Yesterday an MFA student considering a PhD in R/C asked me for a short list of articles to introduce her to R/C. She has been accepted to several strong programs, but is debating between pursuing R/C or Creative Writing Studies. I came up with a list of five:
- “The Politics of Historiography: Octalog”
- Hairston, Maxine. “The Winds of Change: Thomas Kuhn and the Revolution in the Teaching of Writing”
- Worsham, Lynn. “The Question Concerning Invention: Hermeneutics and the Genesis of Writing”
- Corder, Jim W. “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love”
- Yancey, Kathleen. “Writing in the 21st Century”
My idea was that articles 1 and 2 would give an idea of the goals, obligations, purposes of rhetoric/composition, article 3 provides an example of how critical theory can interrupt those goals, article 4 represents Burkian rhetoric and an engaged response to the cliched Platonic “rhetoric is unethical” argument, and article 5 suggests the directions the field will be attending to over the next decade.
So, how did I do? Anyone propose a swap? (Don’t add anything without taking something out please). What are other people’s lists for five significant essays to introduce someone to the scope of Rhetoric and Composition?
And, if I could add a sixth, it would be Jarratt’s “The First Sophists and Feminism.” But decisions had to be made.
