• Meaning of "discursively"

    From Adam Funk@21:1/5 to Steve Hayes on Thu Aug 19 16:03:57 2021
    XPost: alt.literature, alt.books, alt.english.usage
    XPost: alt.usage.english

    On 2021-08-19, Steve Hayes wrote:

    I've been reading a book called "Rhetoric of the Unreal" by Christine-Brooke-Rose, which is about literary criticism of genres
    called "fantastial".

    Is that a typo for "fantastical"?


    In it she says, of the Canadian critic Northrop Frye:

    "He presents five modes, one after the other, selecting categories for
    each, discursively and of course very persuasively."

    For me the "of course" strikes a jarring note.

    If something is discursive (rambling, wandering around in an
    unsystematic manner and never getting to the point) it is hard to see
    it as being persuasive at all, never mind "of course".

    Does "discursively" have a special meaning in litcrit speak tha is
    other than the norrmal everyday meaning of the word, and if so, what
    is it? Can anyone explain?

    A DuckDuckGo search doesn't help.



    --
    Unit tests are like the boy who cried wolf.

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  • From Steve Hayes@21:1/5 to All on Thu Aug 19 16:58:15 2021
    XPost: alt.literature, alt.books, alt.english.usage
    XPost: alt.usage.english

    I've been reading a book called "Rhetoric of the Unreal" by Christine-Brooke-Rose, which is about literary criticism of genres
    called "fantastial".

    In it she says, of the Canadian critic Northrop Frye:

    "He presents five modes, one after the other, selecting categories for
    each, discursively and of course very persuasively."

    For me the "of course" strikes a jarring note.

    If something is discursive (rambling, wandering around in an
    unsystematic manner and never getting to the point) it is hard to see
    it as being persuasive at all, never mind "of course".

    Does "discursively" have a special meaning in litcrit speak tha is
    other than the norrmal everyday meaning of the word, and if so, what
    is it? Can anyone explain?

    A DuckDuckGo search doesn't help.


    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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