This study deals primarily with recent academically oriented critical material, but it also embraces the range of film criticism that has been written for the mass audience in newspapers and periodicals. The study considers eight types of critical approaches to analyzing film: the journalistic approach, which contains both a reportorial-review and…

In spite of the material seeking to define rhetoric and approaches to its study, few attempts have been made to stipulate qualities of "rhetorical acts meriting critical attention" or critical outcomes that serve social or professional functions. Rhetorical criticism, to be useful, must perform a unique function for society as well as for the…

Three papers, all concerned with literary analysis, are presented in this book. The first essay, "How Ordinary Is Ordinary Language," (Stanley E. Fish) argues that a distinction between literature and other uses of language leads logically to an impoverished conception of both rather than insuring literature's status as a repository of value.…

Develops a social value model that reveals the relationship between film and social phenomena, and political processes. The model is used to demonstrate the nature of the political context that impinges on a film, such as "Rocky," and the specific exigence to which it is a response. (JMF)

In 1823, a series of events, centering around a slave rebellion in Demerara, had a significant impact on the developing rhetoric of anti-slavery in England. This impact and the Parliamentary debates which resulted from the uprising are examined. (JF)

Draws a connection between Gallie's essentially contested concepts and Aristotle's account of rhetorical argument by presenting a definition of Essentially Contested Argument which is used as the connecting term between rhetoric and essentially contested concepts and by demonstrating the value of making this connection. (JF)

Argues that Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech of 1775 lacks textual authenticity and discusses how and why a text was created to replace the oral tradition of "Liberty or Death" and why its influence has continued for two hundred years. (MH)

Examines the published works and private correspondence of the English drama critic Huntly Carter and concludes that his religious enthusiasm for early Soviet theatre was more a part of London theosophy in 1914 than the Moscow stage of 1923. (MH)

Contends that the historical dramas produced in the 1960'> used historical materials in original ways and for unique reasons and consequently American audiences viewed their heritage in a new light. (MH)

Analyzes scholarly criticisms of "Elementary Forms of the Religious Life" by Emil Durkheim for the purpose of illustrating various approaches to sociological theory. Durkheim's theory of sacrifice is reinterpreted to serve as the basis for a new approach to the history of sociological theory. (Author/DB)

Paper presented at the Midwestern Renaissance Society Meeting, Urbana, Illinois, April 1970. (DD)