Contending With Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age

Rating:
Summary: Getting dated, but still provocative
Review: In 1992, when this book was published, it was an excellent introduction into current arguments in the field of writing instruction. As a publication of the Modern Language Association--an organization dominated by literature teachers--it was also a great primer for understanding how literary theory could be used to deepen teaching (where actual literature teachers usually just disparaged the teaching of writing as kitchen work, fit only for drones, adjuncts, and graduate students). For those who haven't yet explored the conversation between these two orientations, this remains an important text to read. If you have already begun to think about how literary theory can inform teaching, then some of this won't be news, but I would still say that at least 1/3 of the essays in this collection are of lasting power and importance. I actually think the book is worth buying for its first essay alone, an exploration of Bakhtin by a Penn State professor named Don Bialostosky. The book also has a very first-rate bibliography, one that would be very useful for someone looking for further or background reading on the subject.

Rating:
Summary: Getting dated, but still provocative
Review: In 1992, when this book was published, it was an excellent introduction into current arguments in the field of writing instruction. As a publication of the Modern Language Association--an organization dominated by literature teachers--it was also a great primer for understanding how literary theory could be used to deepen teaching (where actual literature teachers usually just disparaged the teaching of writing as kitchen work, fit only for drones, adjuncts, and graduate students). For those who haven't yet explored the conversation between these two orientations, this remains an important text to read. If you have already begun to think about how literary theory can inform teaching, then some of this won't be news, but I would still say that at least 1/3 of the essays in this collection are of lasting power and importance. I actually think the book is worth buying for its first essay alone, an exploration of Bakhtin by a Penn State professor named Don Bialostosky. The book also has a very first-rate bibliography, one that would be very useful for someone looking for further or background reading on the subject.