Berlin on Post-War & Process Years

"The Renaissance of Rhetoric: 1960-1975"

By 1975, graduate programs in rhetoric and composition were forming, and rhetoric was becoming a respectable academic specialty. (121)

Jerome Bruner as pre-cursor to Murray: "The product of student writing, moreover, is not as important as the process of writing. (The emphasis in The Process of Education is on intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic rewards--not grass or honors as a motivator, but the sheer joy of discovery.) Writing involves discovery, a process requiring intuition and pursuing hunches--in short, acting in the way that mature writers do. The emphasis in the classroom should be on individuals coming to terms with the nature of composing--its inherent structure--on their own, without regard for social processes (123).

...this emphasis on research in writing instruction, coupled with the great increase in the need for writing teachers due to expanding enrollments, contributed to the renaissance in rhetoric in college English departments. (124)

The status of Freshmen English, circa 1960 or so (see Albert Kitzhaber, 4C, Freshmen English, and the Future, Oct 1963)

What was the status of Freshmen English at UNH in the early 1960s when Don arrived on campus? How did he, if at all, affect that status?

Finally, this overview would not be complete without mention of Frances Lee Utley's 1968 essay "The Boundaries of Language and Rhetoric: The English Curriculum." This article offers the most comprehensive overview of the notions of rhetorical theory and research prevalent at the time, identifying the major forces at work in the discipline. It is the best guide to rhetoric and composition in the mid-sixties, and it has been consulted with care in preparing this chapter and the next. (133)

I would now like to consider the intellectually rich and varied rhetorics that arose during this renaissance period of 1960-1975--a treatment that will celebrate rather than suspect the variety displayed. (138)

Major Rhetorical Approaches: 1960-1975

It is important, however, to distinguish the varieties of expressionistic rhetoric. At one extreme can be found the anarchists, arguing for complete and uninhibited freedom in writing, including the intentional flouting of all convention. At the other extreme, are the few that are close to the transactional category--especially to epistemic rhetoric. (145-46)

From this perspective [expressionistic rhetoric] writing is seen as an art, an art that arises from within the writer. ...an act that authenticates and affirms the self. (147)

...another feature of expressionistic rhetoric: it considers writing to be an art, the original expression of a unique vision. (147)

Lou Kelly, "Toward Competence and Creativity in an Open Class" (1973): "Her objective remained, however, the attempt to provide a free environment in which individuals would creatively discover the self" (148)-- I don't know that the discovery of the self was ever really an explicit goal of Murray's teaching...?

Finally, at the state of this discussion, I said that Elbow's approach is not overtly political. In the last analysis, however, for Elbow as for other expressionists, the personal is the political--the underlying assumption being that enabling individuals to arrive at self-understanding and self-expression will inevitably lead to a better social world. (155)