Ethos, Poetics, and the Literary Public Sphere
David Randall
In Habermasian theory, the bourgeois public sphere was preceded by a literary whose favored genres revealed interiority of self and emphasized an audience-oriented subjectivity. This essay argues that association this early modern discourse with ancient proceeds from their common origin in historically continuous intellectual tradition European rhetoric. Ancient rhetoric, which also constituted sphere, entered into ancient, medieval, Renaissance rhetorical poetics; last, transformed anonymizing effects print culture philosophy skepticism, consequent development autonomous narrator, produced sphere. The emergence derived particularly transformations concepts ethos auctoritas. A crucial prerequisite evolution shift presumed medium poetics, orality to writing print. argument has consequences for Habermas's general account communicative rationality is intended suggest alternate theoretical framework, replaces rationality.
Modern Language Quarterly