Tense Times : Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture
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| Title: | Tense Times : Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture |
|---|---|
| Description: | How the syntax used in US political discourse creates the very crises it describes American public culture is obsessed with crisis. Political polarization, economic collapse, moral decline—the worst seems always yet to come and already here. Tense Times argues that the ways we discuss these crises, especially through verb tenses, not only contribute to our perception and description of such crises but create them. Past. Present. Future. These are the three principal verb tenses—the category of syntax that allows us to discuss time—that account for much of what is written about our crisis culture. Lee M. Pierce invites readers to expand their syntactic inventory beyond tense to include aspect (duration) and mood (attitude). Doing so opens new possibilities for understanding crisis discourse, as Pierce demonstrates with close readings of three syntaxes: the historical present, the past imperfective, and the retroactive subjunctive. Each mode produces a different experience of crisis and can help us understand our current political reality. The book investigates a dozen widely circulated discourses from the past decade of US political culture, from Beyoncé's controversial hit single “Formation” to the presidential campaign slogans of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, from the dueling rallies of Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart at the National Mall to the Ground Zero Mosque controversy and the 2007–2008 bailout. Taking a comparative approach that integrates theories of syntax from rhetorical, literary, affect, and cultural studies as well as linguistics, computer science, and Black studies, Tense Times suggests that the public's conjuring of crisis is not inherently problematic. Rather, it is the openness of that crisis to contingency—the possibility that things could have been otherwise—that ought to concern anyone interested in language, politics, American culture, current events, or the direction this country is headed. |
| Authors: | Lee M. Pierce |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States, Rhetoric--Social aspects--United States, English language--Discourse analysis, English language--Syntax |
| Categories: | LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Rhetoric |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| FullText | Links: – Type: ebook-pdf – Type: ebook-epub Text: Availability: 0 |
|---|---|
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Tense Times : Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture – Name: Abstract Label: Description Group: Ab Data: How the syntax used in US political discourse creates the very crises it describes American public culture is obsessed with crisis. Political polarization, economic collapse, moral decline—the worst seems always yet to come and already here. Tense Times argues that the ways we discuss these crises, especially through verb tenses, not only contribute to our perception and description of such crises but create them. Past. Present. Future. These are the three principal verb tenses—the category of syntax that allows us to discuss time—that account for much of what is written about our crisis culture. Lee M. Pierce invites readers to expand their syntactic inventory beyond tense to include aspect (duration) and mood (attitude). Doing so opens new possibilities for understanding crisis discourse, as Pierce demonstrates with close readings of three syntaxes: the historical present, the past imperfective, and the retroactive subjunctive. Each mode produces a different experience of crisis and can help us understand our current political reality. The book investigates a dozen widely circulated discourses from the past decade of US political culture, from Beyoncé's controversial hit single “Formation” to the presidential campaign slogans of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, from the dueling rallies of Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart at the National Mall to the Ground Zero Mosque controversy and the 2007–2008 bailout. Taking a comparative approach that integrates theories of syntax from rhetorical, literary, affect, and cultural studies as well as linguistics, computer science, and Black studies, Tense Times suggests that the public's conjuring of crisis is not inherently problematic. Rather, it is the openness of that crisis to contingency—the possibility that things could have been otherwise—that ought to concern anyone interested in language, politics, American culture, current events, or the direction this country is headed. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lee+M%2E+Pierce%22">Lee M. Pierce</searchLink> – Name: TypePub Label: Resource Type Group: TypPub Data: eBook. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rhetoric--Political+aspects--United+States%22">Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rhetoric--Social+aspects--United+States%22">Rhetoric--Social aspects--United States</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+language--Discourse+analysis%22">English language--Discourse analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+language--Syntax%22">English language--Syntax</searchLink> – Name: SubjectBISAC Label: Categories Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22LANGUAGE+ARTS+%26+DISCIPLINES+%2F+General%22">LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22LANGUAGE+ARTS+%26+DISCIPLINES+%2F+Communication+Studies%22">LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="ZK" term="%22LANGUAGE+ARTS+%26+DISCIPLINES+%2F+Rhetoric%22">LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Rhetoric</searchLink> |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Classifications: – Code: 808 Scheme: ddc Type: prePub Languages: – Code: eng Text: English Subjects: – SubjectFull: Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States Type: general – SubjectFull: Rhetoric--Social aspects--United States Type: general – SubjectFull: English language--Discourse analysis Type: general – SubjectFull: English language--Syntax Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Tense Times : Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Lee M. Pierce – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Lee M. Pierce IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2023 – D: 29 M: 08 Type: profile Y: 2023 Identifiers: – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780817321673 – Type: isbn-print Value: 9780817360870 – Type: isbn-electronic Value: 9780817394639 Titles: – TitleFull: Tense Times : Rhetoric, Syntax, and Politics in US Crisis Culture Type: main |
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