The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present [Hardcover]

Patricia Bizzell (Author), Bruce Herzberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312148399 | ISBN-13: 978-0312148393 | Publication Date: December 22, 2000 | Edition: Second Edition

The Rhetorical Tradition — the first comprehensive anthology of primary texts covering the history of rhetoric — examines rhetorical theory from classical antiquity through the modern period. Extensive editorial material makes it an essential text for the beginning student as well as the professional scholar.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

PATRICIA BIZZELL (Ph.D. Rutgers University) is professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross. With Bruce Herzberg she has published Negotiating Difference (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996), and with Bruce Herzberg and Nedra Reynolds, The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing, Fifth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000).

BRUCE HERZBERG (Ph.D. Rutgers University) is professor and Chair of English at Bentley College. With Patricia Bizzell he has published Negotiating Difference (Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996), and with Patricia Bizzell and Nedra Reynolds, The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing, Fifth Edition (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1673 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; Second Edition edition (December 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312148399
• ISBN-13: 978-0312148393
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More care was needed., September 24, 2006

By 

B. R. Donovan (Bemidji MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (Hardcover)

This vitally important anthology has little if any competition, which is unfortunate, as it has been far too sloppily done. This is particularly noticeable, to me at least, in the classical section. Even the English is full of often seriously misleading misprints; and the occasional inclusion of Greek words almost invariably betrays great ignorance of that language and its alphabet, on the part of the editorial team.

Translator's explanatory footnotes are in many cases imported raw from the bilingual Loeb Classical Library edition in which the translation originally appeared, but the system these notes use for specifying other loci within the same work is in too many cases not supported in the printing of the translated text itself. Thus if a note cross-references a locus that happens to be included in the anthology, it still cannot be followed. In Plato, for instance, such cross references are given in the notes in standard Stephanine form, but the translated dialogues have been here reprinted without any Stephanine markings whatsoever.

Other selections are reproduced without even the most vital of translator's notes, as that in Kennedy's translation of Gorgias' "Encomium of Helen," which indicates that part of one section is translated not from the actual Greek text, which is hopelessly corrupt at that point, but rather from a conjectural reconstruction.

Given the void this anthology filled, such problems were perhaps forgivable in the first edition; but why they were suffered to remain uncorrected in a second edition a decade later is inexplicable.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good Textbook, July 10, 2000

By 

Paul B. "Critic" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (Hardcover)

The texts are well chosen, though perhaps less well edited. It's great to have Plato, Erasmus, Derrida, and Cixous all together, but I think the book could have been more carefully done. I think there's much in the selection from Aristotle that could have been cut, and much from Quintillian that should have been included (material from Book III, for example). The Cicero abridgement is poorly done--it's difficult to infer who's speaking at the beginning of the selection from Book II. Boethius doesn't really need to be here, and it's difficult to see how the Kristeva essay really has anything to do with rhetoric. And the introductory sections are not what they could be. Often, difficult technical terms in the selections that follow them are NOT explains and defined clearly in the introductory notes. This is a usable text that is not carefully done.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Vital Readings; Rhetorically Poorly Printed, December 19, 2009

By 

Gregory B. Zobel (Left Coast) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (Hardcover)

As a single volume of collected rhetorical readings, the volume rocks. Plus, it can serve as a bookend or self-defense weapon in case ninjas attack, but be sure to see your massage therapist regularly if you have to carry this puppy in your bookbag more than once it week. I'm only half kidding--hauling this thing around is impractical at best. As for the editorial/translation issues, I'll let other expert reviewers address that.

As as student, this book stinks. There is little user-friendly about the book. Paper thin pages with non-existent margins and tiny print. This thing should be TWO volumes, not one. If it were printed in two over-sized volumes like Central Works in Tech Comm, it would be much more viable. Onion skin paper is maybe good for the Bible, but this isn't the Bible. If I want to mark texts or comment, I can't find anywhere to do it or my markings bleed. As a required textbook in some graduate programs, this is stinky. If your program requires you to buy the book, buy it. Then scan it to PDF format and take your notes with Acrobat or another program. Seriously, attempting to take notes in this volume nearly drove me buggy.

I find it richly ironic that a text about rhetoric, where context and audience awareness are so critical, completely ignores both its audience's contexts and needs.