Category Archives: rhetorical situation

revisiting the rhetorical situation

(We’re [re]reading Bitzer and Vatz for our 602 course on teaching composition. I wrote about these articles before here) In “The Rhetorical Situation,” Lloyd Bitzer makes an interesting statement about utopia: In the best of all possible worlds, there would … Continue reading

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Bitzer: exigence

Let us suppose that our total environment presents no problems — no poverty, injustice, or war; no personal illness or tragedy; no petty squabbles; no questions inviting answers; no controversy needing resolution; no object or idea awaiting discovery or invention; … Continue reading

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conflict, issues, and audience in the rhetorical situation

Hunsaker and Smith critique previous discussions of the rhetorical situation for not adequately taking into account the perceptions of the rhetor and audience surrounding the issues at stake. The perception and resolution of issues (defined as the actual and potential … Continue reading

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more on the rhetorical situation

In “Generic Constraints and the Rhetorical Situation,” Kathleen M. Hall Jamieson writes that “Genres are shaped in response to a rhetor’s perception of the expectations of the audience and the demands of the situation” (163). Adding to Bitzer’s conception that … Continue reading

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what is the rhetorical situation?

Lloyd F. Bitzer defines it “as a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance; this invited utterance participates naturally in teh situation, is in many instances necessary to the completion of situational activity, … Continue reading

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