The Philosophy of Literary Form

by Kenneth Burke

From the ForewordThese pieces are selections from work done in the Thirties, a decade so changeable that I at first thought of assembling them under the title, "While Everything Flows."  Their primary interest is in speculation on the nature of linguistic, or symbolic, or literary action--and in a search for more precise ways of locating or defining such action. Words are aspects of a much wider communicative context, most of which is not verbal at all. Yet words also have a nature peculiarly their own. And when discussing them as modes of action, we must consider both this nature as words in themselves and the nature they get from the non-verbal scenes that support their acts. I shall be happy if the reader can say of this book that, while always considering words as acts upon a scene, it avoids the excess of environmentalist schools which are usually so eager to trace the relationships between act and scene that they neglect to trace the structure of the act itself. 

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Writing, Criticism, Literature, Theory

492 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Kenneth Duva Burke was a major American literary theorist and philosopher. Burke's primary interests were in rhetoric and aesthetics.

Reviews

[Brian White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this the first time when taking a PhD level class in rhetorical criticism at Indiana University in 1998. My first copy burned up in an office fire and I decided it was worth buying and reading again. Still interesting and challenging material. Although my field is theology and not primarily language it has a lot offer that relates to my work. Glad to have it back in my life.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the long essay from which the book takes its title, Burke, a historical materialist, analyzes stylization in linguistic communication (including literary discourse) in terms of a variety of contexts, such as human biology, social groups and individual psychology.

Acquired 1987
The Word, Montreal, Quebec

[Thom Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did a report on this circa 1964. Recall I thought Burke was a wild man, a literate one.

[Nolan Flavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great literary criticism. I feel as if he sometimes muddled his points and occasionally described them in a too abstract and techincal way, yet they were solid and well-defended nontheless.

[Jacquey25 Hubler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A customer recommended that I read an essay from this book. I enjoyed the essay.