by W. Ross Winterowd
Southern Illinois University Press, 1990
eISBN: 978-0-8093-8330-6 | Cloth: 978-0-8093-1587-1
Library of Congress Classification PS366.R44W56 1990
Dewey Decimal Classification 818.50809

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
ABOUT THIS BOOK


Using traditional and contemporary rhetorical theory, Winterowd argues that the fiction-nonfiction division of literature is unjustified and destructive.


He would bridge the gap between literary scholars and rhetoricians by including both fiction (imaginative literature) and nonfiction (literature of fact) in the canon. The actual difference in literary texts, he notes, lies not in their factuality but in their potential for eliciting an aesthetic response.


With speech act and rhetorical theory as a basis, Winterowd argues that presentational literature gains its power on the basis of its ethical and pathetic appeal, not because of its assertions or arguments.