A Pragmatic Theory of Rhetoric

By Walter Beale

Walter H. Beale offersthe most coherent treatment of the aims and modes of discourse to be presented in more than a decade. His development of a semiotic "grammar of motives" that re­lates the problems of meaning in discourse both to linguistic structure and ways of construct­ing reality stands as a pro­vocative new theory of rhetoric sharply focused on writing.

He includes a comprehensive treatment of rhetoric, its classes and varieties, modes, and stra­tegies. In addition, he demon­strates the importance of the purpose, substance, and social context of discourse, at a time when scholarly attention has be­come preoccupied with process. He fortifies and extends the Aristotelian approach to rhetoric and discourse at a time when much theory and pedagogy have yielded to modernist assump­tions and methods. And finally, he develops a theoretical framework that illuminates the relationship between rhetoric, the language arts, and the hu­man sciences in general.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809313006
• ISBN13: 9780809313006
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.3"