Learning from Language

209 Pages·2009·1.481 MB·

by  Walter H. Beale

Learning from Language
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Pittsburgh Series in Composition,
Literacy, and Culture
David Bartholomae and Jean Ferguson Carr,
Editors
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Learning from Language
Symmetry, Asymmetry, and
Literary Humanism
WALTER H. BEALE
University of Pittsburgh Press
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Published by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15260
Copyright © 2009, University of Pittsburgh Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beale, Walter H.
Learning from language : symmetry, asymmetry, and literary humanism /
Walter H. Beale.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8229-6038-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8229-6038-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. English language—Rhetoric. 2. Symmetry in literature. 3. Language and
languages—Philosophy. I. Title.
PE1403.B43 2009
808'.042—dc22 2009006974
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UXORI VENUSTAE LEPIDAEQUE
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Symmetry, Asymmetry, and Literary Humanism 1
2. Two Famous Asymmetrists 18
3. Six Claims of Symmetry 37
4. Reading the World: Structural Analogy 67
5. Creating the World: The Performative Principle 83
6. Naming and Renaming the World 108
7. Figuring (Out) the World: Tropes and Tropology 126
8. Style and Virtue 151
Conclusion: The Love of Words 174
Works Cited 183
Index 191
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Acknowledgments
I appreciate the excellent advice and direction of my editors at the Univer-
sity of Pittsburgh Press, and also that of the wise and exacting scholarly
consultants engaged by them. W. Barnes Tatum, professor of Greek and
New Testament at Greensboro College, read portions of the manuscript
directly relevant to his expertise, offering important suggestions, correc-
tions, and encouragements. Dr. Laurie White, an astute rhetorician and
literary humanist, discussed with me on many occasions this book’s ideas
and arguments, reading and commenting on a good deal of it in manu-
script form. My colleagues and advanced students in language, rhetoric,
and literary theory at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
provided an indispensable community of conversation. I am grateful to
them all.
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