.

- by Steven B. Katz
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- Robotics, Robotics (Computer Science), Rhetoric, Composition and Rhetoric

Introduction + Chapter 3 + Chapter 4.
• Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award, Urban Communication Foundation, 2010
• James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship
in Rhetoric/Public Address, National Communication Association (NCA), 2007
• Christine L. Oravec Research Award in Environmental Communication, NCA, 2007
• Book of the Year Award for the Critical and Cultural Studies Division, NCA, 2007

Rhetorical scholarship has relied upon textual criticism as a method of examining discourse. However, in the critical turn, rhetorical theory and praxis have been reconsidered, especially in regard to the types and locations worthy of rhetorical examination. Looking toward vernacular rhetorical discourses, rhetorical scholars examine locally situated discourses as they articulate against oppressive macrocontexts. In this essay, I offer critical-rhetorical ethnography as a method for exploring such discourses in the field of argumentation, using the concepts of invention, kairos, and phronesis. The method offers rhetorical scholars a set of theoretical and methodological guidelines for observing and participating within vernacular advocacy. Finally, I use my time with the health advocacy group, DanceSafe, as an exemplar of the method, illustrating its ability to gauge rhetorical effects, advocacy, and learned wisdom.

- by Aaron Hess
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- Rhetoric, Qualitative methodology, Drugs and drug culture, Rhetorical Criticism

Psalms of lament characteristically include affirmations of trust and sometimes a vow to praise God in the future. This paper questions the motivation behind such vows by looking carefully at whether future praise is conditional on God's... more

- by June F Dickie
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- Laments (Anthropology), Rhetorical Criticism, Persuasion, Book of Psalms
- by Craig Rood
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- Ethics, Rhetoric, Composition and Rhetoric, Communication Ethics

The chief aim of this essay is to posit a well-known Mesopotamian royal and divine epithet, ušumgallu "great dragon," as the source behind Ezekiel's enigmatic description of Pharaoh in 29.3, hattannīn haggādôl, "the great dragon." This relationship sheds new light and meaning on an old problem: why does Ezekiel refer to Pharaoh as a dragon? Rather than viewing this prophetic expression as a pejorative, the cognate evidence argues for the converse by rooting it in an enduring tradition of regal titles. Replicating Akkadian ušumgallu (Sumerian UŠUM.GAL) as efficiently as possible and drawing upon Israelite cosmological history (viz. Gen 1.21a), Ezekiel feigned including Pharaoh within a venerable, long line of Mesopotamian kings and deities to receive this title. Instead, and as is characteristic of Ezekiel's rhetoric, he upended the putative associations of the "great dragon," thereby exposing its true subordinate position under the hegemony of YHWH

- by Tyler Yoder
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- Egyptology, Assyriology, Rhetorical Criticism, Intertextuality

This doctoral thesis presented to the Australian College of Theology argues for an expanded definition of the task of biblical exposition: it is not merely to discern the original meaning of the text and then to apply that meaning to a contemporary audience, but also to discern the original rhetorical function of the text in order to preach a contemporary sermon with an analogous rhetorical function. In other words, the sermon is not only to exegete and apply what the text says, but also what it does. It is proposed that the discipline of rhetorical criticism, in which much work has been done over the past few decades, provides a means by which this might be achieved in the field of New Testament preaching. Although the term “rhetorical criticism” represents a diversity of methodologies, the presuppositions and aims of biblical exposition fit most naturally with rhetorical critical approaches that use the analytical terms and methods of the New Testament writers’ contemporaries, rat...

- by Tim MacBride
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- Philosophy, Rhetoric, Literature, Preaching
- by Mark Gring
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- Social Movements, Rhetoric, Rhetorical Analysis, Rhetorical Invention

The United States has long grappled with the question of how to maintain an appropriate combination of religion and politics in the public sphere. The current electoral cycle is no different, as Presidential candidates attempt to negotiate both the political and religious landscapes. This essay introduces a special forum on rhetoric and religion in contemporary politics and touches on some recent instances of how religious differences have played out in the current political environment. Some of the issues discussed include the separation of church and state, Mitt Romney’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Rick Santorum’s conception of the “war on religion,” and the controversy over contraceptives at religious institutions and Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on a Georgetown law student.

- by Brett Lunceford
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- Rhetoric (Languages and Linguistics), Religion, Sociology, Cultural Studies
- by Eliza Gellis
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory, Christine de Pizan, Feminist Rhetorics

The article seeks to demonstrate how the theological notion of ‘divine promises’ runs through the whole of the theological thought of Romans. The concept is identified as typological allegory whose theological content consists in affirming the precedence of the revelation concerning salvation, which is expressed by means of the rhetorical device of allegory, with a typological purpose and constructed on the basis of the biblical stories of Abraham in Genesis. In this way it is seen that God seeks primarily to manifest himself and in that self-manifestation he makes known his plan of salvation for humanity. From a narrative point of view, the ‘promises of God’ are a micro-narrative that communicates a theology of revelation, redefined in the light of the Easter event.

Using Burke’s notion of terminological screens, we perform a cluster analysis on Donald Trump’s inaugural address. We discovered keywords that appeared to point to Trump’s stock campaign phrase, Make America Great Again: we, Washington, D.C., people, you/your, and America. Our analysis seeks to explain how the phrase's rhetorical presence in Trump’s inaugural address opened and closed possibilities for unity and division, and ultimately allowed for an inaugural speech reception on par with prior presidents

- by Jim A. Kuypers and +1
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- Rhetorical Analysis, Political Science, Rhetorical Criticism, Rhetorical Theory

Increasingly, rhetorical scholars are using fieldwork and other ethnographic, performance, and qualitative methods to access, document, and analyze forms of everyday in situ rhetoric rather than using already documented texts. In this book, the authors argue that participatory critical rhetoric, as an approach to in situ rhetoric, is a theoretically, methodologically, and praxiologically robust approach to critical rhetorical studies. This book addresses how participatory critical rhetoric furthers understanding of the significant role that rhetoric plays in everyday life through expanding the archive of rhetorical practices and texts, emplacing rhetorical critics in direct conversation with rhetors and audiences at the moment of rhetorical invention, and highlighting marginalized voices that might otherwise go unnoticed. This book organizes the theoretical and methodological foundations of participatory critical rhetoric through four vectors that enhance conventional rhetorical approaches: 1) the political commitments of the critic; 2) rhetorical reflexivity and the role of the embodied critic; 3) emplaced rhetoric and the interplay between the field, text, and context; and 4) multiperspectival judgment that is informed by direct participation with rhetors and audiences. In addition to laying the groundwork and advocating for the approach, Participatory Critical Rhetoric also offers significant contributions to rhetorical theory and criticism more broadly by revisiting the field’s understanding of core topics such as role of the critic, text/context, audience, rhetorical effect, and the purpose of criticism. Further, it enhances theoretical conversations about material rhetoric, place/space, affect, intersectional rhetoric, embodiment, and rhetorical reflexivity.

- by Danielle Endres
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- Rhetoric, Ethnography, Qualitative methodology, Qualitative Methods
- by Robert Gutierrez-Perez
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- History, Gender Studies, Intercultural Communication, Women's Studies

presented at National Communication Association convention, Chicago, IL November 2014.

- by Meredith L Martin, PhD and +1
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- Rhetoric, Rhetorical Criticism, Church History, Rhetorical Theory

Similes and metaphors in the New Testament.

- by James L . Resseguie
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- New Testament, Rhetorical Criticism, Metaphor, Simile
- by Roland MEYNET
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Galatians, Pauline Epistles, biblical and Semitic rhetoric

Statistics about women’s presence as CEOs, directors, and board members show relative stagnation over the last few years. Many theories exist to explain this problem, but there is a paucity of specific suggestions targeted at individuals seeking
to rise to the top of their organizations. In this article we propose that changing the way women talk about accomplishments can improve leadership presence and aid in
promotion. We analyzed video interviews of 20 men and 20 women in leadership roles at Fortune 50 companies. Since leaders will inevitably confront this when interviewing
for promotions, we chose to focus on the question: ‘‘In your career, what are the accomplishments you are most proud of?’’ We analyzed content, syntax, gestures, and facial expressions, and identified significant differences in the way men and women talked about accomplishment. Based upon our research, we identify six communication essentials that can help women project confidence: (1) starting strong, (2)
staying succinct, (3) dimensionalizing content, (4) owning voice, (5) controlling movement, and (6) projecting warmth.

- by Inez Okulska
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- Philosophy, Rhetoric, Translation Studies, Art

These are the endorsements that appear on the covers of Mavis Gallant: The Eye & the Ear, University of Toronto Press 2019, from Lesley Clement (author of Learning to Look: A Visual Response to Mavis Gallant's Fiction); W.H. New (Critic, Editor, Writer); Winfried Siemerling (author of The New North American Studies and The Black Atlantic Reconsidered); Robert Thacker (author of Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives, a Biography); and Aritha van Herk (Writer, Editor, Speaker).

- by Marta Dvorak
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- Music, Aesthetics, Visual Studies, Canadian Literature

This activity uses a diagram to help students visualize Kenneth Burke's theory of dramatism. Specifically, through an analysis of the film Hell or High Water, students learn to identify each stage of the guilt-purification-redemption... more

- by Scott Anderson
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Kenneth Burke

1Th 1:2-10 is sometimes called the third longest sentence in the NT. However, biblical scholars are by no means of one mind about this, and English translations (for reader reasons) have never kept it as one sentence. Various parts of this text have long been identified as awkward or broken, and there almost exists an air of resignation about some of difficulties inherent in the text. Here I will ask two questions: whether 1:2-10 is indeed appropriately described as either awkward or clumsy; and whether the battle of “How many sentences?” is very helpful. First, I will briefly address the form of the letter, since this may impact how 1:2-10 is treated; then I will look at some possible structural features of this text. In the process, I will answer “no” to both questions above and offer a solution that has the potential of breathing new life into current readings of this text. I will argue that while there are many fine studies on this, no one has provided the one true key, and that likely such a key does not (and likely can never) exist. In that context, I hope to offer a suggestion that might help.

The introductory section of an essay is essential since it determines whether the reader will be interested in continuing to read the text or not. For this reason, the use of essay hooks is necessary to perform the task of leading and grabbing the attention of the reader regarding the subject of a particular essay. There are several types of hooks that one could consider making their work interesting to read. Thus, this paper seeks to carry out an exploration of the different types of essay hooks and provide the relevant examples for each.

- by Anthony Bergs
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- Creative Writing, Education, Travel Writing, Academic Writing
- by Elizabeth R . Earle
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Syllabus
- by Donnalyn Pompper
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- Media Studies, Feminist Theory, Rhetorical Criticism, Gender Roles

The power and intimacy of Wallace's voices allow him to affect his readers powerfully on multiple levels: cognitively, linguistically, and affectively. But how? The Voices of David Foster Wallace: Comic, Encyclopedic, and Sincere offers a systematic analysis of Wallace's poetics of voice. I focus on Wallace's three novels, identifying a dominant voice for each, pinpointing its techniques and intertextual origins, and casting it in a career arc of Wallace's evolving novelistic purposes.

- by Yonina Hoffman
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- Narrative, Poetics, Rhetorical Criticism, Postmodernism

Most of Roland Meynet's publications concern the Synoptic Gospels, with rhetorical analysis as his characteristic approach. This book, however, focuses on the eight alphabetic acrostics in the book of Psalms (9–10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145). Meynet questions whether the negative judgment regarding these poems, especially as expressed in the twentieth century (from Hermann Gunkel onward) that implies that their alphabetic structure has prevented the psalmists from providing their compositions with a coherent overall design, is correct. His answer is radical: contrary to what other scholars claim, the rhetorical structure of the poems concerned transcends the device for the alphabetic acrostic. The eight poems have been composed with the same care as the other psalms, and each one has a coherent structure.

- by Paul Sanders and +1
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Biblical Hebrew poetry, The Book of Psalms

In December 2012, much attention was paid by the public to the presidential election in South Korea because the political podcast, Naneun Ggomsuda, (Naggomsu) engaged young people in political activities. The podcast gained enormous popularity by revealing the corruption and immoral behaviors of the Korean President Lee and his associates to the public. It was a kind of social phenomena and played an important role not only in encouraging the public to become interested in politics, but also in spreading the podcast media in South Korea. In the sense that its popularity proved its persuasive power, the podcast raised a number of rhetorical issues. In this respect, I identify four rhetorical devices—hangout talk, role play, satire, and deliberate bias—that motivate the audience to listen to the podcast by analyzing its narrative. Through a fantasy theme analysis derived from Ernest G. Bormann, I discover that the “David and Goliath” fantasy theme is constructed and the audience experiences the rhetorical vision of “resistance,” which functions as the audience’s motivation for public action. In addition, by exploring a podcast’s characteristics as a new media platform, I show that they are an important factor of the podcast’s success as well as a technical strategy planned by the podcast’s producer.

- by Kyoosang Jo
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- Politics, Podcasting, Rhetorical Criticism
- by Roland MEYNET
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- Rhetorical Criticism, Biblical Exegesis, biblical and Semitic rhetoric