This thesis analyzes Kenneth Burke's rhetoric of identification. I will examine the extent to which Burke's earliest critical writings, which focus on the suasive nature of literary forms, affected the writing of his later critical works, which deal with how language functions as a type of symbolic action. In his later texts, Burke breaks with his earlier concern with literary discourse by attempting to expound a critical theory that accounts for historical change, human motivation and the role of language in collective communities. He argues that language motivates people to identify with a certain sets of beliefs by transcending an opposing set of beliefs. Section One is an account of Burke's earlier conception of ideology in relation to his view of literary discourse. In Section Two the emphasis shifts toward a study of how Burke integrates his notion of ideology with his theory of a rhetoric of identification.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.61124 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Behr, Martin |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001291264, proquestno: AAIMM74736, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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