Burke, Structure, and Gargoyles: Rhetoric and Society on the Edge of Metaphysics

• In Event: Critiquing, Engaging, and Transforming the Social: Burke and the Strategic Use of Symbols

Abstract

The assessment that America faces a significant decline in civic engagement is increasingly popular across social scholarship, yet scholars diverge significantly whether it represents a normal social cycle or a radical new period of social interaction. I argue Burke’s poetic categories, particularly the grotesque, can reveal significant characteristics and implications of developing social conditions. I also contest conventional readings of Burke’s poetic cycle and argue for a less structurally determined reading of his sociological cycle.

Author

• Michael Souders, University of Kansas