Proposal
TO: Dr. Earnest Cox
DATE: January 8, 2003
RE: Spring Independent Study Proposal
As we discussed, I am interested in exploring the nexus between classical rhetoric and contemporary writing on the web, particularly among weblogging (“blogging”) communities. Symposium is essentially a massive conversation, much like those that take place among bloggers. I suspect there must be corollaries between these classical and modern conversations, despite the extreme variance of their mediums. In addition, the transition from oral to literate culture is fascinating in itself, and I wonder if blogging doesn’t create a new hybrid of these two – a “literate orality,” perhaps.
I propose to explore these areas through the following means:
First, I would like to gain a basic understanding of Classical Rhetoric, beginning with the Sophists and continuing on through a study of Plato’s Symposium. Havelock’s The Muse Learns to Write will provide a transition from classical to contemporary rhetoric. From there, I will study theories of orality, especially as they apply to blogging. The following tentative reading list demonstrates the arc I hope our study will take:
Classical Rhetorical Theory
Greek Rhetoric Before Aristotle
The Older Sophists
The 5th Century Enlightenment: The Sophists
Rereading the Sophists: Classical Rhetoric Reconfigured
Symposium
Electric Rhetoric (selections pertaining to “Lost Women” of Symposium)
The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to the Present
Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word
Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web
Miscellaneous Selected Essays (Blood, Ward, etc.)
Secondly, the bulk of my work for this project will be contained in reading journal entries. I plan to post these entries in my own research blog, which is currently under construction. My hope is that this practice will demonstrate the practical implications of writing in a public, unmediated, web-based environment. It will also allow for easy access and commentary on your part. I plan to post a minimum of three times per week, with the exception of the first and last weeks of the semester.
Thank you for your interest in this project. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.