Rhetorical Criticism

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Rhetorical Criticism

• Instructor A. Goldrick-Jones
• Spring 2006

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Narration symbolic actions--words and/or
  deeds--that have sequence and meaning for those
  who live, create, or interpret them
• Qtd. in Wood (2004, p. 107) from Fisher (1987)
  Human communication as narration Toward a
  philosophy of reason, value, and action.
  Columbia University of South Carolina Press.

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Stories/storytelling
• creating sequences out of separate events (plot)
• dramatizing good and bad characters (heroes and
  villains)
• ascribing motives to characters
• delaying the point or revelation (climax)
• Storytelling is integral to everyday life

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Good reasons should not be confined only to the
  use of rational argumentation or formal
  argumentative structures (ex--syllogisms)
• A rational paradigm formalized, accepted
  structures of reasoning (ex--the scientific
  method formal proof)
• A narrative paradigm toward a formal, accepted
  structure for good reasons based on narration
• A good story is just as persuasive and valid as
  more formal/logical argumentation!

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Narrative rationality depends on coherence and
  fidelity

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Coherence
• whether all parts of a story fit together
  believably (plot)
• whether the outcome makes sense, given the plot
  and characters
• Coherence is sometimes called probability.

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Testing coherence
• Look within a story for internal coherence ?
  details, distortions, consistency, gaps
• Assess whether or not a given story conflicts
  with another account of the same event

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Fidelity the extent to which a story resonates
  with listeners personal experiences and beliefs
  (Fisher, 1987)
• Whether a story rings true to listeners with
  respect to their own experiences, values,
  self-concepts (from Wood, p. 109)
• Whether characters are believable ? more so if
  they act as we would do, or as we would like

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Narrative criticism

• Definitions
• Testing fidelity When you accept a story as
  true or right, you have
• Judged the values in the narration
• Accepted the values as reflecting what you
  believe and how you understand the world operates
• Identified with the character(s)

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Narrative criticism

• Why use a narrative paradigm? Fisher says--
• The narrative paradigm reconstitutes reason and
  rationality, making them amenable to all forms of
  human communication (Narration,p. 273)
• The meaning and significance of life in all of
  its social dimensions require the recognition of
  its narrative structure (p. 274)
• We can hope to find that which is reliable or
  trustworthy the quest for the good life
  for all persons (p. 289)

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Narrative criticism

• Making some connections
• Public/social knowledge and arguments ?
• Bitzers concept of rhetorical situation
• The rational paradigm ?
• Aristotelian concepts of logos
• The narrative paradigm ?
• Kenneth Burkes concept of language as symbolic
  action, as material for drama
• Bormanns fantasy-themes and rhetorical visions

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Narrative criticism

• Some further resources
• University of Kentucky honours communication
  seminar on Fishers narrative theory
• Wikipedia, on the narrative paradigm
• University of Arizona, communication course
  slideshow on Fishers theory