Rhetoric An Historical Introduction [Hardcover]

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• An introduction to the art of rhetoric for those who are unacquainted with it and an argument about invention and tradition suitable for specialists
  
• Texts range from Cicero's De oratore and Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine to Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Stephen Greenblatt’s Marvellous Possessions
  
• Texts serve simultaneously as works of persuasion and considerations of how rhetoric works
  
• Engages readers in using rhetoric to deliberate about challenging issues.

List of Abbreviations.

Introducting Rhetoric.

Part I: Classical Rhetorical Traditions.

Introduction.

1 The Rhetorician: Demagogue or Statesman? Plato's Gorgias and Aristotle's Rhetoric.

2 Eloquence, Persuasion, and Invention: Cicero's De oratore.

3 Rhetoric and the Search for God: Augustine's On Christian Doctrine and Confessions.

4 Practical Reason or Interested Calculation? Cicero's On Duties and Machiavelli's The Prince.

Part II: Classical Rhetoric and Literary Interpretation.

Introduction.

5 Tradition and Invention: Bacon's Aphorisms and the Essays.

6 Deception, Strong Speech, and Mild Discourse in Milton's Early Prose and Paradise Lost.

7 Prudence and Eloquence in Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Part III: Rhetoric and Contemporary Disciplines.