Readings in Writing Courses

As the title suggests this six-chapter book responds to a question which in Westernculture goes back to Plato Aristotle Cicero and Quintilian namely What should rhetoricteachers ask their students to read?Primarily historical the first two chapters trace conflicting answers to the questionabove focusing on two constructive results of the debate: the re-invention of rhetoric and writingas a discipline a coherent and growing body of knowledge; and as a result the emergence ofindependent departments of writing free from departments of English free therefore to developtheir own curriculum and to manage their own budgets. Additionally the second chapterexamines two destructive consequences of this debate: the ban of literature from writing courseswhere students might profitably study both; and as a result the often painful departmental splits which not only separate formercolleagues but also cramp the pedagogy of those trained to teach both writing and literature. More than a survey of key publicationsthis chapter encourages readers to honor the discipline of rhetoric but to make a place for literature on their composition syllabi.The next four chapters provide pedagogical support for these chief claims: that literature can and should be taught inwriting courses and that such readings need not distract students from the primary text their own writing. On the contrarythese readings motivate serious writing when students feel invited into a conversation on issues that touch their lives. Thesepedagogical chapters then move entering professionals from the theoretical debate to the application of theory; therefore the bookwould serve well professors of courses in composition theory particularly those who enjoy'teaching the conflicts' and preparing their graduate students to design assignments andcourses that apply theories of learning reading and composing.