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July 05
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Michael
gave  to:
From Revolution To Revelation: Generation X, Popular Memory And Cultural Studies (Hardcover)
by
Tara Brabazon
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
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July 01
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Michael
gave to:
The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye (Paperback)
by
Robert Kirkman
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
Michael said:
"Somewhat of a typical zombie story, but deviated enough from the typical story line to be entertaining. The characters aren't as engaging as I'd hope or expect. I'm usually able to get more into characters in a series like this, but the ones in this ...more
Somewhat of a typical zombie story, but deviated enough from the typical story line to be entertaining. The characters aren't as engaging as I'd hope or expect. I'm usually able to get more into characters in a series like this, but the ones in this story feel a bit flat.(less)
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Michael
gave  to:
Wasteland Book 1: Cities In Dust (Paperback)
by
Antony Johnston (Goodreads author)
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my rating:
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read in July, 2009
Michael said:
"Decent story arc so far. I'd like to read more. But it didn't seem that new or special compared to other post-apocalyptic comics.
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June 23
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June 22
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Michael
is currently reading:
Girl With Curious Hair (Paperback)
by
David Foster Wallace
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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June 11
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Michael
is currently reading:
Letters to Wendy's (Paperback)
by
Joe Wenderoth
bookshelves:
currently-reading
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my rating:
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June 08
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Michael
gave to:
Shortcomings (Hardcover)
by
Adrian Tomine
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
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June 07
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Michael
gave  to:
Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities Ph.D.s (Paperback)
by
Kathryn Hume
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Michael said:
"Hume's book is a must read for any graduate student in the humanities who desires to become an academic. Hume offers a clear plan for how to begin and perform the job hunt, how to manage interviews at national conferences, and what to do at campus in...more
Hume's book is a must read for any graduate student in the humanities who desires to become an academic. Hume offers a clear plan for how to begin and perform the job hunt, how to manage interviews at national conferences, and what to do at campus interviews and when negotiating for a job offer. Her project largely demystifies a process that doesn't seem to get talked about a lot, and she offers helpful advice and examples of former students who have successfully landed jobs at teaching schools and research schools. Additionally, her last few chapters are helpful in envisioning what being an assistant professor will be like, and those chapters are probably very useful reads for beginning professors.
Hume also offers example documents from others' job hunts in her Appendices, which provides helpful models for humanities PhD scholars looking for a job.(less)
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Michael
gave to:
Rhetorical Refusals: Defying Audiences' Expectations (Paperback)
by
John Schilb
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my rating:
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read in June, 2009
Michael said:
"In Rhetorical Refusals, Schilb argues that a certain type of rhetoric, which he calls "rhetorical refusals," has gone largely unstudied and argues that it merits further exploration. He defines a rhetorical refusal as "an act of writin...more
In Rhetorical Refusals, Schilb argues that a certain type of rhetoric, which he calls "rhetorical refusals," has gone largely unstudied and argues that it merits further exploration. He defines a rhetorical refusal as "an act of writing or speaking in which the rhetor pointedly refuses to do what the audience considers rhetorically normal." (3) A rhetorical refusal can be quite explicit or more implicit (3-4) and has three general criteria: it "challenges audience expectations" (4), its "break with protocol is clearly deliberate" (4), and the rhetor "suggests that a higher principle trumps common rhetorical decorum" (5). Though "refusal" often evokes a leftist or progressive politics in the minds of readers, Schilb is clear that rhetorical refusals are used in all sorts of situations by rhetors of various political persuasions, and that each act must be judged in its own context.
Schilb spends Part 1 of his book outlining criteria for evaluating rhetorical refusals. Following Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, Shilb sees rhetorical refusals as attempts to get your audience to judge another audience (44-46). In Chapter 2, Shilb outlines various criteria to use in evaluating rhetorical refusals, including style, ethos, genre negotiation, epistemology, and ontological claims. In Chapter 3, he applies these criteria to his test case, Arlene Croce's "review" of Still/Here. In this "review," Croce criticizes "victim art" as not art and states her refusals to see Still/Here, a performance about HIV/AIDS, which she "reviews," though claims she is not reviewing. Ultimately, Shilb finds her argument "dubious" (68) and compares it to successful works that are not rhetorical refusals. While I agree with Shilb's reading, and I think it's wonderfully done, at this point in the book I would have liked to see a more in-depth discussion of a rhetorical refusal that he finds "successful" or not "dubious." However, Part 2 of the book does focus more on successful rhetorical refusals.
Part 2 of the book (Chapters 4 to 7) contends with certain American traditions or ideals that rhetorical refusals help to question. Chapter 4 deals explicitly with the ideal of openness to debate by examining Deborah Lipstadt's refusal to be open to dialogue with Holocaust deniers in her book Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. In Chapter 5, Shilb takes up how a text travels into new and different contexts, noting that it's important to analyze and discuss texts (specifically rhetorical refusals) in contexts different from their initial debut. The texts he analyzes in this chapter also challenge commonplace distinctions between public and private. Chapter 6 focuses on Frederick Douglas's commemoration speech of Lincoln, in order to investigate how rhetorical refusals can be embedded within a text that also does other rhetorical work. Additionally, he uses this rhetorical refusal to discuss how refusals might question the notion of a united nation when used at memorials.
Schilb's last chapter turns to literature, focusing on Tim O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods, which he sees as being a refusal to comply with they conventions of a mystery genre. After offering a nuanced reading of the book, Schilb compares the book's uncertainty with the certainty about Vietnam offered in Bob Kery's memoir, When I Was a Young Man. Schilb argues that rhetorical refusals in literature might help us to contend with our memory of war, and urges literary studies to take a rhetorical approach to literature.
Schilb concludes by offering up other rhetorical refusals that have been used by citizens, arguing that rhetorical refusals need further study and can be, when they are "good," helpful to our civic discourse.
I found Schilb's discussion interesting, and one that opens up avenues of scholarly research about rhetorical refusals. I think Schilb's discussion is pretty comprehensive about what constitutes rhetorical refusals, but I would have also liked to see more examples discussed in various other contexts. The book is a quick read and very approachable, and another 100 pages exploring more refusals might detract from its focus and make it less likely to be read. But it seems that there are such fruitful and obvious avenues for discussing this type of rhetoric, and putting his discussion in the context of more conversations. Particularly, it seems that gendered, classed, and sexual rhetorical refusals lend themselves quite well to Schilb's project.
However, as it stands, a great book.(less)
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May 29
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Michael
marked as to-read:
Epistemology of the Closet (Centennial Books)
by
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
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