Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric in North America

Johnson argues that nineteenth-century rhetoric was primarily synthetic, derived from the combination of classical elements and eighteenth-century belletristic and epistemological approaches to theory and practice. She reveals that nineteenth-century rhetoric supported several rhetorical arts, each conceived systematically from a similar theoretical foundation.

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A analysis of the philosophical, theoretical, and pedagogical priorities of the 19th-century rhetorical tradition in North America. Johnson examines the course of study at American and Canadian universities, providing a disciplinary profile of 19th-century rhetoric. She argues that educators as well as society at large recognized a definite theoretical rubric uniting the various elements within that tradition--a rubric which she labels as belletristic. Paper edition (1655-2), $15.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Nan Johnson is associate professor of rhetoric and composition at Ohio State University.