The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates

Text, Power, Pedagogy

Yun Lee Too author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:10th Dec '09

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The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates cover

Shows how Isocrates used writing to provide a model of political engagement distinct from that of his own contemporaries.

The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates provides an interpretation of an important, but largely neglected and disregarded, fourth-century Athenian author to show how he uses writing to provide a model of political engagement which is distinct from his own contemporaries' (especially Plato's) and from our own notions of political involvement.The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates offers a sustained interpretation of the Isocratean corpus, showing that rhetoric is a language which the author uses to create a political identity for himself in fourth-century Athens. Dr Too examines how Isocrates' discourse addresses anxieties surrounding the written word in a democratic culture which values the spoken word as the privileged means of political expression. Isocrates makes written culture the basis for a revisionary Athenian politics and of a rhetoric of Athenian hegemony. In addition, Isocrates takes issue with the popular image of the professional teacher in the age of the sophist, combating the negative stereotype of the greedy sophist who corrupts the city's youth in his portrait of himself as teacher of rhetoric. He daringly reinterprets the pedagogue as a figure who produces a discourse which articulates political authority.

"Students of ancient rhetoric will be very glad that there is now a monograph on Isocrates in English....They will find the book interesting and suggestive...." Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"The Rhetoric of Identity in Isocrates strengthens our understanding of the process by which Isocrates created his literary ethos and the necessity for such a rhetorical display." Rhetoric Review

ISBN: 9780521124522

Dimensions: 216mm x 140mm x 17mm

Weight: 370g

292 pages