Background Art: “Revival” by Susan Hickman © Rhetorical Critique Narrative Criticism &...

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Rhetorical Critique

Narrative Criticism&

Dramatism


Narrative Critique

• “Humans are the Storytelling animal.”– Alasdair MacIntyre

• Short stories, Comics, Novels, Films• Poetry & Songs• Conversations, Interviews, Speeches• Even Paintings and Quilts• Walter Fisher and the Narrative

Paradigm


Biography:• Emeritus Professor

at USC Annenberg• Fisher earned his

doctorate in communication studies at the University of Iowa.

• He specializes in rhetorical theory and criticism, political communication, and argumentation, addressing in particular problems in reason and ethics.


Fisher on the Narrative Paradigm

• Fisher, Walter R. (1984). "Narration as Human Communication Paradigm: The Case of Public Moral Argument." in Communication Monographs 51. pp. 1-22.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1985). "The Narrative Paradigm: An Elaboration." in Communication Monographs 52. December. pp. 347-367.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1985). "The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning." in Journal of Communication 35.Autumn. pp. 74-89.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1987). Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1988). "The Narrative Paradigm and the Assessment of Historical Texts." in Argumentation and Advocacy 25.Fall. pp. 49-53.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1989). "Clarifying the Narrative Paradigm." in Communication Monographs 56. pp. 55-58.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1994). "Narrative Rationality and the Logic of Scientific Discourse." in Argumentation 8. pp. 21-32.

• Fisher, Walter R. (1995). "Narration, Knowledge, and the Possibility of Wisdom" in Rethinking Knowledge: Reflections Across the Disciplines (Suny Series in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences). (Fisher & Robert F. Goodman as editors). New York: State University of New York Press.


4 Characteristics of Narrative

1. Comprised of at least 2 active or stative events• “stative” expressing a state or

condition

2. Events organized in time order—• chronology

3. Causal or Contributing relationship between events

4. Must be about a unified subject


Traditional paradigm of rationality vs. Fisher’s

paradigm:• People are essentially

rational • We make decisions on

the basis of arguments • The type of speaking

situation determines the course of our argument

• Rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we argue

• The world is a set of logical puzzles that we can solve through rational analysis

• People are essentially storytellers

• We make decisions on the basis of good reasons

• History, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reasons

• Narrative rationality is determined by the coherence and fidelity of our stories

• The world is a set of stories from which we choose, and thus constantly re-create, our lives


Narrative Analysis of an Artifact

1. What is the Setting or Scene?2. Who are the main Characters?3. Who is the Narrator? Direct

presentation?4. What are the major and minor

Events?5. What are the Temporal Relations

among the events?6. What Cause-&-Effect Relationships?7. Who is the Audience of the narrative?8. What are the major Themes?• Formulate a research question.


"All the world's a stage"

Dramatism

Kenneth Burke (1897-1993)


Identification

• The Basic Principle of rhetoric• The use of symbols to create

drama where communicator and audience identify with each other

• Audience and communicator become

“consubstantial”


Key Concepts

• Substance: the essential characteristics of a person as seen by self and others

• Consubstantiality: shared substance• Identification Division:

consubstantiality always divides as well as unifying people

• God terms & Devil terms: symbols connoting good or evil association with substance


The Elements of Symbolic Drama

• Motive and Burke’s Pentad– Act, Scene, Agent, Agency, and

Purpose• The Guilt-Redemption Cycle

– Arousal of guilt– Purification by:

•Mortification (self sacrifice)•Victimage (scapegoating someone or

something else)

– Redemption• Tragedy and the Comic Corrective


Logging Old Growth Forests

Logger Rhetoric

Environmental Rhetoric

ACT Harvesting Lumber

Destroying Forests

SCENE Market for Lumber

Ecological Crisis

AGENT Responsible Business

Greedy Capitalist

AGENCY

Scientific Techniques

Reckless, wasteful methods

PURPOSE

Jobs, wise resource use

Profit and exploitation

Table by Prof. Bob Craig, U of CO @ Boulder


Illustration from Prof. Bob Craig, U of CO @ Boulder


Pendatic Analysis

• Identify the ACT• Where or what is the situation?-

SCENE• Who is the main character?-AGENT• How is the act accomplished?-AGENCY• What is intended by performing the

act?-PURPOSEApply ratios to determine dominant

term:


20 possible “Pendatic Ratios”

• Scene - Act: no• Scene - Agent: yes• Scene - Agency: no• Scene - Purpose: yes• Act - Scene: no• Act - Agent : no• Act - Agency : no• Act - Purpose : no• Agent – Scene: yes • Agent – Act: yes

• Agent – Agency: yes • Agent – Purpose: no • Agency – Act: unclear• Agency – Scene: no• Agency – Agent : yes• Agency – Purpose:

unclear• Purpose – Act: no• Purpose – Scene: yes• Purpose – Agent : no• Purpose – Agency:

unclear


The Dominant Term

The Philosophy of Dominance• Act – Realism not Nominalism

– Universal principles more real than objects

• Scene – Materialism– Reality explained by matter, motion, physical

law

• Agent – Idealism– Views mind and spirit as fundamentally real

• Agency – Pragmatism• Purpose - Mysticism


After Analysis

• Formulate a Research Question– Narrative

•Open ended– How does construction effect

interpretation?– What does story say about culture? Etc.

– Dramatism •Worldview?•Motives?•Ratios?

• Write an Essay

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