Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader

Rating:
Summary: A Great Starting Point or Review
Review: I was first inroduced to this compilation in a graduate survey course on composition theory. The articles started my love affair with the discipline; a tumultuous relationship that has caused me to completely redefine my graduate interests.

Composition theory has evolved through a number of distinct stages over the past few decades; and Villanueva has effectively zeroed in on the key figures and key articles from each period. If you are new to composition theory, these essays will provide you with a solid roadmap through the landscape of rhetorical theory.

If you've been down that road a few times; Villanueva's resource is an excellent refresher course. The editorial choices do not seem to reflect any particular bias. The essays themselves represent many different sides of each school of thought; and are the authors' own words. It is left to the reader then to sift through the particular biases and assumtions of each school of thought.

This book has my highest recommendation for anyone with any interest in the field. For all but the most sagacious, I would consider it a must-have.

Rating:
Summary: Villanueva provides a useful survey of composition theory.
Review: Victor Villanueva's text Cross-Talk provides readers with an important edited text incorporating the essential works of the field's major theorists. In doing so he appears to validate all of the theorists he represents in his text, however, if one examines the text it becomes clear that Villanueva privileges a rhetorical perspective, one which embeds learning to write in the social/cultural world, with the objective of preparing students to participate in democracy, and the desire for a more equitable world, as well as seeking justice and voices for the marginalized.

Regardless of any problems the text might have if it is read from other than an ideological perspective, the collection includes most of the truly important theorists of the past from Mina Shaughnessy's first book Errors and Expectations in 1977 to the present. A large book of 760 pages, it is unable to completely survey the many articles written about composition and does not pretend to do so. Villanueva suggests that this book is a beginning, a take off point from which readers can jump off and follow threads of thinking back to their originators and forward to their disciples.

I highly recommend Villanueva's book Cross-Talk to anyone interested in composition and composition theory. Even those people who are not already experts should find the text and its readings readily accessible, since it is both reasonably jargon-free and what terms are used are, for the most part, well defined.