WSRS Rhetoric Reading Group Meeting - 09/30/2011
For the next Rhetoric Reading Group meeting, we’ll be discussing the first half of Carlo Michelstaedter’s Persuasion and Rhetoric. We will start with the first section (“On Persuasion” – pgs. 1-58) for the September meeting, and continue with the second section (“On Rhetoric” – pgs. 59-101) for the October meeting (date TBD). Although used copies of the book are fairly cheap online, it is also available for free as a digital copy through WSU Libraries.
From Yale University Press:
“This translation of Carlo Michelstaedter’s Persuasion and Rhetoric brings the powerful and original work of a seminal cultural figure to English-language readers for the first time. Ostensibly a commentary on Plato’s and Aristotle’s relation to the pre-Socratic philosophers, Michelstaedter’s deeply personal book is an extraordinary rhetorical feat that reflects the author’s struggle to make sense of modern life. This edition includes an introduction discussing his life and work, an extensive bibliography, notes to introduce each chapter, and critical notes illuminating the text.
Within hours of completing Persuasion and Rhetoric, his doctoral thesis, 23-year-old Michelstaedter shot himself to death. The text he left behind has proved to be one of the most trenchant and influential studies in modern rhetoric, a work that develops Nietzschean themes and anticipates the conclusions of, among others, Martin Heidegger. Publication of the book in English is an event of great magnitude for students of Italian philosophy, rhetoric, and literature as well as the culture of Mitteleuropa.”
Time: 3:00PM
Date: Friday, 9/30/2011
Place: Motor City Brewing Works
