Occult Invention: The Rebirth of Rhetorical Heuresis in Early Modern British Literature from Chapman to Swift

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dc.contributor.authorMcCann, Michael Charles, 1959-
dc.date.accessioned2012-03-26T23:47:59Z
dc.date.available2012-03-26T23:47:59Z
dc.date.issued2011-09
dc.descriptionxiv, 234 p. : ill.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe twentieth-century project of American rhetorician Kenneth Burke, grounded in a magic-based theory of language, reveals a path to the origins of what I am going to call occult invention. The occult, which I define as a symbol set of natural terms derived from supernatural terms, employs a method of heuresis based on a metaphor-like process I call analogic extension. Traditional invention fell from use shortly after the Liberal Arts reforms of Peter Ramus, around 1550. Occult invention emerged nearly simultaneously, when Early Modern British authors began using occult symbols as tropes in what I refer to as the Occult Mode. I use six of these authors--George Chapman, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Abraham Cowley, John Dryden, and Jonathan Swift--as examples of how occult invention arises. In appropriating occult symbolism, authors in the Occult Mode began using the invention methods of the occult arts of magic, alchemy, astrology, and cabala to derive new meanings, transform language, develop characters and plots, and reorient social perspectives. As we learn in tracking Burke's project, occult invention combines the principles of Aristotle's rhetoric and metaphysics with the techniques and principles of the occult arts. Occult invention fell from use around the end of the eighteenth century, but its rhetorical influence reemerged through the work of Burke. In this study I seek to contextualize and explicate some of the literary sources and rhetorical implications of occult invention as an emergent field for further research.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipCommittee in charge: Dianne Dugaw， Co-Chairperson； John T. Gage， Co-Chairperson； Kenneth Calhoon， Member； Steven Shankman， Member； Jeffrey Librett，Outside Memberen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/12081
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregonen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesUniversity of Oregon theses, Dept. of Comparative Literature, Ph.D., 2011;
dc.rightsrights_reserveden_US
dc.subjectEuropean historyen_US
dc.subjectBritish and Irish literatureen_US
dc.subjectRhetoricen_US
dc.subjectSocial sciencesen_US
dc.subjectLanguage, literature and linguisticsen_US
dc.subjectSwift, Jonathan, 1667-1745en_US
dc.subjectChapman, George, 1559?-1634en_US
dc.subjectOccult inventionen_US
dc.subjectAnalogic extensionen_US
dc.subject18th century English literatureen_US
dc.subjectEarly modern British literatureen_US
dc.subjectHistory of rhetoricen_US
dc.subjectBurke, Kenneth, 1897-1993en_US
dc.subjectRhetorical heuresisen_US
dc.subjectEnglish literature -- History and criticism
dc.titleOccult Invention: The Rebirth of Rhetorical Heuresis in Early Modern British Literature from Chapman to Swiften_US
dc.title.alternativeRebirth of Rhetorical Heuresis in Early Modern British Literature from Chapman to Swiften_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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