This article describes the Frank Reade dime novels, published in 1882, that are now recognized as the beginnings of the modern science fiction novel in the United States. They illustrate the hope that Americans of the time held for the future that newly invented technology could offer. Although the Frank Reade stories highlighted the promise of…

Suggests that a systematic triadic theory could prove relevant to contemporary understandings of communication. Reviews historical foundations of triadic theory, identifying semiotic, sociological, and interactionist conceptions of the triad. Outlines a transactional-participatory understanding of the triad, based on a mutual-personal model of…

The author, an instructor from 1979-83 at the Children's Theatre Program of the Komplex Budaya Negara (National Cultural Complex), describes how children's theatre has evolved to achieve a distinct Malaysian identity by drawing from traditional theatre forms. (PD)

This 677-item bibliography consists of articles, periodicals, and books in English dating from 1930 to the present, on various aspects of documentary film and video. The material is organized alphabetically under each author's surname. (NKA)

In order to discover how the photographic medium has been conceptualized, a study examined all books published in the United States from 1902 to 1960 which are part of the intellectual response to photography and a sample of the periodicals which concern themselves with photography. A critical review of the literature combined with Q methodology…

Argues that the torrid conflicts of the 1960s produced a profound change in American politics--nowhere more evident than in the clash between radicals and liberals of the New Left and the emerging "neoconservative" defenders of American culture and politics. Finds that the neoconservative "priestly voice" produced rhetorical…

In the process of delegitimating the master narratives that have sustained Western civilization in the past, Postmodernism provoked a "crisis in narrative" which Francois Lyotard describes as narrativity that presents a sense of loss but not of what is lost. Recent histories of rhetoric have promulgated the view that rhetorical maps…

Examines the history of literacy, identifying four current models of literacy. Argues that literacy does not merely coexist or interact with oral skills but includes them--that the definition of literacy consists in written and oral practices organized around texts in a particular culture. (PD)

Reviews 50 years of published research literature in American library history that shows a lack of theoretical perspective. Suggests that library historians should join with critical theorists and with social and cultural historians to help place the library in a larger context of social and cultural forces. (Contains 131 references.) (LRW)

For more than two thousand years, the painted image has been critical to the culture of the West. At the beginning of the 21st century, however, painting sits quietly in a small corner and is, for the most part, ignored. Museums increasingly devote their contemporary exhibition space to "installation art," as opposed to discrete objects…

This paper examines the life and works of Meridel LeSueur, a colleague of Kenneth Burke, and herself a radical writer during the 1920s and 1930s. The paper states that LeSueur's primary aim was to establish an indigenous working-class culture to support working-class action. It notes that her arguments about writing build upon the rhetorical…

Muses on the reasons for a "director's cut" of the 1969 Soviet film "The Color of Pomegranates," produced after the official version had initially been heavily reedited. Offers historical background on the film. States that it places unusual demands on its audiences, especially because of its density of texture and its…

Much existing historiography is either based too exclusively on the evidence of old textbooks or concerned too narrowly with theory or the epistemological assumptions underlying theory. Those who study the history of composition in this century need both to consult such new sources of information as course materials, student papers, and oral…

Presents an overview of the language and literature of California, and particularly of Los Angeles. Describes the social context and work of the following writers: Bret Harte, Henry Dana Jr., Jack London, Ambrose Bierce, Gertrude Atherton, Helen Hunt Jackson, Frank Norris, John Steinbeck, Mary Austin, and others. Also discusses minority literature…

Recalls how theater in the United States celebrated the Bicentennial by offering "Yankee Doodle" by Aurand Harris. Explains that although the characters were considered to be quite progressive, the absence of a larger female and minority contingent means that the target audience remains the white male. Concludes that it is important to…