Considers the issue of literary canons, raised in the context of a week-long series of lectures and discussions on "the Victorians" in an Elderhostel program, with participants for whom these texts were the product of their parents' generation and of their own childhood reading. Raises substantive questions about the meaning of a…

Drawing on works of literary theory and postmodern fiction, discusses the relationship between reader, writer, and text. Examines the boundaries and frontiers that writers patrol and readers inhabit as they live out their personal lives with texts. (DMM)

Reviews three folktales and a children's novella, "Chike and the River," by the Nigerian author and compares them to his adult short stories. Observes that, aside from differences in scale or degree, the style of his children's stories is basically the same as that of his adult works. (FMW)

Includes statements and discussion by six college educators about the new rhetorics. Underscores the need for both new approaches to rhetoric and understanding of its history. Suggests that the term "rhetoric" may have become a grab bag of assorted concepts. Argues that disagreement over rhetoric is preferable to general acceptance of a single…

Explores why Chinese students' responses to American literature appear dogmatic and predictable. Examines how Chinese typically study literature by considering (1) the officially recognized relationship between literature and politics; (2) the traditional aims and methods of instruction in middle school; and (3) students' responsibilities in their…

Explores the narrative construction of Israeli symbolism by tracing the tellings and retellings of the story of the 1936-39 settlement operation known as "Tower and Stockade." Highlights the dialogical process in which such high profile, multivocal national narratives participate and considers the rhetorical role they play in the larger…

Offers guidelines for teaching students to detect and analyze bias in films. Stresses that this enhances critical thinking. Suggests ways teachers can identify filmmaker's biases, and provides a Film Bias Analysis worksheet to help students identify bias and its methods of operation. (RW)

Proposes satire as a form of argumentative practice. Examines eighteenth-century satirical attacks upon London's ubiquitous debating societies (formed among tradesmen, craftsmen, professionals, and small businessmen to "improve" themselves) as evidence of satire's public role in which the ideological struggle between social classes was…

Considers Stephen North's recent journal article, "The Making of Knowledge in Composition." Criticizes North's perception that education practitioners have private knowledge regarding what works in class and his implication that all practitioner claims to knowledge are equally valid. Argues that such claims are best verified by dialectic…

Examines performance as a literary critical method. Describes group performances of James Dickey's "The String" in an advanced college interpretation course, and considers two central issues: (1) what is learned through the performance of a specific literary work; and (2) what features of a concrete text require performance attention,…

Argues that the interaction among the various sub-discourses that collectively constitute English as a discipline can keep alive a vision of English teachers not simply as critics, composition people, or even poets, but as men and women of letters. (RAE)

Includes: (1) "A Comment on 'Lacan, Transferences, and Writing Instruction'," Janet Hiller and Barbara Osburg; (2) "Robert Brooke Responds"; (3) "A Comment on 'Writing (with) Cixous'," Debra Raschke; and (4) "Clara Juncker Responds." (RAE)

Examines "nukespeak," the use of metaphor, euphemism, technical jargon, and acronyms to portray nuclear concepts in a neutral or positive way. Identifies two nukespeak strategies: domestication and bureaucratization. Uses two cases of nukespeak strategy by Ronald Reagan to illustrate the implications of nukespeak for the audience. (MM)

Uses Kenneth Burke's theory of perfection to explore the vocabularies of nuclear weapons in United States public discourse and how "the Bomb" as a God term has gained imbalanced ascendancy in centers of power. (MS)

Views "The Wizard of Oz" as a yearly media ritual, performing the psychological and socializing functions of traditional fairy tales, yet containing contemporary political orientations and social values. Sees its rhetoric as therapeutic insofar as the story's rationale describes psychological problems and offers prescriptive remedies…