Composition: History & Theory: 1900 - 1919
Fred Newton Scott
Description
In Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985 (1987), James Berlin paints Fred Newton Scott as, metaphorically speaking, the man behind the curtain during this time period, having served as president of the MLA in 1907, the first president of the NCTE, and the “founder, owner, and first editor (1912-21) of English Journal” (35). Scott “consciously formulated” transactional rhetoric as “an alternative to current-traditional rhetoric” and its focus on scientific and the practical (47). Scott’s new rhetoric was rooted in Platonic rhetoric with a focus on rhetorical context as well as the study of subject and audience in order to determine rhetorical purpose (49).
Date of Upload
3/13/09