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John Ruszkiewicz The University of Texas at Austin. Keeping Writing in Visual Rhetoric. Serious reading. The New Criticism. Visual imagery in 1 Henry IV. PRINCE HENRY I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: Yet herein will I imitate the sun ,
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John Ruszkiewicz The University of Texas at Austin Keeping Writing in Visual Rhetoric
Visual imagery in 1 Henry IV PRINCE HENRY I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyoked humour of your idleness: Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That, when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
Multimedia in Macbeth MACBETH Whence is that knocking? How is't with me, when every noise appalls me? What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.
Canons of rhetoric • Invention • Arrangement • Style • Memory • Delivery
Cicero, De Oratore(55 BCE) ANTONIUS, defending Manius Aquilius I was myself overcome by passion before I tried to excite it in others . . . The court was moved . . . By [my] tearing opening his tunic and exposing his scars.
Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory (95 CE) Thus when Antonius, in his defense of Marcus Aquilius, exhibited . . . the scars of the wounds he had received for his country, he did not trust to the power of his eloquence, but applied force, as it were, to the eyesof the Roman people, who it was thought, were chiefly induced by the sightto acquit the accused.
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (1599) ANTONY If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii: Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made . . .
Antony makes his argument ANTONY I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would ruffle up your spirits and put a tongue In every wound of Caesar that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.
Multimedia rhetoric • Runs contrary to our training: logic should trump emotion. Antony manipulates his audience. • Doesn’t seem to teach what students need to know: how to write • Wanders on to new turf and makes us nervous. • Seems like fun.
Writing wants to be visual. • Technology has made texts visual—again. • Technology has created new opportunities for writing. • Above all, the new media motivate students to write.
A computer and an LCD projector • Can transform a writing class. • Bring abstract rhetorical concepts to life. • Make key concepts timely. • Make key concepts memorable. • Move students from “I can do that” to “I want to do that.”
But what does rhetoric do exactly? “Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.” —Aristotle
And what are those means? • Reason (logos) • Character (ethos) • Emotions (pathos)
Teaching logos (Toulmin) • Claim We should retain healthcare reform! • Reason It extends coverage to 32 million people. • Grounds 32 million currently lack coverage and we pay. • Warrant Keeping people healthy is good. • Backing “Promotes the general welfare.”
Teaching ethos Obama announces . . . and so does Hillary.
Toulmin analysis • Claim: Don’t drink and drive. • Reason: [Because] not everyone hit by a drunk driver dies. • Evidence/Grounds: The image • Warrant?
Toulmin analysis • Claim: Don’t drink and drive. • Reason: Because the outcome may be dire. • Evidence/Grounds: Not everyone hit by a drunk driver dies. • Warrant: Bad consequences should be avoided.
Toulmin analysis • Claim: Vote for Obama. • Reason: [Because he represents] hope and change. • Evidence/Grounds: The images • Warrant: Hope and change are “good.”
Toulmin analysis • Claim: Fear Obama. • Reason: [Because he is a socialist.] • Evidence: He looks like the Joker! • Warrant: The Joker was a socialist?
Toulmin analysis • Claim: Obama is hiding who he really is. • Reason: [Because Obama really favors] socialism. • Evidence: The image • Warrant: We should fear people who disguise their identities.
Using pathos (fear) • From Vanity Fair 2008
Understanding Audience Analyze a magazine cover
Another misunderstanding The Flag of Mexico Cagle’s “Violence in Mexico”
Paper topics: the croqui “Croqui is French for ‘sketch’ and is the name of the drawn fashion figure . . . The measurements of a croqui would not be able to exist on any fertile female. Cartoonish yet sleek, she holds an untouchable beauty – a complete set of features that no one human could possess all together.” —Monica Li
Paper topics: design language “A Jeep and a pas de deux(step of two)—two seemingly unrelated cultural phenomena, but when looked at closer it seems that their evolutions are quite similar, as both the Jeep and the pas de deuxhave evolved while still maintaining their basic structures.” —Sara Povlish
Some suggestions • Collect texts from everyday reading—and store them in one place. • Encourage students to bring texts to class—but vet them. • Require oral presentations—but set specific standards. • Review topic proposals for papers in class. • Allow visual texts in conventional papers—but properly captioned and documented.
Richard Lanham On Digital Literacy Digital literacy greatly enhances our ability to suit the medium to the audience, to aim our communication at the part of the audience’s brain best able to receive it. Looked at one way, this new sensory targeting makes communication more “efficient.” Looked at another, it simply makes it more fun.
End Thank you for your attention!
