William James and Kenneth Burke’s Rhetorical Connection: The Jamesian Voice in “Terministic Screens”

• In Event: Essentializing the Intellect: Burkean Theory, William James, and Romanian Nationalism

Abstract

In this essay I focus on the rhetorical connection between Kenneth Burke and William James. Through a close reading of Burke’s “Terministic Screens,” I argue that that essay reveals the degree to which James influenced Burke’s intellectual and rhetorical approaches--the appeals he employed, the phrases he turned, the imagery he developed, the illustrations he used, and the structure he provided.

Author

• Paul H Stob, Univ of Wisconsin, Madison