Genre as social action

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1、GENREASSOCIALACTIONCarolynR.MillerLTHOUGHrhetoricalcriticismhasrecentlyprovidedaprofusionofclaimsAthatcertaindiscoursesconstituteadistinctiveclass,orgenre,rhetorical-hasnotprovidedfirmguidanceonwhatconstitutesagenre.Forexample,rhetoricalgenreshavebeendefinedbysimilaritiesinstrategiesorformsinthed

2、iscourse^,^bysimilaritiesinaudience,2bysimilaritiesinmodesofthinking,3bysimilaritiesinrhetoricalsituations.4Thediversityamongthesedefinitionspresentsboththeoristsandcriticswithaproblem.Whilethisproblemiscreatedbyrhetoricianswhohavedoneworkingenretheoryorcriticism,anotherproblemisraisedbysomewhodo

3、notbelieverhetoriciansshoulddosuchworkatall.JohnH.PattonandThomasM.Conleyhavearguedthatgenrecriticismrequirestoomuchcriticaldistancebetweenthetextandthereaderandthusleadstoassessmentsthatarenotfullyresponsible.Genrecriticism,theycontend,invitesreductionism,rules,formalism.Pattonbelievesthatsuchan

4、alysisresultsin"criticaldeterminismoftheworstsort,"5andConleythatitleadsto<.

5、dicatesthemanywaysonemightclassifydiscourse,butiftheterm"genre"istomeananythingtheoreticallyorcriticallyuseful,itcannotrefertojustanycategoryorkindofdiscourse.Oneconcerninrhetoricaltheory,then,istomakeofrhetoricalgenreastableclassifyingconcept;anotheristoensurethattheconceptisrhetoricallysound.In

6、thisessay,Iwilladdressbothoftheseconcerns,thefirstbydevelopingaperspectiveongenrethatreliesonareasofagreementinpreviousworkandconnectsthoseareastocorroboratingmaterial;thesecondconcernIwilladdressbyproposinghowanunderstandingofgenrecanhelpaccountforthewayweencounter,interpret,reactto,andcreatepar

7、ticulartexts.MyeffortwillelaboratetheapproachtakenbyKarlynKohrsCampbellandKathleenHallJamiesonandsupporttheirpositionthatgenrestudyisvaluablenotbecauseitmightpermitthecreationofsomekindoftaxonomy,butbecauseitemphasizes