Keep Moving, Puppets!” A Renewed Reading of Wyndham Lewis’s Satiric Discourse

This paper attempts to fill a void in literary criticism on Lewis’s conception of satire by providing a systematic account of his satiric theory and practice, because his discursive and creative satirical writings are as miscellaneous as the nature of the satirical mode. Here I apply Griffin’s (1994) conception of satiric discourse (1994) based on a rhetoric of inquiry, a rhetoric of provocation, a rhetoric of display and a rhetoric of play. In this regard, the study attempts to illuminate the broad semantic nature of Lewis’s lampoon.Resumen: Este artículo pretende cubrir una laguna en la investigación sobre la concepción de la sátira de Lewis, proporcionando una explicación sistemática de su teoría y práctica, ya que sus obras discursivas y creativas son de carácter tan misceláneo como la propia naturaleza del modo satírico. Para ello se aplica la concepción del discurso satírico de Griffin (1994) que se basa en la interrogación retórica, la retórica de la provocación, la retórica de la exposición y la retórica de la representación. De este modo, el trabajo trata de arrojar luz nueva sobre la naturaleza tan diversa de la sátira Lewisiana.

Cultivating a “Dissenting Frame of Mind”: Radical Education, the Rhetoric of Inquiry, and Anna Barbauld’s Poetry1

True to her origins in a prominent Dissenting family, Anna Aikin Barbauld was cautious in her appraisal of existing (and often oppressive) authority structures. Her work is underscored by her understanding that established power structures are incomplete, sometimes incoherent, and usually dangerous to those that attempt to subvert them. Her poetry shows a sophisticated awareness of hierarchy as a frame of mind that needs to be disrupted and re-modeled, as a poor mental construct that pervades much of our thinking about social roles, gender, and—of course—religious practice. But rather than choosing the path of radicalism and radical idealism, Barbauld accepted the fact that realities do not always respond quickly to new critical understandings. Her poetry engages us in experiences that provoke questions and encourage further inquiry—that seek to establish what might be called a “Dissenting frame of mind.” By juxtaposing the languages of science and nurture, and by transforming ordinary experiences into extraordinary ones, Barbauld disrupts reader expectations and provokes re-evaluation of assumptions, prejudices, and “the normal.” The key to change, for Barbauld, is the ability to “think again.” And her poetry is crafted to help readers do just that.

'Seeing' a Body Into Being: Reflections On Scholarly Interpretations of the Nature and Reality of Jesus' Resurrected Body

This study is concerned with the rhetoric of inquiry into the nature and reality of Jesus' resurrected body. The current rationalistic debate is analysed in terms of three components: views on the nature of Jesus' resurrected body, what is meant by 'seeing' and the understanding of reality involved in different proposals. These are contrasted with a cultural sensitive reading which allows the existence of multiple realities, the existence of visionary bodies and visions as a way of seeing. It is argued that what is today taken to be the meaning of the biblical descriptions of the resurrected body (like Paul's 'soma pneumatikon') is the result of 'seeing a body into being'. It is researchers' view on seeing together with their respective world-views which determine what the nature of Jesus' resurrected body is and not so much what the sources say or do not say.