Aristotle's Voice: Rhetoric, Theory & Writing In America

Aristotle's Voice: Rhetoric, Theory & Writing in America

ReviewJasper Neel's Aristotle's Voice, while at times almost deliberately deceptive and elusive, provides a penetrating study of Aristotle, particularly the Rhetoric, and the worldview and circumstances which surround both its composition and Aristotle's world in a larger sense. In essence, perhaps Neel's most valuable contribution to the field of rhetoric and composition study is in prioritizing a contextual framework for his arguments. Neel admirably shifts from past to present, from the Lyceum to the present-day composition classroom. Context is emphasized above all. Foregrounding is made essential, and regardless of one's opinion of Neel's occasional oddly self- deprecating style or his omnipresent political dissatisfaction, it is apparent that the author has done his homework. Shifts in textual direction make sense, and with savvy, Neel links discussions of 1960s Mississippi, two notable student essays, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and Aristotle's dissatisfaction with rhetoric as a practice, among other things, into one cohesive whole. Not an easy task, but one that Neel completes with precision and aplomb.This carefully constructed context and digestible style set up what is a polemic at its core. The tone of Neel's writing, while oftentimes playful and delightful to read, is shadowed by a bitter tongue-in-cheek mournfulness toward the political nature of composition studies. Neel notes in the first paragraph of his Prologue, "I truly do not understand `Aristotle'; I truly do not know `rhetoric.' Since I am nothing but a sophist, any good Aristotelian (and perhaps any good rhetorician) would understand right away that I do not know anything at all" (1). This seems a bit suspect as an introduction to a text that includes a chapter called "In the Heart of the Heart of the Rhetoric." However, such dissonance is mitigated by the final chapter, "The Composition of Sophistry and the Sophistry of Composition," a segment which ties together Neel's construction in entertaining, if somewhat sarcastic fashion.The above quote ("I truly do not understand. . . I do not know anything at all") and the resigned tone of the "Sophistry" chapter frame nicely both Aristotle's and Neel's politics. Neel, the same man who "does not know rhetoric" and is not a rhetorician ("I am not a criminal"???) paradoxically provides an engaging and convincing defense of the field. And he accomplishes this not by strumming the "writing should be prioritized" guitar but by attacking rhetoric and composition, identifying it as a field yearning for acceptance yet sinking in the quicksand of professionalism at the expense of what should be its more human/humane mission. But Neel's beef goes beyond the execution of the profession to the philosophical underpinnings of pedagogies shaped by Aristotle, a man of expansive and admirable knowledge but less than satisfying moral beliefs in view of contemporary advancements in tolerance, acceptance, and democracy.Chapter One, "The Rhetoric and the Politics of Slavery" commences Neel's diatribe against the politics that Aristotle, and the sociological/ideological context within which he composed the Rhetoric, have unconsciously impacted upon contemporary thinking and writing instruction. Here, Neel wastes little time in getting to the crux of the matter: like Aristotle's Rhetoric is informed by his Politics, so too are our pedagogies and profession influenced by our own political context. Furthermore, when appropriating Aristotelian principles in the classroom, we are implicit and explicit purveyors of Aristotle's politics, which Neel identifies as dangerous. In linking ancient Greek society with our twentieth century condition, Neel chooses an uncomfortable but provocative connecting point--slavery. Aristotle's view of subordinate man and disdain for the leveling effect of democracy overtly direct his Politics while bubbling just beneath the surface of the Rhetoric. According to Neel, "To Aristotle, slavery and all th