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The World and How We Describe It Rhetorics of Reality, Representation, Simulation
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Barry Brummett
Book Code: C8019
ISBN: 0-275-98019-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-98019-1
168 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 5/30/2003
List Price: $81.95 (UK Sterling Price: £47.95)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • Brummett offers a philosophical discussion of how individuals unconsciously and sometimes mistakenly describe the world. He uses three key terms--reality, representation, and simulation--as they relate to the rhetorical strategies people employ in their fuzzy descriptions....Most valuable for those interested in the intersection of rhetoric and philosophy. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
    —Choice     April 2004
  • [p]resent the reader with complementary perspectives on the current theoretical problems of rhetorical studies....[p]resents us with a number of ways to think about our floating city and, in the end, how to negociate the many problems we face in here, in discourse. When we are no longer looking for the ground or fighting over who has the better view, we can focus on how to take better care of one an other on our speaking and writing.
    —Rhetoric Review     .
Description: 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 illustates the rhetoric of reality in a critical analysis of William Gibson's science fiction novels. The rhetoric of representation is shown in discusions 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.
Table of Contents:
  • Reality, Representation, Simulation
  • A Construction Project: Why the Key Terms Converge
  • Reality, Representation, and Simulation in Structures of Experience
  • Reality, Representation, and Simulation in Lived Experience
  • A Rhetoric of Reality in the Novels of William Gibson
  • A Rhetoric of Representation in rec.motorcycles
  • The Simulational Self in Groundhog Day
  • Bibliography
LC Card Number: 2002037061
LCC Class: P302
Dewey Class: 808
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