Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom

Gary A. Olson is Professor of English and teaches in the graduate program in rhetoric and composition at the University of South Florida. He is the author of Philosophy, Rhetoric, Literary Criticism: (Inter)views. Olson served as editor of the Journal of Advanced Composition from 1985-1994. Sidney I. Dobrin teaches composition, technical writing, and professional writing for graduate students at the University of South Florida, where he serves as Associate Editor of JAC.

"...Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom comes into place at a critical moment. We have worked assiduously to flesh out the ways and means of composition for a new era. This text helps to document our way." —Jones Royster, from the Foreword"JAC has been a central resource for the presentation and consideration of 'theory' in composition studies. These essays act as springboards for reflecting on the ways in which we interrogate and problematize in this discourse community."As I read the collection of essays, I was frequently reminded that despite seemingly indefinite variation in the circumstances of teaching, composition teachers do not treat theory as a refuge from practice, but value instead what it can tell them about writing and writing pedagogy. I hear in these essays echoes of an inclination to reject precepts that ignore writing and teaching in the name of common sense, and I see traces on the paths taken of the uncommon intention to practice and teach writing—for a change." — Linda Brodkey, from the Afterword

• ForewordJacqueline Jones Royster IntroductionGary A. Olson and Sidney I. Dobrin The Process of Writing The Process of Writing: A Philosophical Base in HermeneuticsJames L. Kinneavy Dichotomy, Consubstantiality, Technical Writing, Literary Theory: The Double Orthodox CurseJasper Neel Writing in the Graduate Curriculum: Literary Criticism as CompositionPatricia A. Sullivan What Happens When Things Go Wrong: Women and Writing BlocksMary Kupiec Cayton Theory and the Teaching of Writing Some Difficulties with Collaborative LearningDavid W. Smit Becoming Aware of the Myth of PresenceReed Way Dasenbrock Toward an Ethics of Teaching Writing in a Hazardous Context—The UniversitySandy Moore and Michael Kleine Repositioning the Profession: Teaching Writing to African American StudentsThomas Fox The Essay and Composition Theory Rediscovering the EssayW. Ross Winterowd The Recent Rise of Literary Nonfiction: A Cautionary AssayDouglas Hesse Why Don't We Write What We Teach? And Publish It?Lynn Z. Bloom Gender, Culture, and Radical Pedagogy Sexism in Academic Styles of LearningDavid Bleich The Dialectic Suppression of Feminist ThoughtRobert G. Wood Paulo Freire and the Politics of PostcolonialismHenry A. Giroux After Progressivism: Modern Composition, Institutional Service, and Cultural StudiesMichael Murphy The Other ReaderJoseph Harris Articulation Theory and the Problem of Determination: A Reading of Lives on the BoundaryJohn Trimbur Peer Response in the Multicultural Composition Classroom: Dissensus—A Dream (Deferred)Carrie Shively Leverez Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Discourse Nietzsche in Basel: Writing ReadingJ. Hills Miller Externalism and the Production of DiscourseThomas Kent Interrupting the Conversation: The Constructionist Dialogue in CompositionJoseph Petraglia Defining Rhetoric—and Us: A Meditation on Burke's DefinitionsRichard M. Coe AfterwordLinda Brodkey Contributors Index