The Methodical Memory: Invention in Current-Traditional Rhetoric

by Sharon Crowley

In this first sustained critique of current-traditional rhetorical theory, Sharon Crowley uses a postmodern, deconstructive reading to examine the historical development of current-traditional rhetoric. She identifies it (as well as the British new rhetoric from which it developed) as a philosophy of language use, not a rhetorical theory, and she argues that its use as such has led to a misrepresentation of invention. Crowley contends that current-traditional rhetoric continues to prosper because a considerable number of college composition teachers—graduate students, part-time instructors, and teachers of literature—are not involved in the development of the curriculum they are asked to teach. As a result, important voices, necessary to create any true representation of the composition teaching experience, are denied access to the scholarly conversations evaluating the soundness of this approach.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 1990