I presumed some givens at the beginning of the semester rhetoric study. Granted, had I ever encountered opportunity to ponder those givens, I might not have assumed so much. Doesn’t everyone know, for instance, that composition is no less valid or necessary than oratory? Early rhetoricians’ disputes over rhetoric definitions, rhetoric’s ethical implications, even whether or not rhetoric had a place in discourse seemed silly to me.
At first.
As the semester progressed, I found and enjoyed and made note of (for further study) people who have influenced me personally. I coul relate to some rhetoricians based on what I choose to do as a teacher and a writing tutor; I related to others because they propose ideas I hope to learn to use. Socrates and Aristotle impressed me for their arguments and propositions that continues to pervade rhetoric study in my lifetime. I had not been familiar with sophistic concepts of rhetoric and see some of my personal leanings in their ideas of inclusiveness and lack of binaries.
Possibly, I related most to Saint Augustine for his devout life and the fact that he chose to see language as a tool for serving God. Some of the women rhetoricians interested me for their distinct (from masculine and from each other) voices. Astell and Pizan gave me food for thought by their straightforward use of rhetoric in a world dominated by one rhetoric “gender.” I think Astell got away with some of her discourse because at least her society could say she was exhorting women to carry on a godly role. But she must have experienced some censure, and I admire her persistence. Of all the feminist writers I’ve ever read, Cixous may be the one I most appreciate. I value her challenge and command to write—to write my own voice and to write myself.
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