Research Catalog

The world and how we describe it : rhetorics of reality, representation, simulation

Title
The world and how we describe it : rhetorics of reality, representation, simulation / Barry Brummett.
Author
Brummett, Barry, 1951-
Publication
Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2003.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library P302 .B86 2003Off-site

Details

Description
xii, 154 pages; 25 cm
Summary
"Brummett explores the ways people use three key terms--reality, representation, and simulation--as rhetorical devices with political and social effect. People write and speak as if there were such things as reality, representation, and simulation. People treat the terms as if they were clearly referential and as if those referents were clearly distinct. But what kind of political, social work do people do when they write and speak in those terms? What kind of claim is being made, or accusation leveled when such a term is used? How do the dimensions and parameters of meaning facilitated by each term work in the management and distribution of power?" "These are questions of rhetoric, the manipulation of signs and symbols for influence and effect. Brummett illustrates the rhetoric of reality in a critical analysis of William Gibson's science fiction novels. The rhetoric of representation is shown in discussions on the usenet group rec.motorcyles. The rhetoric of simulation is explained through the film Groundhog Day. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with rhetoric and popular culture, media, communication, and technology, and the literature of science and science fiction."--Jacket.
Subject
  • Rhetoric
  • Semantics
  • Language and culture
  • Discourse analysis
  • Mental representation
  • Reality
  • Semantics
  • semantics
  • pragmatics
  • rhetoric (discipline)
  • Reality
  • Mental representation
  • Discourse analysis
  • Language and culture
  • Rhetoric
  • Kultur
  • Rhetorik
  • Semantik
  • Sprache
  • Retorica
  • Representatie (algemeen)
  • Werkelijkheidsbeeld
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (p. [147]-151) and index.
Contents
1. Reality, representation, simulation -- 2. A construction project: why the key terms converge -- 3. Realtiy, representation, and simulation in structures of experience -- 4. Reality, representation, and simulation in lived experience -- 5. A rhetoric of reality in the novels of William Gibson -- 6. A rhetoric of representation in rec.motorcycles -- 7. The simulational self in Groundhog Day.
ISBN
  • 0275980197
  • 9780275980191
LCCN
2002037061
OCLC
  • ocm51222208
  • 51222208
  • SCSB-1290044
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library