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February 08, 2005
White, Chapter 3, Discussion Questions
These are the questions I would like to discuss in class on Thursday regarding Chapter 3. I'm posting them early i hopes that we will be able to keep the discussion somewhat focused. These seem to me to be big questions, probably worth more time than we can give them during class. So maybe after class, comments and thoughts can be posted here.
Questions:
1. Can we say that composition has "a formal terminological system for describing its objects?" If so, what are these terms? What are the objects they describe?
2. If we accept that histories are about the "possible sets of relationships" between events, how does this shape our approach to our historical constructions (i.e., the projects we'll be doing)? This is an extension of the discussion we began at the end of class last week, in specifically identifying ways White's ideas will shape our work.
3. Composition, like history as described by White, is often classified as not having a subject. Given that, how might the introduction and acceptance of literary forms change the nature of our historical work? It seems much of the history of composition is a push-pull between empirical and anecdotal evidence. In the context of this class, is a history that includes this identifiable and declared fictive element acceptable? Why or why not?
4. On page 89, White discusses the "contexts of the texts that literary scholars study" and compares historical documents to literary texts, claiming both are "opaque" and neither more "given" than the other. As composition practitioners, how do we view the notion of context? Is it a given? Or a constructed fiction? What implications does this distinction have for us as scholars and for our students when we function as teachers?
Posted by cageyer at February 8, 2005 11:06 AM