Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women In The Rhetorical Tradition

by Andrea A. Lunsford

Women’s contribution to rhetoric throughout Western history, like so many other aspects of women’s experience, has yet to be fully explored.  In pathbreaking discussions ranging from ancient Greece, though the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, to modern times, sixteen closely coordinated essays examine how women have used language to reflect their vision of themselves and their age; how they have used traditional rhetoric and applied it to women’s discourse; and how women have contributed to rhetorical theory.  Language specialists, feminists, and all those interested in rhetoric, composition, and communication, will benefit from the fresh and stimulating cross-disciplinary insights they offer.

Genres: Nonfiction, Grad School

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Andrea]

Read a couple of chapters from this in my History of Writing course that covered something like 2500 years. There are some incredible and very important women rhetoricians in here about whom our male-centered educations told us little to nothing.

[Alix]

I'm not a student of rhetoric, so I was lost without having contextual information. However, I got through 100 pages and found it an interesting, insightful and thought-provoking read.

I recommend reading this book, to anyone, even if you just scratch the surface on the subject of women in the rhetorical tradition.