Writing Bodies: Rhetorics of the Flesh

Course Texts

• Aristotle, Rhetoric and Poetics
• Allen Ginsburg, Howl and Other Poems
• The Pillow Book (DVD on reserve at Bailey-Howe)
• Plato, Phaedrus
• Jeanette Winterson, The PowerBook
• Mary Zimmerman, Metamorphosis: A Play

Selected articles placed on electronic reserve at Bailey-Howe

Overview

• Ever read a novel and cried like a baby?
• Ever see a photograph and feel like your liver was just ripped out through your rib cage?
• Ever watched a movie that left you feeling every raw nerve in your body?

In Writing Bodies: Rhetorics of the Flesh, we’ll be exploring the connections between classic and modern rhetorics and the sensual, gendered, and fleshy bodies of audiences. We call this phenomenon embodiment – the feelings that manifest themselves physically in our bodies while we experience the world, including works created by other people. Embodiment will be the lens through which we explore rhetorical theory and practice from toga-clad antiquity to the digital spaces of the today’s wired world.

We usually think of “rhetoric” as a bad thing – empty talk designed to manipulate us into agreeing with some politician or businessperson’s agenda. But the ancient Greeks knew it was much more than mere talk. For the Greeks, rhetoric included not only the words of the speaker, but also the bodies, the gestures, and the sensual experience of the audience and the speaker. As Aristotle, Socrates and Gorgias knew, rhetoric was a practice that encompassed not only the message, but also the physical experiences of the audience and of the rhetor.

In this class you will learn the art of the rhetor, and you will use this knowledge to become a more enlightened audience, analyzing the rhetorical strategies and tactics employed by filmmakers, poets, politicians, and philosophers. And we will also explore the rhetorical performances in which we all engage in our day-to-day lives. As twenty-first century rhetors, we will explore the frontiers of virtual embodiment through online interaction with other digital rhetors via the medium of virtual worlds and customizable 3-D avatars. In cyberspace, we will get to reconfigure our own fleshy embodiment in ways limited only by our own imaginations, and we will get to see the effects of these actions on the mind and body of others.

Assignments

Pathos Analysis – as one of the three main rhetorical appeals (ethos and logos being the other two), pathos has an important place in rhetorical history and practice. In this short piece (2-3 pages long, double-spaced) you will analyze the online game The Asylum for its use of pathos.

“Kairos Play” Dialog – kairos is a foundational concept for rhetoric: the situation in which one speaks. That situation is, of course, a really complicated thing to take into account, as it includes everything. For this piece, you will consider the kairos of a unique situation and write a dialog (~2-3 pages long, double-spaced) between two characters in that situation.

Difficulty Paper – this class will require you to read difficult works with complex ideas. To facilitate your engagement with these texts, you will choose which work (either Plato’s Phaedrus or Alan Ginsburg’s Howl) you think will be most difficult for you, and you will then write a short (~1 page, single-spaced) piece describing a significant moment of difficulty you have with that text. Your difficulty paper will allow you to subvert the rhetoric of difficulty (“it’s too hard,” “I don’t understand,” “no one can understand this”) into a pathway for exploration into the work.

Hermeneutic Spiral Paper – we call the process by which learning a little bit about a difficult work allows us to learn a little bit more about that work, which lets us learn a little bit more, etc., the “hermeneutic circle.” But, as a former student argued, it’s not really a circle – as we learn more, we don’t end up in the same place we started, but somewhere more involved, more informed. It’s more like a spiral. In this paper (4-5 pages, double spaced) you will return to your Difficulty Paper and follow where it leads you. What was your difficulty, and what did you need to learn or understand to be able to overcome that difficulty? What did that process of overcoming your difficulty teach you (or allow you to see) about the work?

Jeremiad – the jeremiad is a literary form that takes its name from the prophet Jeremiah in the Hebrew Testament of the Bible. Jeremiah decried the wickedness of his society and prophesied calamities that would therefore result. The jeremiad is a classic rhetorical form used to announce dissatisfaction with current events, opinions, or situations. We can read, for instance, both Howl and Phaedrus as jeremiads. For this invention, you will determine a topic that directly affects you and compose a short (4-5 page, double spaced) jeremiad decrying that topic and extrapolating the unfavorable outcome that it will cause.

“My Life as an Avatar” – what’s it like to have another body, another identity, another life? Winterson’s The PowerBook explores these issues through narrative, you will explore them through the virtual world of Second Life. You will create an avatar (a graphical representation of your presence in the world) and begin to explore Second Life. In a virtual world, every aspect of your avatar – looks, clothing, size, gender, gestures, speech – is rhetorically significant. For this analysis, you will create at least two substantially different avatars and analyze your own embodiment in and through them. Use the snapshot feature in Second Life to save pictures of your avatars to your hard drive, and then include them in your analysis. Be sure to respect the privacy rights of any Second Lifers you encounter and choose to mention in your analysis. Your analysis should be 4-5 pages long, double-spaced.

Metamorphoses Staging & Analysis – this project will require you to put what you have learned about rhetorical embodiment into practice by selecting a scene from Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses and performing it. You and a partner will select the scene to stage, choose the actors for your production, and (re)write the scene to include as much detail as possible about how you want your actors to enact the scene. That is, you and your partner will annotate your scene with the costuming, physical gestures, emotions, and intonations of the actors/characters. Be specific. With your annotation, compose a brief analysis of what you are trying to accomplish or convey with these gestures and/or intonations. There is no page limit on the annotated scene, and your analysis must be at least 2 pages long, double-spaced. Each partner-group needs to compose only one analysis.

Grading

• Pathos Analysis: 10%
• Kairos Play Dialog: 10%
• Difficulty Paper: 10%
• Hermeneutic Spiral Paper: 15%
• Jeremiad: 15%
• “My Life as an Avatar”: 15%
• Metamorphoses Staging & Analysis: 15%
• Attendance/Class Participation 10%

Attendance Policy

Attendance is mandatory. This course is designed to function as a seminar – which means that your participation in class discussion is necessary for the success of the course. Because of this, students who miss three or more classes risk failing the course. We have a lot of material to create and work with in a short amount of time. Be prepared for the heavy commitment that the time spent reading and writing for this course will require.

Academic Integrity

There is a zero-tolerance plagiarism policy in this course. Usually, it is desperation that drives a student to plagiarize—so if you are having problems, please contact me and I will help you. I cannot emphasize this enough.

You may be surprised by what is and is not included in the Academic Integrity policy. I strongly encourage you to check it out at your earliest possible convenience: http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmppg/ppg/student/acadintegrity.pdf.

All instances of plagiarism will be referred to the Center for Student Ethics and Standards for investigation and adjudication.

An Important Note

If you have (or suspect that you may have) a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, I encourage you to contact both myself and UVM’s Office of Accommodation, Consultation, Collaboration & Educational Support Services (ACCESS), A-170 Living & Learning Center, 656-7753 (http://www.uvm.edu/~access) as early as possible in the term. The ACCESS Office will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodation for this course.