Analyzes the antihumanistic elements of Jacques Derrida's theory of deconstruction. Argues that the modern French intellectuals, including Foucault, Derrida, and Lacan, have had an antihumanistic effect on the American social sciences and humanities by rejecting the existence of truth, morality, and rationality. (FMW)

Describes the current debate in literary study between the humanist/historicist and the anti-humanist/anti-historicist perspectives. Examines the political dimensions of this debate, including its relationship to Marxist theory and deconstruction. Asserts that literary texts are productions of ideology and that literary study should inquire into…

Explores the ontological status of autobiography as a literary genre. Defines the limits of what can be considered autobiography. Explores the ways in which autobiographies deal with history and consciousness, and addresses the relationship between autobiography and biography, fiction, and psychoanalysis. (DMM)

Claims that the essay stands apart from both poetry and prose fiction, as well as from other forms of academic writing, in its emphasis upon the actual situation of the writer, and thus upon its personal nature. Argues for its relevance and inclusion in the academic community. (RAE)

Examines two short stories by women writers--one Black and one White--which celebrate similar values and highlight Black women in family roles yet reveal differences in the authors' perspectives. (RAE)

Argues that merging theory and method benefits rhetorical criticism, but that a theory-method distinction is justified on pedagogical grounds. Analyzes Francis Schaeffer's "A Christian Manifesto" to illustrate how a theory-method distinction can inform rhetorical criticism. (MM)

Describe the Roman concepts of "decorum" and "ornatus." Analyzes a speech from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," showing how these concepts advance plot, deepen character, and create expectations. Demonstrates how these concepts are useful in the criticism of American public address by applying them to Ronald Reagan's…

Argues that rhetoric belongs to a class of theories that tend not to become outmoded, and presents examples of effective rhetoric from ancient Greece. Suggests that rhetorical theories should be judged on their own terms rather than on the standards of an allied discipline. (KEH)

Asserts that post-structuralism cannot be applied to literary texts because to talk about applying post-structuralism assumes: (1) free-standing subjects; (2) free-standing objects of investigation; (3) free-standing methods; and (4) free-standing interpretation. (RAE)

Claims that Quebec writers in the 1960s-80s, buoyed by nationalist and separatist aims, created alternative "Marias" who write out of their language, dreams, and bodies, and who are trying to effect a further liberation. Asks where future trajectories invented by Quebec writers will propel their readers next. (RAE)

Examines the 1982 film "The Year of Living Dangerously" to illustrate how an explicit argument may be implicitly enacted in a rhetorical artifact through a rhetor's rhetorical choices. (MM)

Adult education researchers must become critical writers and readers of research texts. Reflexivity should be seen as a movement away from the purely personal to an awareness of the operation of language, discourse, and power in the assumptions and unconscious values of research. (SK)

Introduces this issue of the journal, which is devoted to new perspectives on critical histories of graphic design. Notes that the essays in this issue offer examples of the variety of interpretative approaches available that serve to question both the previously unchallenged acceptance of historical explanations and the transcendent understanding…

Argues that the practice and influence of design history can benefit from new forms of visual and chronological analysis. Identifies and discusses a unique phenomenon, the "historical visual narrative." Examines special instances of this phenomenon in twentieth-century design and visual culture, which are tied to the theme of the…

Examines British fanzines as one form of subcultural communication that embraces specific visual and textual languages, often appropriating elements from mainstream cultural and media sources. Charts the growth of fanzine production over the last 20 years and analyzes the productive effects of fanzines on both the audiences they address and the…