Kenneth Burke's Logology And Literary Criticism

Kenneth Burke's Logology And Literary Criticism
by Robert Garlitz
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (December 21, 2004)
ISBN: 1413464084

DESCRIPTION

One of America's greatest writers, critics and theorists, Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) engaged questions in nearly every field of knowledge and studied the ways language and literature relate to symbolic action in all aspects of life. His works have influenced the fields of aesthetics, ethics, rhetoric, communication, semiotics, and sociology, as well as literary studies.

Kenneth Burke's Logology and Literary Criticism emphasizes the importance of religious ideas and religious rhetoric in the development of his work.

"My Outlaw Book" is how Burke himself often referred to his book The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology. Robert Garlitz closely studies the four essays on Logology and argues that they show us more clearly than many of his other books the analogical forms of thought that shape Burke's brilliant contributions to twentieth century American letters.

Garlitz concludes his book with a logological meditation on Joseph Conrad's epic novel, Nostromo.

An Appendix publishes for the first time seven letters Kenneth Burke wrote to Garlitz in 1980-81.

"One of the best studies of The Rhetoric of Religion . . . . Quite good for its detail, accuracy, and clarity. Garlitz is especially adept at putting complex material in perspective. More than other commentators . . .he fully recognizes the centrality of the analogy at the heart of the book, embracing the logic-narrative problem that Burke contemplates."

--Ross Wolin author of The Rhetorical Imagination of Kenneth Burke.
University of South Carolina Press, 2001.

Robert Garlitz received his PhD from the University of Chicago and is Professor of English at Plymouth State University. He is the author of Robert Lax: Speaking Into Silence and with Rupert Loydell, Snowshoes Across the Clouds.