Rhetoric is the art of persuasion, whether spoken or written. In the first chapter of Rhetoric: Readings in French Literature, Michael Hawcroft sets out its principles comprehensively and lucidly, providing an easily-consulted outline of key terms and a wide range of illustrative examples. Subsequent chapters explore rhetoric at work in different genres, via close reading of texts which range from the drama of Moliere, Racine, and Beckett; Montaigne, Sevigne, and Gide on the self; the prose fiction of Laclos, Zola, and Sarraute; poetry by D'Aubigne, Baudelaire, and Cesaire; and the oratory of de Gaulle and Yourcenar. Rhetorical analysis uncovers subtleties and complexities in texts which emerge as exciting dramas of communication. This is at once a handbook of rhetoric and a guide to its application to French texts from the sixteenth century to the present.
Reviews
Here is that welcome thing, a book which does exactly what it sets out to do...Jargon-free explanations, a helpful lay-out and well-chosen examples assist comprehension of the core material, while an outline of the champter, provided separately, enhances its continuing usefulness as a reference section * Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 37, Number 3 *
thoroughly thought-through handbook ... Hawcroft thoughtfully provides memory-joggers, for he knows how fallible is our recall of technical terms. His dragnet of reference is impressively wide ... this is a very persuasive book * Walter Redfern, MLR, 96.2, 2001 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198160076
Author Michael Hawcroft
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 330g
Dimensions(mm) 217mm * 137mm * 15mm