Maymester Preview: David Rieder, “Rhetorical Style”

Rhetorical Style

What is (rhetorical) style, and how do the rhythms, cadences, and singsonginess created by artfully-deviant, syncopated rearrangements of words communicate feeling? How do great speakers and writers elicit feelings from us through the ways in which their words seem and sound? And how do the stylizations of life related to the postmodern ‘experience economy’ in which we live and work relate back to a study of syncopated style in spoken and textual traditions? You will be able to answer these and many more questions in this seminar. Style is not just about ‘flowery’ or figurative uses of language. When it is done well, style taps into the deep, affective rhythms to which we live our lives. To study and reflect (rhetorically) on the power of style, on the page and in the street, is to understand some of the underlying structure that defines our emotional connections to the world in which we are engaged.

For more information, please see the course flier.

Meet Prof. David M Rieder

David M. Rieder is Associate Professor of English and a faculty member in the Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media PhD program at NC State University. His research interests are at the intersections of digital media theory, digital rhetoric/writing, and creative code studies. Recent scholarly and creative works include Suasive Iterations: Rhetoric, Writing, and Physical Computing (2017), the co-edited collection, Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools, essays and ‘born digital’ works in Kairos, Computers and Composition Online, Hyperrhiz, Present Tense, Itineration, and Enculturation, and numerous digital interactive projects, including three exhibited at Raleigh’s Contemporary Art Museum.