David Blakesley
David Blakesley is the Campbell Chair in Technical Communication and Professor of English at Clemson University. He is also the founder and publisher of Parlor Press, a scholarly publishing company. His research interests are in rhetorical theory, visual rhetoric, multimedia writing, digital and print publishing, and film. He earned his PhD from the University of Southern California in 1990 in Rhetoric, Linguistics, and Literature.
He has authored, co-authored, or edited five books: The Elements of Dramatism (Longman, 2002), The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film (SIUP, 2003, 2007), Late Poems, 1968-1993 by Kenneth Burke (University of South Carolina Press, 2005), Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (Comprehensive and Brief editions, 2009, with Jeff Hoogeveen). His articles have appeared in WPA: Writing Program Administration, JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, The Writing Instructor, Kairos, and numerous other journals and anthologies.
From 2000 to 2010 he was Professor of English and Director of Professional Writing at Purdue University. In 2009, he received the Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field from Computers and Composition. In 2010 and 2003 he chaired the Computers and Writing Conference. From 1998 to 2003, he edited the Rhetorical Philosophy and Theory Series (Southern Illinois University Press) and now is the general editor and publisher, with Dawn Formo, of The Writing Instructor. He served as Web Developer for the Council of Writing Program Administrators and KB Journal from 2004 to 2008. In 1998 he founded and has since moderated the Kenneth Burke Discussion List.
Phone: 765.409.2649
Address: Department of English
Clemson University
801 Strode Tower
Clemson, SC 29634
He has authored, co-authored, or edited five books: The Elements of Dramatism (Longman, 2002), The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film (SIUP, 2003, 2007), Late Poems, 1968-1993 by Kenneth Burke (University of South Carolina Press, 2005), Writing: A Manual for the Digital Age (Comprehensive and Brief editions, 2009, with Jeff Hoogeveen). His articles have appeared in WPA: Writing Program Administration, JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory, The Writing Instructor, Kairos, and numerous other journals and anthologies.
From 2000 to 2010 he was Professor of English and Director of Professional Writing at Purdue University. In 2009, he received the Charles Moran Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field from Computers and Composition. In 2010 and 2003 he chaired the Computers and Writing Conference. From 1998 to 2003, he edited the Rhetorical Philosophy and Theory Series (Southern Illinois University Press) and now is the general editor and publisher, with Dawn Formo, of The Writing Instructor. He served as Web Developer for the Council of Writing Program Administrators and KB Journal from 2004 to 2008. In 1998 he founded and has since moderated the Kenneth Burke Discussion List.
Phone: 765.409.2649
Address: Department of English
Clemson University
801 Strode Tower
Clemson, SC 29634
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Books by David Blakesley
Kenneth Burke continued to write poetry after the 1968 publication of his Collected Poems, but until now the poetry from the last quarter century of his life has remained largely unpublished. Suggesting that the Burke canon is not complete without these works, Julie Whitaker and David Blakesley here assemble the poems that the celebrated critic wrote between 1968 and his death. The collection of more than 150 poems provides new evidence that Burke continued "dancing an attitude" until the end of his life.
In his introduction, Blakesley lays out the relationship between the poems and Burkean theory, including the evolution of both during the writer's last three decades. Although some poems resonate best in light of Burke's more prominent works on rhetoric and literary criticism, Blakesley argues that it would be a disservice to attribute the poetry's value strictly to what it says about Burkean theory. The poems reveal much about the man himself: an accomplished scholar reflecting on the richness of a life fully lived, a husband eloquently struggling with the death of his wife, a voracious thinker looking eagerly to the future.
In her preface, Whitaker explains the principles she employed in sifting through the vast quantity of articles, papers, and letters to uncover Burke's later poems. She also discloses Burke's intent to collect and publish these poems, touches on her personal relationship with him, and offers her observations on the place poetry held in his life and thought.
Recognized as one of the most influential critics and rhetoricians of the twentieth century, Kenneth Burke (1897–1993) wrote poetry, short stories, and a novel in addition to more than a dozen books of critical theory.
The daughter-in-law of Kenneth Burke, Julie Whitaker brings firsthand knowledge of the author to the editing of this volume. She teaches literature and writing at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York.
David Blakesley is an associate professor of English at Purdue University and the author of The Elements of Dramatism and the editor of The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. He is the founder and moderator of the Burke discussion list and the author of Taking Burke On(line): The Kenneth Burke Bibliography and Archival Project.
"No one in history, I'll wager, wrote more words than Kenneth Burke. Some of them, fortunately, were the remarkable poems of his later life—playful, funny words, aphoristic and surprising; death-defying and moving words; intellectually stimulating and occasionally confounding words. Unpretentious, personal, and delightfully idiosyncratic, Late Poems is in some ways like Burke's novel Towards a Better Life: the ironic, poignant lament of a social reformer, the verbal virtuosity of an original "language poet," a revealing window to the man and his work."—Jack Selzer, author of Kenneth Burke in Greenwich Village: Conversing With the Moderns 1915–1931
"Above everything else, Kenneth Burke loved words and he especially loved to tinker with them. He had a very playful mind and was much given to ironic perceptions of the foibles and absurdities of the human condition. In his later years he wrote a great many poems, including verbal concoctions he called Flowerishes, which express this comic side of the many-sided Burke. They remind us that it is a grave mistake to take ourselves too seriously, for too much of the time. They make good, often very entertaining reading."—William H. Rueckert, author of Kenneth Burke and the Drama of Human Relations and Encounters with Kenneth Burke
The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film examines the importance of rhetoric in the study of film and film theory. Rhetorical approaches to film studies have been widely practiced, but rarely discussed until now. Taking on such issues as Hollywood blacklisting, fascistic aesthetics, and postmodern dialogics, editor David Blakesley presents fifteen critical essays that examine rhetoric’s role in such popular films as The Fifth Element, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Usual Suspects, Deliverance, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction, The Music Man, Copycat, Hoop Dreams and A Time to Kill.
This unique volume is about seeing and interpreting, about visual rhetoric and making meaning, about film as a symbolic form of expression. The essayists convey an approach to film as a set of well-grounded theoretical perspectives including psychoanalytic, semiotic, hermeneutic, phenomenological, and cultural discourses. Aided by sixteen illustrations, these insightful essays consider films rhetorically, as ways of seeing and not seeing, as acts that dramatize how people use language and images to tell stories and foster identification.
Collectively, these essays examine society through a rhetorical lens, inviting the readers to judge for themselves the significant role rhetoric plays in the arena of film.
Contributors include David Blakesley, Alan Nadel, Ann Chisholm, Martin J. Medhurst, Byron Hawk, Ekaterina V. Haskins, James Roberts, Thomas W. Benson, Philip L. Simpson, Davis W. Houck, Caroline J.S. Picart, Friedemann Weidauer, Bruce Krajewski, Harriet Malinowitz, Granetta L. Richardson, and Kelly Ritter.
Each chapter includes discussions of key concepts in the context of dramatism and rhetoric, extended applications of these concepts to a variety of rhetorical problems and forms (including literature, photography, and film), and clear guidelines for applying the strategies discussed to student -generated topics.
* Clear explanations of fundamental principles of dramatism and rhetoric are found in the introduction to each chapter, chapter summaries, and in the glossary.
* Extended examples of how key principles can be applied to texts, films, and social issues provide models and suggestions for further research and writing. These examples include: Chapter 1 (School Violence); Chapter 2 (Hitler, Propaganda); Chapter 3 (Cluster Analysis of "The Red Wheelbarrow"; The Usual Suspects; Electronic Civil Disobedience and Hacktivism); Chapter 4 (Plato; Hannibal); Chapter 5 (White Noise; Toy Story 2)
* This text broadens the scope of dramatism beyond the dramatistic pentad to include rhetoric. Through Chapter 1 ("Dramatism, Rhetoric, and Pentad") and Chapter 3 ("Dramatism on the World's Stage"), students see that the pentad is more that just a heuristic (invention) procedure.
* Selections from Burke's work show students first hand how Burke conceived dramatism.
* A glossary and bibliographies provide additional resources to help students learn the principles and applications of dramatism.
* Questions and suggestions for further discussion and study appear throughout the book, providing suggestions for putting key principles to work on student-generated topics. "Tracking Down Implications" prompts follow each reading. "Research and Writing Activities" appear at the end of each chapter.
Papers by David Blakesley
Kenneth Burke continued to write poetry after the 1968 publication of his Collected Poems, but until now the poetry from the last quarter century of his life has remained largely unpublished. Suggesting that the Burke canon is not complete without these works, Julie Whitaker and David Blakesley here assemble the poems that the celebrated critic wrote between 1968 and his death. The collection of more than 150 poems provides new evidence that Burke continued "dancing an attitude" until the end of his life.
In his introduction, Blakesley lays out the relationship between the poems and Burkean theory, including the evolution of both during the writer's last three decades. Although some poems resonate best in light of Burke's more prominent works on rhetoric and literary criticism, Blakesley argues that it would be a disservice to attribute the poetry's value strictly to what it says about Burkean theory. The poems reveal much about the man himself: an accomplished scholar reflecting on the richness of a life fully lived, a husband eloquently struggling with the death of his wife, a voracious thinker looking eagerly to the future.
In her preface, Whitaker explains the principles she employed in sifting through the vast quantity of articles, papers, and letters to uncover Burke's later poems. She also discloses Burke's intent to collect and publish these poems, touches on her personal relationship with him, and offers her observations on the place poetry held in his life and thought.
Recognized as one of the most influential critics and rhetoricians of the twentieth century, Kenneth Burke (1897–1993) wrote poetry, short stories, and a novel in addition to more than a dozen books of critical theory.
The daughter-in-law of Kenneth Burke, Julie Whitaker brings firsthand knowledge of the author to the editing of this volume. She teaches literature and writing at the Nightingale-Bamford School in New York.
David Blakesley is an associate professor of English at Purdue University and the author of The Elements of Dramatism and the editor of The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. He is the founder and moderator of the Burke discussion list and the author of Taking Burke On(line): The Kenneth Burke Bibliography and Archival Project.
"No one in history, I'll wager, wrote more words than Kenneth Burke. Some of them, fortunately, were the remarkable poems of his later life—playful, funny words, aphoristic and surprising; death-defying and moving words; intellectually stimulating and occasionally confounding words. Unpretentious, personal, and delightfully idiosyncratic, Late Poems is in some ways like Burke's novel Towards a Better Life: the ironic, poignant lament of a social reformer, the verbal virtuosity of an original "language poet," a revealing window to the man and his work."—Jack Selzer, author of Kenneth Burke in Greenwich Village: Conversing With the Moderns 1915–1931
"Above everything else, Kenneth Burke loved words and he especially loved to tinker with them. He had a very playful mind and was much given to ironic perceptions of the foibles and absurdities of the human condition. In his later years he wrote a great many poems, including verbal concoctions he called Flowerishes, which express this comic side of the many-sided Burke. They remind us that it is a grave mistake to take ourselves too seriously, for too much of the time. They make good, often very entertaining reading."—William H. Rueckert, author of Kenneth Burke and the Drama of Human Relations and Encounters with Kenneth Burke
The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film examines the importance of rhetoric in the study of film and film theory. Rhetorical approaches to film studies have been widely practiced, but rarely discussed until now. Taking on such issues as Hollywood blacklisting, fascistic aesthetics, and postmodern dialogics, editor David Blakesley presents fifteen critical essays that examine rhetoric’s role in such popular films as The Fifth Element, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Usual Suspects, Deliverance, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction, The Music Man, Copycat, Hoop Dreams and A Time to Kill.
This unique volume is about seeing and interpreting, about visual rhetoric and making meaning, about film as a symbolic form of expression. The essayists convey an approach to film as a set of well-grounded theoretical perspectives including psychoanalytic, semiotic, hermeneutic, phenomenological, and cultural discourses. Aided by sixteen illustrations, these insightful essays consider films rhetorically, as ways of seeing and not seeing, as acts that dramatize how people use language and images to tell stories and foster identification.
Collectively, these essays examine society through a rhetorical lens, inviting the readers to judge for themselves the significant role rhetoric plays in the arena of film.
Contributors include David Blakesley, Alan Nadel, Ann Chisholm, Martin J. Medhurst, Byron Hawk, Ekaterina V. Haskins, James Roberts, Thomas W. Benson, Philip L. Simpson, Davis W. Houck, Caroline J.S. Picart, Friedemann Weidauer, Bruce Krajewski, Harriet Malinowitz, Granetta L. Richardson, and Kelly Ritter.
Each chapter includes discussions of key concepts in the context of dramatism and rhetoric, extended applications of these concepts to a variety of rhetorical problems and forms (including literature, photography, and film), and clear guidelines for applying the strategies discussed to student -generated topics.
* Clear explanations of fundamental principles of dramatism and rhetoric are found in the introduction to each chapter, chapter summaries, and in the glossary.
* Extended examples of how key principles can be applied to texts, films, and social issues provide models and suggestions for further research and writing. These examples include: Chapter 1 (School Violence); Chapter 2 (Hitler, Propaganda); Chapter 3 (Cluster Analysis of "The Red Wheelbarrow"; The Usual Suspects; Electronic Civil Disobedience and Hacktivism); Chapter 4 (Plato; Hannibal); Chapter 5 (White Noise; Toy Story 2)
* This text broadens the scope of dramatism beyond the dramatistic pentad to include rhetoric. Through Chapter 1 ("Dramatism, Rhetoric, and Pentad") and Chapter 3 ("Dramatism on the World's Stage"), students see that the pentad is more that just a heuristic (invention) procedure.
* Selections from Burke's work show students first hand how Burke conceived dramatism.
* A glossary and bibliographies provide additional resources to help students learn the principles and applications of dramatism.
* Questions and suggestions for further discussion and study appear throughout the book, providing suggestions for putting key principles to work on student-generated topics. "Tracking Down Implications" prompts follow each reading. "Research and Writing Activities" appear at the end of each chapter.