Developing Your Critical Powers
Jodi R. Cohen Reviewer: Stephen
A. Klien As someone who teaches
principles of rhetorical criticism to students not specializing in rhetorical
studies, I have struggled with a basic problem: how to present students with
an introduction to principles of rhetorical theory and criticism in a way
that is both broad in scope yet is accessible to students who are receiving
their first exposure to such concepts. In Jodi R. Cohen's Communication Criticism,
I may have found an answer to my problem.
Cohen describes her purpose
as a desire to "help the reader, who may take only one communication course
or read only one book about communication in their lifetime, to think critically
about everyday communication" (p. xi). An ambitious goal, indeed. The author
pulls it off with an approach at once simple and sophisticated, one that is
guided by the fundamentals of persuasive communication outlined in Aristotle's
Rhetoric.
Cohen organizes her chapters
into seven units, providing a simple yet elegant framework for an introductory
course in rhetorical and/or media criticism. The first unit defines and explains
the significance of "thinking critically." Cohen's first chapter explains
the basic premises of rhetorical criticism--that exposure to human communication
influences who we are, what we know, and what we do--in an accessible manner.
The author then moves in the second chapter to a simple outline of the process
of critical thinking: analysis (of the text and its surrounding context),
interpretation and evaluation. The last unit provides a synthetic summary
of the critical concepts presented in the book in these terms, reinforcing
how critical thought should inform how we consume and interact with the rhetorical
texts that surround us.
The intervening five
units take students through fundamental critical concepts in an user-friendly
manner. In each case, Cohen begins with an explanation of a basic Aristotelian
concept and follows it with contemporary extensions of theory and critical
thought. For instance, Unit 2 treats "language" as the most basic level of
textual criticism, and introduces the reader to elements of style, sign systems
and metaphor in a manner that juxtaposes Aristotle with the contributions
of, respectively, I.A. Richards, scholars of semiotics, and Lakoff and Johnson.
Unit 3 examines "structure," beginning with patterns of organization and moving
to image editing, narrative and Burkean drama as central elements of rhetorical
structure.
Units 4 through 6 take
students through the traditional Aristotelian proofs of logos, ethos and pathos,
extending each basic persuasive principle with simple, concrete explanations
of a vast array of critical concepts. Unit 4 examines "reasoning" in terms
of the traditional elements of rhetorical argument, Toulmin's field-dependent
argument and Fisher's narrative rationality. Unit 5 examines the role of "character"
in rhetorical texts beginning with neo-Aristotelian ethos, moving to Black's
second persona and concluding with Burke's notion of identification. Unit
Six examines the role played by "emotion" both in terms of Aristotelian pathos
and of theories of desire formulated by Freud and Lacan.
It should be noted that,
while Units 2 through 6 cover a lot of ground (and the resulting bibliography
might well serve as an excellent resource for beginning graduate students
in rhetoric as well as undergraduates!), each chapter is concise and simply
written, with concrete examples of critical analysis and interpretation. Each
of these chapters ends with a brief series of "Critical Questions and Answers,"
which takes the fledgling critic through three sets of basic questions and
how a critic might answer them:
2.Does it present reality
or ideas truthfully and ethically?
3.Does it function
to shape identities, ideas and action?
Of course, while Cohen's
volume has nearly something for everybody, it does fall short in a few areas.
The treatment of "desire" from a psychoanalytic perspective will seem oversimplified
to scholars who work in this area. This book also neglects critical perspectives
that deal more directly with the contextual conditions surrounding texts.
In particular, ideological criticism, cultural/critical approaches that address
issues of materiality and power (e.g., feminist criticism, Marxian criticism,
critical race theory, queer theory), and newer approaches concerning intertextuality
and performance aren't addressed beyond a brief treatment of "supertext" and
"discursive formation" in chapter 2.
Given the author's goal
and the book's target audience, however, these omissions are justifiable.
This book might serve very well as a baseline for a more sophisticated course
geared toward experienced undergraduates or beginning graduate students, to
be supplemented with readings that would cover the critical literature in
more depth and nuance. The text might also be a valuable resource to an instructor
in media studies whom might herself be introduced to these concepts, or have
to teach a course in criticism for the first time.
However, Cohen's book
perhaps works best as an introduction to textual criticism for students to
whom "rhetoric" and "criticism" is a new concept, and who will primarily learn
these concepts through practical application. Used in this manner, students
will incrementally develop a repertoire of broad concepts and a critical sensibility
that they can easily apply outside of the classroom in their everyday consumption
of rhetorical texts.
The author intends to
provide an accessible, enjoyable text that facilitates a meaningful, lasting
introduction to communication criticism for students who may never take a
similar class again. I think she succeeds.
Sage (1998)
Boston University
1.Does the text function
to fulfill the creator's purpose?