Classical Rhetorical Theory and Practice

This seminar offers an introduction to classical rhetorical theory from Homer to Augustine. Secondary readings will be drawn from scholarship in Classics (Vernant, Loraux, Svenbro, M. M. McCabe, Rosalynd Thomas, R. Barney) and from modern philology, philosophy, and theory (Nietzsche, Heidegger, Adorno, S. Weil, Arendt, Auerbach, R. Jakobson, J. L. Austin, Foucault, Blumenberg, Balibar, Butler). Topics will include speech and writing; rhetoric and philosophy; language and reality; persuasion, seduction, and epistemological critique; literal and figurative meaning; agency and responsibility; aesthetics, politics, and religion. More details will be made available on bCourses. The final syllabus will be determined at the first session to reflect student preferences.

No prerequisites. Open to graduate students from all departments including Critical Theory DE students. Classics students will be encouraged to read texts in the original.

Requirements: weekly blog post responses; one to two in-class presentations (depending on the class size); a final research paper geared towards the participants’ own fields.