Author Description

Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age offers twelve previously unpublished essays that relate the teaching of writing to various aspects of postmodern thought, including feminism, neo-Marxist theories, the historiography of Michael Foucault, and cultural criticism. In particular, Contending with Words aims to transform the composition course from a "service" component of the curriculum to a locus of intellectual activity. Ten essays examine modes of discourse ranging Socratic dialogue to the "false magic" of the National Enquirer, critique the present disciplinary impluses of composition studies, and propose new directions for the teaching of writing. The two closing articles synthesize the arguments of the essays and respond critically to the collection as a whole. --back cover