Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century

Bernard L. Brock is Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Art and Public Policy, Wayne State University. He is the author of Kenneth Burke and Contemporary European Thought: Rhetoric in Transition, Public Policy Decision-Making: A Systems and Comparative Advantages Approach, and the editor of Methods of Rhetorical Criticism: A Twentieth Century Perspective.

"For the first time we have an account of the development of Burke's thought over seven decades. Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century traces the maturation of Burke's thought and the gradual changes in his emphasis and orientation. It asks the question: Who was Burke and how can his work be helpful to us who must face new problems and new times? It does not try to make Burke into a culture hero or wise man, but rather focuses on what is useful in Burke and how to use what he called 'equipment for living.' " — Andrew King, Louisiana State University"The field of communication needed a text which brings together Kenneth Burke's works and focuses them in a 20th century context. The fact that Bernard Brock has edited this book is a plus because he is truly one of Kenneth Burke's most ardent critics and advocates." — John W. Smith, Ohio University"Brock is unquestionably among the top Burkean scholars at work today and he is often in the midst of the issues presented. These are the issues around which debate has been swirling. Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century is an excellent introduction to those issues for the novice as well as a valuable collection for the working scholar." — W. Lance Haynes, University of Missouri–Rolla

• Introduction Bernard L. BrockPart I. Symbolic Action 1. Nature's Physician: The Metabiology of Kenneth Burke Richard H. Thames2. Toward an Ecology of Language Star A. Muir3. Kenneth Burke's Pragmatism—Old and New David BlakesleyPart II. Burke and Feminism 4. "Being" and the Promise of Trinity: A Feminist Addition to  Burke's Theory of Dramatism Karen A. Foss and Cindy L. White5. "Can This Marriage Be Saved?": Reclaiming Burke for Feminist Scholarship Phyllis M. JappPart III. Postmodernism and Multiculturalism 6. Kenneth Burke's Implicit Theory of Power George Cheney, Kathy Garvin-Doxas, and Kathleen Torrens7. Dramatism and Deconstruction: Burke, de Man, and the Rhetorical Motive Greig Henderson8. Multiculturalism and the Burkean System: Limitations and Extensions James W. ChesebroPart IV. The Burkean System 9. Lacan, Burke, and Human Motive Dina Stevenson10. Burkean Social Hierarchy and the Ironic Investment of Martin Luther King James F. Klumpp11. "Secular Pragmatism": Kenneth Burke and the [Re]socialization of Literature and Theory Dennis J. CiesielskiContributors Index