Describes an undergraduate course designed to teach students how to think rhetorically. Notes that the course is organized around three questions students/critics are likely to ask, and presents a four-step approach to teach both the questions and the critical methods used to answer them. (MM)

Uses the "line and stanza" method to analyze and compare texts representing different cultural backgrounds and ages. Proposes that the textual characteristics identified by the Formalists as the measure of literature are actually the hallmarks of a cross-cultural human capacity for making deep sense of experience. (FMW)

Compares Roman Polanski's film adaptation of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" with the original novel by Thomas Hardy. Suggests that a comparative analysis of the two works enhances students' awareness of Hardy's artistry and sharpens their ability to respond critically to literature. (MM)

Traces the theoretical significance of using names as titles for situations, and applies this analysis to the United States' intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) programs. Argues that the names given to ICBMs preserve their utility as weapons by linking them to the myths of the nineteenth-century western frontier. (MM)

Discusses the life and works of playwright Eugene O'Neill and provides a selected bibliography that records the major book trends of scholarship on O'Neill, including reference works, biographies, criticism and interpretation, anthologies of criticism, and collections of major libraries and archives. (LRW)

Examines Ronald Reagan's 1987 State of the Union Address as a quest story that reaffirms his vision of America's endless search for freedom in a persuasive, archetypal pattern that produces a common vision of the future through the mythic appeals of the past. (RAE)

Describes the combination of circumstances--cultural, political, and educational--in mid-eighteenth century Edinburgh, Scotland, which led to the formation of the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. Claims this development reflects the social situation rather than a preconceived design for either the discipline of rhetoric or literature.…

Suggests an approach to literature (derived from post-structuralism and deconstructionism) which goes beyond the concept of "teacher as authority," without totally abandoning form or structure. Demonstrates this approach in a discussion of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and Philip Larkin's poem "High…

Considers Walter Fisher's criticisms of the "rational-world" paradigm, as well as his defense of the narrative paradigm. Concludes that a useful argumentative tradition, best represented by the informal logic movement, avoids the dangers identified by narrative proponents. Notes that the narrative paradigm largely fails to fulfill its…

The versions of academic life portrayed in two recently published novels, "Small World" and "Coming from Behind," are compared and other aspects of the works' literary merit are discussed. (MSE)

Examines the legend Eugene Debs fostered, calling for a renewal of American virtue. Argues that a more sympathetic view of Debs' radicalism is achieved by looking at him against the Judeo-Christian tradition of Old Testament prophecy. (RAE)

Offers a descriptive analysis and critical evaluation of multicultural education policy and practice. It examines the three ideological systems for viewing assimilation as proposed by M. M. Gordon: "anglo-conformity"; "melting pot"; and "cultural pluralism." The author includes discussions of two educational policy…

Addresses one of the more serious criticisms made concerning the Lacanian concept of the Real, that made by Francois Roustang, who accuses Lacan of intentionally blurring the two distinct registers of this concept. Wordsworth's poem, "We Are Seven," illustrates the Real as pure loss through its representation of family relations,…

Criticizes the application of the statistical procedures of the population-genetic approach within evolutionary biology to the study of psychological development. Argues that the application of the statistical methods of population genetics--primarily the analysis of variance--to the causes of psychological development is bound to result in a…

Argues that a truly developmental behavior genetics will have to go beyond the traditional quantitative approach of population genetics in order to produce developmental explanatory content about differences and similarities in developmental outcomes. (MDM)