LKC's blog

Rapport

LKC — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:55:04 -0500

His discussion of the fourth ‘office’ appears in “The Language of Poetry ‘Dramatistically’ Considered.” Here he tells us, “We refer to the utterance as ‘portraiture,’ as the ‘self-expression’ of an agent, as an act characteristic of the poet’s ‘personality’ whether or not he so wills it” (ETSM 41). He seems to be suggesting that the text reveals something about the agent responsible for its production, particularly within a given scene, for he goes on to write: “[H]ere would seem to be the situation, as regards the ‘portraiture’ (be it voluntary or involuntary) in a work of art:

A look at Godfrey Park

LKC — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:48:23 -0500

What caught my attention was Burke's discussion of movies, specifically his addressing of the claim that movies tend toward the "matriarchal" rather than the "patriarchal" as evidenced by the bedraggled husbands. Here Burke goes into what is essentially a roundabout discussion of audience awareness, saying that the housewife who's watching this needs to find comfort in the portrayal of an ideal that diverges from the reality she finds in her own home.

The Answer to Our Problems

LKC — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:27:42 -0500

I'm reading up on Americanism and checked _America Now_ out of the library. As I was reading through the introduction, a sentence caught my attention and made me think: "Now there's a definition for technologism."

By the time he was writing in the 60s, America seemingly had developed a little more pessimism, but in his introduction, John Kirk writes that America had long had certain "assumptions" that were "expressed in terms of a characteristic 'national style.'" Among these was "faith in progress, optimism, pragmatism, a nearly limitless sense of the possible, respect for achievement, a belief that rising wealth and expanding technology would ultimately dissipate most individual and social problems..." (x). Based on Burke's essay on Helhaven and what I've found otherwise to supplement my understanding a bit, I think that this last clause could apply to technologism.

The concept holds technology in high esteem, placing great faith in its ability to solve problems.

"We have met the enemy..."

LKC — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:04:43 -0500

In trying to get a grasp on the term "technologism," I did a search of it online and came across this site: http://www.technologism.org/.

Burke's "Helhaven," however, reminds me of the Earth Day Pogo cartoon that came out in 1971, the same year Burke's essay was published. In it, two of the characters (Pogo and Porkypine) are picking through the swamp, which is filled with debris. An image can be found at http://www.yourmoneyoryourlife.org/fom-paper-04.asp.

Topic for Final Project (Laurie)

LKC — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:43:31 -0500

When I was reading "Kenneth Burke's Pragmatism--Old and New," the allusion to Burke's 1923 article, "Chicago and Our National Gesture" caught my eye. Burke's article takes to task those who seek to fit American literature into a certain slot and separate it from Europe. I'm currently enrolled in the Late 19th Century American Literature class, and before I came across this reference, I had read Whitman and Howells on the formation of an American literature.

In his article, which appeared in _The Bookman_ in July of 1923, Burke mentions Whitman specifically. Whitman advocated for an American tradition in some of his essays. His poetry was an attempt to begin this.

I have a series of articles from Howells ranging from 1889-1912 concerning the development of an American literature. It at times seems to be defensive, but at other times I see Howells in agreement with some of Burke's claims.

Uniqueness and Conditioned Responses

LKC — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:08:00 -0500

The first qualification in Burke's definition of a human--that is "the symbol-using animal"--reminds me of linguistics, in which human language in set apart from other forms of animal communication by two distinct features: "creativity and freedom from external stimuli" (the features are quoted from Victor Raskin). Creativity means that, unlike other animals, we can shape unique messages. The second feature calls to mind Behaviorist studies where an animal is conditioned to respond in a certain way to a given stimulus.

Of Skirmishes

LKC — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:55:50 -0500

In this particular section of RM, Burke is contrasting the various explorations of the parts of his motives trilogy. RM, in its exploration of rhetoric, is devoted to the study of identification, cooperation, and the use of such things in order to create the ultimate division, war (RM 22). In his list on page 23 of RM, he's building to a climax--starting with what seem to be minor skirmishes to the ultimate contest, War with a captial "W."

Armed to the teeth

LKC — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:51:38 -0400

Reading through "Four Master Tropes," I was trying to keep the prompt in mind and trying to apply the tropes to rhetoric. I found that I needed a refresher, though, on Burke's perception of rhetoric--I've found myself incorporating my own ideas of rhetoric and ambiguity too much into my responses as of late--so I returned to _Elements of Dramatism_ to look at the discussion there:

"Rhetoric, the aim of which is identification, is only necessary when there is a dispute over meaning, significance, or implication; when, in other words, the basis for identification or cooperation is ambiguous or uncertain. Dramatism would keep us alert to ambiguity, while rhetoric would explore and even exploit that ambiguity to influence people's attitudes and actions.

Spatters of Lava

LKC — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:26:31 -0400

The molten mass is an expanse of lava bubbling up (I'm picturing it much the same way I picture primordial soup) and spitting forth particles that may later be reintegrated into the soup and re-incarnated as new bits of of spewed forth particles (xix). Which is an intriguing way of looking at language.

These particles can be seen as terms which are used in a certain context by a certain critic to mean one thing and which may morph into something else under the gaze/use of another person. Herein, it would seem, lies ambiguity.

Beyond a discussion of ambiguity, another key term surfaces: distinctions.
Burke writes, "Distinctions, we might say, arise out of a great central
moltenness, where all is merged" (xix). As I understand it, every term is part of an amorphous mass until it is thrown out on its own distinct from other terms and possible meanings, singled out by a person who chose to set it apart and who chose to attempt to make it a little less ambiguous.

Wait a minute...

LKC — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:09:48 -0400

The term "purposive forgetting" is an intriguing term that reminds me a bit of what I've learned about repression, where parts of experience are shoved out of the way (crammed into the closet or pushed far under the bed, so to speak) so that we can handle life. In this case, though, the terms we know have been learned through experiences we have since, for the most part, forgotten. Why do we know what a "table" is? Because somewhere back there something happened that we made the connection between the thing and the sign/symbol. We haven't necessarily retained a memory of that moment of epiphany, however.