Overview

Drawing on the theoretical work of Jacques Lacan, Marshall W. Alcorn Jr. formulates a systematic explanation of the function and value of desire in writing instruction. Alcorn argues that in changing the subject matter of writing instruction in order to change student opinions, composition instructors have come to adopt an insufficiently complex understanding of subjectivity. This oversimplification hinders attempts to foster cultural change. Alcorn proposes an alternative mode of instruction that makes effective use of students' knowledge and desire. The resulting freedom in expression - personal as well as political - engenders the recognition, circulation, and elaboration of desire necessary for both human communication and effective politics. Responding to James Berlin's reconception of praxis in the classroom, Theresa Ebert's espousal of disciplined instructions, and Lester Faigley's introduction of a postmodern theory of subjectivity, Alcorn follows both Lacan and Slavoj Zizek in insisting desire be given free voice and serious recognition. In composition as in politics, desire is the ground of agency. Competing expressions of desire should generate a dialectic in social-epistemic discourse that encourages enlightenment over cynicism and social development over authoritarian demands. With clarity and personal voice, Alcorn explains how discourse is rooted in primitive psychological functions of desire and responds to complex cultural needs. In its theoretical scope this book describes a new pedagogy that links thought to emotion and the personal to the social.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marshall W. Alcorn
Publisher:   Southern Illinois University Press
Imprint:   Southern Illinois University Press
Edition:   3rd Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.241kg
ISBN:  

9780809324279

ISBN 10:   080932427
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   31 March 2002
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Reviews

[P]rovocative in the best sense of that word,... this book is a gift to so many scholars and students in the field who direly need its explanations and insights, [and It] is of the utmost importance to our field if it is to grow and really begin to practice the self-critique that it so highly values. - Victor J. Vitanza, editor of Writing Histories of Rhetoric

Author Information

Marshall W. Alcorn Jr. is an associate professor of English, Humanities, and the Program in the Human Sciences at George Washington University. He is the author of Narcissism and the Literary Libido.

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