On EloquenceYale University Press, 2008 M10 1 - 208 pages On Eloquence questions the common assumption that eloquence is merely a subset of rhetoric, a means toward a rhetorical end. Denis Donoghue, an eminent and prolific critic of the English language, holds that this assumption is erroneous. While rhetoric is the use of language to persuade people to do one thing rather than another, Donoghue maintains that eloquence is gratuitous, ideally autonomous, in speech and writing an upsurge of creative vitality for its own sake. He offers many instances of eloquence in words, and suggests the forms our appreciation of them should take. Donoghue argues persuasively that eloquence matters, that we should indeed care about it. Because we should care about any instances of freedom, independence, creative force, sprezzatura, he says, especially when we liveperhaps this is increasingly the casein a culture of the same, featuring official attitudes, stereotypes of the officially enforced values, sedated language, a politics of pacification. A noteworthy addition to Donoghues long-term project to reclaim a disinterested appreciation of literature as literature, this volume is a wise and pleasurable meditation on eloquence, its unique ability to move or give pleasure, and its intrinsic value. |
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Page 7
... natural science , and the often - anonymous or pseu- donymous social or political pamphlet . The high style , natural home of eloquence , might still be practiced , but it could easily be dismissed as picturesque or indeed ridiculous ...
... natural science , and the often - anonymous or pseu- donymous social or political pamphlet . The high style , natural home of eloquence , might still be practiced , but it could easily be dismissed as picturesque or indeed ridiculous ...
Page 10
... natural knowledge from Bacon; the phrases of policy, war, and navigation from Raleigh; the dia- lect of poetry and fiction from Spenser and Sidney; and the diction of common life from Shakespeare, few ideas would be lost to mankind, for ...
... natural knowledge from Bacon; the phrases of policy, war, and navigation from Raleigh; the dia- lect of poetry and fiction from Spenser and Sidney; and the diction of common life from Shakespeare, few ideas would be lost to mankind, for ...
Page 11
... natural tendency to degeneration . ” Still , “ let us make some struggles for our lan- guage . ” 14 Since the middle of the eighteenth century , fears for the health of the English language have been provoked more by in- stances of ...
... natural tendency to degeneration . ” Still , “ let us make some struggles for our lan- guage . ” 14 Since the middle of the eighteenth century , fears for the health of the English language have been provoked more by in- stances of ...
Page 16
... natural or transparent , is designedly opaque , but in a special sense : the aim is to produce a language that , instead of communicating something , reveals its own elemental laws and rhythms . " " 22 “ Instead of communicating ...
... natural or transparent , is designedly opaque , but in a special sense : the aim is to produce a language that , instead of communicating something , reveals its own elemental laws and rhythms . " " 22 “ Instead of communicating ...
Page 36
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