Wayne c booth the rhetoric of fiction Pdf

Wayne C. Booth is a highly esteemed teacher of rhetoric and formal theory who made a lasting contribution to the field with his book The Rhetoric of Fiction. In this article, I will examine how he first propels himself into the literary theory community by using a rhetorical paradeigma followed by an inferiority play to trap his readers within his work. I will then continue by demonstrating that Booth effectively employs practical criticism as an act of abduction to overcome the resistance in his readers to accept that he knows more than they do about the subject of rhetoric. Examples from The Rhetoric of Fiction will be used to support my analysis.

 

Wayne C. Booth, in his classic work The Rhetoric of Fiction, argues that desirable stories in fiction should not be viewed as a uniform product, but as a group of voices defining the term “desirable.” Each such voice stresses a different aspect of narrative. This is the core characteristic of his book – he splits up the rhetoric of fiction into several categories and illustrates his theories using examples from classic works and literature throughout the ages.

 

Wayne C. Booth is a Professor of English at the University of Chicago who, together with Andr? Jonsson, wrote The Rhetoric of Fiction, an acclaimed book on the subject of postmodern fiction that was first published in 1961.