Landmark Essays on Rhetorical Invention in Writing

In the process of assembling this collection, the editors quickly realized that no group of a dozen and a half articles can adequately represent the developments in modern rhetorical invention, even when the choices are restricted to articles on invention in writing. The articles selected for inclusion are probably best seen as synecdochic -- as representatives, albeit particularly notable ones, for whole categories of efforts to address particular questions associated with invention in writing. Each marks in the development of modern invention, if not the first major expression of the position, at least an especially significant moment in an on-going conceptual process. One useful way of thinking about these papers and their relationships is to see them as representing basic issues that run like motifs through the recent history of rhetorical invention, in particular invention in writing.

This collection presents a heteroglossia of perspectives on, models of, and insights into invention in writing. As such, the possible relationships among the articles that can be considered with profit are numerous and varied. The landmarks in this collection are not merely fossils nor is the inquiry into invention in writing a kind of antiquarian exercise. Each of the articles has useful things to say, stimulating discussions that are ongoing today. All combine to challenge scholars to continue what they began -- a copious, diverse, and fruitful effort to reinvent inventio.