The University of Wisconsin Press

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Rhetoric / Pop Culture

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Rhetorical Bodies Edited by Jack Selzer and Sharon Crowley Understanding body English “In this day and age where the focus has shifted from our physical selves to ‘virtual identities,’ ‘cyberspace,’ and the Cartesian world of the brain and the computer, it seems important and urgent to remind ourselves that we are, in the end, creatures of the body.” —Laura J. Gurak, author of Body Talk: Rhetoric, Technology, Reproduction What significance does the physical, material body still have in a world of virtual reality and genetic cloning? How do technology and postmodern rhetoric influence our understanding of the body? And how can our discussion of the body affect the way we handle crises in public policy—the politics of race and ethnicity; issues of “family values” that revolve around sexual and gender identities; the choices revolving around reproduction and genome projects, and the spread of disease? Leading scholars in rhetoric and communication, as well as literary and cultural studies, address some of the most important topics currently being discussed in the human sciences. The essays collected here suggest the wide range of public arenas in which rhetoric is operative—from abortion clinics and the World Wide Web to the media’s depiction of illiteracy and the Donner Party. These studies demonstrate how the discourse of AIDS prevention or Demi Moore’s “beautiful pregnancy” call to mind the physical nature of being human and the ways in which language and other symbols reflect and create the physical world. Jack Selzer is professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Kenneth Burke in Greenwich Village, also published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Sharon Crowley is professor of English at Arizona State University. She is the author of Composition in the University. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

October 1999 406 pp.   6 x 9 32 b/w illus. Paper $29.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-16474-4 Cloth OUT OF PRINT ISBN 978-0-299-16470-6 ADD TO CART

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