Friday, January 14, 2011

Topic: The Role of Emotion in Writing



Question: How do most English teachers view the use of emotion in writing?

Answer: As a way of manipulating the readers’ thought, as propaganda. This book review suggests that emotion is an important part of writing, denigrated as a female trait.

Comment: The author is right! I have always denigrated the use of emotion negatively in writing as propaganda. She makes her point well that emotion is an important part in writing, depending on its purpose. In fact propaganda can be used positively or negatively, as illustrated by the propaganda employed in winning WWII. (See the film Buck Privates, with Abbott and Costello, for example.) Another myth demythologized. RayS.

Title: Review of Doing Emotion: Rhetoric, Writing, Teaching. LR Micciche. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2007. Reviewed by TN Taylor. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (May 2009), 411-415.

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