Chapter published in:
Style, Rhetoric and Creativity in Language: In memory of Walter (Bill) Nash (1926-2015)
Edited by Paul Simpson
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 34] 2019
► pp. 57–76

Chapter 3
The doubling of design in Walter Nash’s Rhetoric

The Wit of Persuasion

| Humboldt State University
This chapter takes as its point of departure a simple diagram which appears at the beginning of Walter Nash’s (1989) Rhetoric: The Wit of Persuasion. As argued, this diagram offers a key to understanding Nash’s unique conception of classical, renaissance and modern rhetoric. Focusing upon the rhetorical canon of taxis/disposition, or arrangement, the chapter explores how Nash celebrates the skill of writers of canonical literary texts, and of canny speakers in everyday situations, to design powerful schemes of persuasion. It is suggested that listeners and readers appreciate the aesthetic realization of language designed to persuade. The author observes how Nash’s approach is to encourage receivers of language actively to take power in rhetorical situations by parodying and rewriting, in order to critically understand and creatively revise these schemes of persuasion. These observations are complemented by an analysis of a press conference held by US President Donald Trump’s first press secretary, Sean Spicer.
Keywords: CNN, disposition (in rhetoric analysis), ‘mythogram’, persuasion, political speech, rhetorical, taxis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Rhetoric, basically defined
  • 3.A complication in the definition, a problem in the theory
  • 4.Power in parody
  • 5.Diagrammatic taxis
  • 6.“And Jim Acosta Joins Us Now”: Diagrammatic taxis at CNN
  • 7.Conclusion: Design within design = “observing ourselves, while acting”
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.34.05sta
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Statham, Simon
2020. The year’s work in stylistics 2019. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 29:4 ► pp. 454 ff. Crossref logo

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