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Metaphor and Writing This volume explains how metaphors, metonymies, and other figures of thought interact cognitively and rhetorically to tell us what writing is and what it should do. Drawing on interviews with writing professionals and published commentary about writing, it argues that our everyday metaphors and metonymies for writing are part of a figurative rhetoric of writing – a pattern of discourse and thought that includes ways we categorize writers and writing; stories we tell about people who write; conceptual metaphors and metonymies used both to describe and to guide writing; and familiar, yet surprisingly adaptable, conceptual blends used routinely for imagining writing situations. The book will give scholars a fresh understanding of concepts such as "voice," "self," "clarity," "power," and the most basic figure of all: "the writer."
Philip Eubanks is Professor and Chair in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of A War of Words in the Discourse of Trade: The Rhetorical Constitution of Metaphor (2000).
Metaphor and Writing Figurative Thought in the Discourse of Written Communication
Philip Eubanks
Northern Illinois University
0014–dc22 2010033572 isbn 978-0-521-19102-9 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication. São Paulo.org/9780521191029 © Philip Eubanks 2011 This publication is in copyright. Delhi. I. or will remain.cambridge. 2. cm. accurate or appropriate. Cambridge cb2 8ru. Singapore. First published 2011 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press.org Information on this title: www. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements. Cape Town. New York. Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Eubanks. Melbourne. no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. Discourse analysis. Dubai. Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building. Metonyms.m4e93 2010 808′. Tokyo. p. and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is. Madrid. 3. pn228. Title.cambridge. Philip. isbn 978-0-521-19102-9 (hardback) 1. Metaphor. New York www. Rhetoric.c a m b r i dge u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s Cambridge. uk Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press. 4. . 1954– Metaphor and writing : figurative thought in the discourse of written communication / Philip Eubanks.
Mary Lou. .Here. this is what I've been doing.
talk. the good writer. and voice: A complex metonymy The writing self: Conceptual blends. multiple selves Writing to "get ideas across": The role of the Conduit Metaphor Codes and conversations: The other Conduit Metaphor Metaphor and choice page viii ix x 1 13 26 41 60 93 121 142 170 194 198 210 References Index vii .Contents List of fi gures List of tables Acknowledgements Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing The double bind of writer and to write: Graded categories Bind upon bind: The general-ability and the specific-expertise views of writing Three licensing stories: The literate inscriber. and the author writer Writing as transcription.
Figures 5.1 6.2 Overview of the three versions of Writing Is Speech Writing as an administrator: three possible versions of a simplex blend Anna Quindlen's blend of selves 129 136 page 119 viii .1 6.
Tables 3.1 4.1 Summary of prototypes' intersections with theories of writing expertise Summary of the three major narratives of writing page 47 90 ix .
to the writing professionals who generously allowed me to interview them: Pete Bohlin. of course. Joseph Sprague. Substantial portions of that article appear in Chapter 7. Thank you to College Composition and Communication for granting me permission to reprint. Thank you to Joe Bizup. in just the right way. Professor Baker. and others for that. Robert Sharoff. Deb Holdstein. Betsy Maaks. Greg Colomb. Neil Steinberg. Thank you to Steve Slack for lunch. Thank you to my wife. Cheri Register. Some people read the manuscript and did their best to put me on the right track. Brad Peters. Russell Friend. I owe a sincere thank you. "Understanding metaphors for writing: In defense of the Conduit Metaphor" (Copyright 2001 by the National Council of Teachers of English). Dirk Johnson. just because. Christine Worobec. Sean O'Leary. Thank you to Betty Birner. and Eric Zorn. Thank you to Helen Barton at Cambridge University Press for being such a pleasant and helpful correspondent. Kathleen Renk. and John Schaeffer for that. in revised form.Acknowledgements What good luck I have had to be able to spend a few years of my life writing this book. C. And what good luck I've had to have friends and colleagues to help me along the way. Others buoyed my spirits at just the right moment. x . Mary Lou.
to fi nd one's voice. As a consequence. scholars have focused on one metaphor at a time. and metonymies. voice or the Conduit Metaphor) or proposing a novel metaphor intended to clarify a particular question (e.g. no one has examined the everyday metaphors that apply to writing in light of a corpus of texts and primary research with people. It may seem that we already know plenty about our everyday figures for writing. to write clearly or forcefully or gracefully – can be poorly understood precisely because we make sense of them so automatically. I suspect that is one reason that current scholarship has proceeded as it has. 1 . is based solely on introspection. Yet the workings of even our most commonplace figures – to put thoughts onto paper.. Typically. stories. that their interpretations of them – and. Writing As Travel or Argument As Aikido). nor has anyone examined the connections between everyday writing metaphors and other rhetorical elements such as categories. either pointing out a particular metaphor's strengths or shortcomings (e. Writing scholars have assumed. which is mostly in the field of writing studies. these critiques and suggestions are valuable. scholarly work on familiar metaphors for writing.. But the introspective. more troubling. Certainly. their interpretations of others' interpretations – require no further confi rmation. because they have an intuitive understanding of everyday writing metaphors. that their very familiarity is what allows them to function.Introduction This book explains how everyday figures in the discourse of writing work with – and against – each other.g. one-metaphor-at-a-time approach does not take into account the ways that metaphors relate to other metaphors and to other figures. With only a few exceptions.
For those whose interest is writing. it can contribute both to writing scholarship and to writing pedagogy. including linguistics. literary theory. Because our metaphors for writing work in coordination with all of these things. Understanding what shapes our everyday figures gives writing scholars a stronger basis for suggesting new figures and for commenting on figures that are already influential – a task that writing studies has assigned to itself with some frequency. The fi ndings presented here will be of interest to two audiences: people who study or have a keen interest in writing. Instead. it takes up a more fundamental task: to explain what shapes our everyday figures for writing and how they fit together. we have to examine something broader: what I call the fi gurative rhetoric of writing. We have to consider how our everyday figures for writing are connected to everyday classifications of writers and writing. more complex. everyday metonymies associated with writing. everyday stories of writers and writing processes. and more contentious than we have so far recognized. cognitive science. And it is this contentious pattern that. and more. While this book analyzes many key metaphors. Metaphors are enmeshed in a constellation of relationships that complicate what people mean by them and how they are likely to influence people's writing.2 Introduction To understand our most familiar metaphors well. and rhetoric. everyday theories of writing expertise. and rhetorical spaces and just as vigorously called into question such metaphors as voice and the Conduit Metaphor. it does not attempt to catalog or provide analyses of all of them – or even all that might strike us as familiar. Indeed. and people who study metaphor from a variety of perspectives. Scholars in writing studies have vigorously endorsed such metaphors as discourse community. I argue. Let me say briefly what the book offers to each of these audiences. But it has not based those evaluations on a systematic examination of the broad constellation . contact zones. some of writing studies' most important contributions are framed as endorsements and rejections of key metaphors. matters most. they are more organized.
(2) three major stories that "license" our everyday metaphors and metonymies. ourselves. (4) familiar metaphors such as the Conduit Metaphor and Language Is Power.Introduction 3 of figures that shape people's ideas about writing or the rhetorical patterns that guide their use. be unaware of the subtle interplay between what we say in the writing classroom and the discourse of writing at large.g. equally problematic. it has often mischaracterized the metaphors it critiques and. we cannot ignore ideas about writing that they routinely encounter outside the classroom. Lakoff and Johnson 1980. accommodates – indeed. The book's aim . Yet it also does more: It argues that everyday figures for writing are constituted not just by systematic relationships but also by a rhetoric: a conversation about writing that is. it describes the systematic relationships between everyday figures for writing – including categories. (3) familiar metonymies such as voice and self. which has argued for some time that metaphors function as part of metaphor systems (e. shaped by the cognitive structure of our figurative language-about-language and. If we hope for our students to be more thoughtful about their writing. and (5) imaginative scenarios commonly associated with what I call the "other" Conduit Metaphor. their workings are often surprising when viewed in the light of a larger rhetoric. Consequently. And we may. this book examines (1) the categories writer and to write. on the other hand. Extending that line of thought. stories. on the one hand. That can have concrete implications for the teaching and practice of writing. In particular. Although our everyday figures for writing are by defi nition familiar. This book also contributes to the study of metaphor and figuration. ideas that are often embedded in figurative language and thought. It is a natural extension of work in cognitive linguistics. Lakoff and Johnson 1999). relies on – contradictory points of view. underestimated the potential resonance of its proposed metaphors. Lakoff 1996. Otherwise we risk confusion about the aims of our own pedagogies.. Students may be confused about what we are trying to teach them. and metonymies.
But the figurative rhetoric of writing is not fi xed. But I want to be especially clear about what I mean by "everyday" and synonyms such as "ordinary" and "commonplace. Instead. I do not describe the structure of familiar figuration per se. I ground my description of the figurative rhetoric of writing on three kinds of data: popular texts that comment on writing and writing processes. rather it is characterized by patterns of disagreement that allow us to shape figures to suit varying viewpoints and purposes. if broad: Once we understand the rhetorical contours that inform everyday writing metaphors and metonymies. even those that are not discussed extensively – perhaps even not mentioned. That is. yet flexible. I consider these texts. The chapters that follow describe a patterned. It is also not a study of expert opinion such as can be found in academic journals and in scholarly monographs." This is not a study of what linguists sometimes call folk models or folk theories. "Structure" suggests the relationship among familiar figures is fi xed. we can better understand all of the figures we use to think about and talk about writing. interviews with people whose careers depend significantly on writing. conversation in which individual metaphors and other figures take part. it focuses neither on uninformed talk from so-called people on the street nor on what cognitive scientist Donald Norman (2002: 36) calls the "everyday misunderstandings" that people rely on when they have no claim to specialized knowledge.4 Introduction is simple. interviews. and focus groups with technical writers and teachers of technical writing. and focus groups to be sources of "everyday" language and thought about writing. I have proceeded from the assumption that what matters most crucially in the discourse of writing are the texts and talk of people whose lives and livelihoods depend on writing – people for whom writing makes a difference every day and . Part of the book's argument is that we can describe metaphors and other figures better if we use more apt research methods: what we fi nd depends very much on where and how we look.
interest in writing. Bookstore shelves are lined with how-to books for student writers. However. and websites that discussed writing from a variety of perspectives. non-fiction writing. described the role or importance of writing. as opposed to a scholarly.Introduction 5 who have ideas about writing that we are likely to encounter if we have an everyday. I also interviewed eleven people for whom writing is an important component of professional life. I make no claim to have consulted works randomly. a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times and Newsweek and is the author of Biting the Dust: The Wild Ride and Dark Romance of the Rodeo Cowboy and the American West. or evaluated written products. I avoided texts directed chiefly at a scholarly audience. and academic writing. books. the Fedora. In particular. a bishop of the United Methodist Church (retired) and the author of Affirmations of a Dissenter. C. including creative writing. Joseph Sprague. advertising copy. . That judgment about what counts as everyday discourse about writing underpinned my selection of data throughout. Inc. indeed. and the History of American Style. a freelance technical communicator. and technical material. and numerous other consumer and trade periodicals. Neil Steinberg. Sean O'Leary. technical writing. a memoirist and writing teacher who is the author of Packinghouse Daughter (winner of the American Book Award). Dirk Johnson. a senior technical communicator for Siemens Corporation. They are as follows: Peter Bohlin.. I tried to balance my reading among various kinds of texts. a freelance journalist who has written for the New York Times. Many of these were helpful resources. I collected numerous texts. a Chicago Sun Times columnist and the author of numerous non-fiction books including Hatless Jack: The President. a web designer and writer of trade-magazine features. Christine Worobec. and aspiring fiction and non-fiction writers. Cheri Register. Robert Sharoff. Betsy Maaks. Russell Friend. For textual data. professional writers. a historian and the author of three books. I collected texts that discussed the process of writing. articles. Chicago Magazine. a technical writing specialist for Tellabs.
6 Introduction including Possessed: Women. a Chicago Tribune columnist. Abbott and Eubanks 2005). in collaboration with Dr. Further research may uncover other important figures and additional ways that people use and interpret these figures. in my estimation. in contrast to many rhetorical analyses. My examination of the data might best be called rhetorical analysis. but they also explained the implications the figures had for them. this data has limitations. ." In this study. made notes about persistent ideas that were expressed. and stories that were prominent and recurrent in the texts and transcripts that I examined. Instead. I did not consider a single performance but rather a set of utterances that are related thematically. pathos. categorizations. Naturally. or identification. I did not have chiefly in mind means of persuasion such as logos. The discussants not only used figurative language to explain their assessments of the texts. I paid close attention to metaphors. and Eric Zorn. I marked major fi gures. The rhetorician Jack Selzer (2003: 283) explains that rhetorical analysis focuses on "particular rhetorical acts as parts of larger communicative chains. metonymies. Taken together. We supplied discussants with examples of procedural and report writing and asked them to mark up copies in advance of the focus-group meeting. and Demons in Imperial Russia (winner of the Heldt Prize). Moreover. But the data used for this study exhibited persistent patterns that. we encouraged discussants to explain what they liked about the texts (marked with a plus sign) and what they did not like (marked with a minus sign). these three sources of data provided a rich sampling of what writing professionals say and think. ethos. Finally. In the groups. or conversations" in an attempt to understand "the conversation that surrounds a specific symbolic performance. I conducted six focus groups (three with practicing technical writers and three with college teachers of technical writing) that explored discussants' ideas about good technical writing (Eubanks and Abbott 2004. Witches. cannot be ignored if we hope to make sense of our everyday way of thinking figuratively about writing. Christine Abbott.
It is especially useful when it comes to noticing patterns across texts and subtle implications of phrasing or argument. of movement. cognitive-linguistic studies of "metalinguistic" figures have helped me frame questions about the range of categories. metonymies. Lakoff and Johnson 1999. In particular. . rhetorical analysis has clear benefits for understanding conceptual figuration. and close reading of selected examples – simply cannot.. pleasure. Vanparys 1995. much of my analysis is rooted in conceptual metaphor theory and related cognitive-linguistic work on metonymy and conceptual blending. Grady 1998.. Morality Is Cleanliness. Lakoff and Johnson 1980. conceptual metaphor theorists agree that figurative thought arises from experience. Words Are Weapons. quantitative analysis of corpus data. Goossens 1999). and stories that make up ordinary ideas about language and communication (e.Introduction 7 and – in the end – tried to describe the overall picture that emerged from my examination. we will learn the most if we use a variety of methods in order to see what converges and what does not. Most obviously. However. Gibbs 1999. Goossens 1995. Such perceptions motivate our most familiar metaphors: Life Is a Journey. And no experience can be more universal or more influential than our brain-limited.g. Problems Are Burdens. up-down. As I have said. Indeed. Kövecses 2000). constraint. it adopts a constructivist view of language. fatigue.g. embodied perceptions of front-back. Reddy 1993. metaphors. difficulty. I do not suggest that this approach to analyzing figures should be used to the exclusion of other methods of research. in-out. Sweetser 1992. energy. ease. and many more. Desire Is Hunger. Ideas Are Sources Of Light. source-path-goal. of pain. it permits a broad and relational view of data that other methods – including experimentation. Far from accepting the mechanistic or algorithmic approach often associated with early cognitive science. Goossens 1994. To begin with. Conceptual metaphor theory and related work has a number of advantages that I fully embrace (e.
social. This cognitive-linguistic perspective accords well. which were favored by proponents of free trade. Although some metaphors such as Knowing Is Seeing (e.g. that it expresses how trade operates or should operate. figurative constructions are necessarily informed and sustained by the habits and values of a particular time and place. As I have argued elsewhere with respect to metaphors of trade. the broad allegiances they reveal. Those two aspects of conceptual metaphors – embodiment and cultural entrenchment – provide an important basis for analyzing patterns in all varieties of figurative thought. philosophical. For example. and it was just as persistently answered by figures such as Trade Is A Journey. Conceptual metaphor theorists point out that all experience is construed in the context of a particular culture.8 Introduction Yet conceptual metaphors are not just a matter of physically motivated mappings. that Trade Is War is a "true" metaphor. Conceptual figures are profoundly intertwined with the way they are expressed in words: the timing and manner of their expression. and Trade Is Peace. and the particular motivations that attend them. I see your point) are found across the globe. metaphors are constituted by a rhetorical give-and-take in which speakers' utterances are accented by their political. Metaphors and other figures are responsive in the way that Bakhtin (1986) claims that all language is responsive. Those assessments are frequently encapsulated in what I have called licensing stories. in the early 1990s. I suggest. that utterance necessarily enters into a rhetorical conversation – a debate within the relevant discourse.. the metaphor Trade Is War was persistently used as an epithet by US critics of Japan's trade policies. Each time a metaphor (or other conceptual figure) is put into words. and economic commitments (Eubanks 2000). Trade Is Friendship. we do not say that simply because of its . If we believe. with a rhetorical view of figuration. Moreover. the metaphors people claim for themselves or ascribe to others are bound together with broader judgments about the world and its workings. for example.
The chapters are arranged as follows: Chapter 1 (In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing) argues that though writing studies has contributed valuable commentary on a number of metaphors that apply to writing. But they are no less rhetorical in character. as cognitive linguists and scientists have shown. metonymies. Some examples of writer are more central than others. Figures in the everyday rhetoric of writing are perhaps not as obviously contentious as those in the discourse of trade. than scholars recognize. entrenched stories we tell about writing. the figures are influenced by the broad contours of the rhetoric. and other conceptual blends. and they are no less complex. The everyday rhetoric of writing is characterized by a patterned give-andtake among prominent metaphors. how trade works. The broad contours of that rhetoric are not only influenced by the figures. stories. indeed more useful. more specifically. We need to understand better the conversation among metaphors and other elements of writing discourse that inform our everyday figures. But. categories have a graded structure. Chapter 2 (The double bind of writer and to write: graded categories) points out the persistent tension between the most basic words associated with writing: writer and to write. These prototypes of writer and to write do not align well and thus exert a persistent influence on each other. Rather the metaphor aligns with our stories of how the world works or. . and some acts of writing are more central than others. That has led often to mischaracterizations of metaphors that may be more flexible. it has also weakened claims for new metaphors for guiding and conceptualizing writing. it has not fully considered the conversation that our most familiar metaphors enter into.Introduction 9 unnoticed pervasiveness or the neatness of the mapping of war onto trade. categories. Each word names what would seem to be a straightforward everyday category. a conversation that includes everyday categorizations of writers and writing. metonymies that help to motivate and shape metaphors. and conceptual blends that give our familiar figures additional force and meaning.
talk. that someone who can write well can write anything well. For most current writing scholars. the good writer. The specific-expertise view says that the ability to write one kind of text does not imply the ability to write another. and voice: a complex metonymy) demonstrates how conceptual metonymies of writing and speech are complexly and contingently related to their licensing stories and to each other. thus. educated people who write correctly and competently). and the author writer) describes three stories of writing that license everyday writing metaphors and metonymies. conceptual metonymies are not just matters of convenient substitution (as with "all hands on . Chapter 5 (Writing as transcription. The author story tells of people who have exemplary writing capabilities but whose designation as writer is as much a matter of social position as it is a matter of writing ability. that each genre and perhaps each writing situation is singular. Everyday discourse about writing does not negotiate just the contradiction between prototypes. However. The good-writer and literate-inscriber stories have to do both with writing abilities and with societal roles and expectations that can be far different from those emphasized in the authorial story. employable in a literate society). Chapter 4 (Three licensing stories: the literate inscriber. the relationship between the stories is more complicated than mere nesting.10 Introduction Chapter 3 (Bind upon bind: the general-ability and specificexpertise views of writing) explains additional complications that vex the categories writer and to write. These stories are related hierarchically: Authors are ordinarily presumed to have all of the writing abilities of good writers (that is. But in everyday discourse the debate is more persistent and is shaped differently. Indeed. but also must navigate two theories of writing that align imperfectly with the prototype of writer and the prototype of to write. The general-ability view says that a writer possesses wideranging skills. the question has been settled in favor of the specific-expertise view. good writers are ordinarily presumed to have all of the writing abilities of literate inscribers (people who read and write and are.
The notion of singular identity is most strongly associated with the inscriber and good-writer prototypes. The writing–speech metonymy has the capacity to shift flexibly because it is composed of numerous sub-metonymies of speech. and far less troubling. It has three major configurations: Writing As Transcription.Introduction 11 deck") but rather a way of making sense of the world by recognizing contiguities. Chapter 7 (Writing to "get ideas across": the role of the Conduit Metaphor) urges a reevaluation of the Conduit Metaphor. However. By contrast. Although it is the most literal-seeming conception of self. Cognitive linguists and writing scholars alike have disparaged the Conduit Metaphor because it can encourage a mistaken view of linguistic communication. Chapter 8 (Codes and conversations: the other Conduit Metaphor) demonstrates that the Conduit Metaphor produces imaginative scenarios that give this basic metaphor significant breadth and . Ironically. body. the Conduit Metaphor is not only inescapable in the figurative rhetoric of writing. although the author story often embraces the phrases authentic voice and authentic self. and the Discovered Voice. and self. the most thorough immersion into the self for author writers may be self-erasure. Rather metonymies of writing and speech prompt a variety of conceptual blends that allow us to construct both singular and multiple selves. it in fact is an imaginative achievement with distinct rhetorical purposes. contrary to the prevailing view. the figure of voice is not strongly associated with a naïve notion of a singular writing identity. often metaphorical. Writing As Talk. The far-reaching and flexible role of the Conduit Metaphor becomes particularly apparent when it is examined in relation to other figures. Chapter 6 (The writing self: conceptual blends. but also its implications are far more complex. a figure deeply entrenched in English usage that tells us that meaning can be put into words and sent to a reader. it nonetheless licenses complex. than scholars have realized. multiple selves) argues that. notably Language Is Power – a figure that scholars embrace as strongly as they reject the Conduit Metaphor. constructions of self.
. including stories of emotional connection that are conveyed uncertainly and invisibly by magical or telepathic means. Chapter 9 (Metaphor and choice) provides brief comments about the ways this study resonates with my own experience as a writer and as a writing teacher. A commonly noted scene is telegraphy – what is often called the code model or transfer of meaning. Indeed. But the Conduit Metaphor gives rise also to stories that go beyond the mechanistic conveyance of meaning.12 Introduction utility. it provides a figurative framework for imagined scenes that coordinate with all three of the prominent licensing stories.
I would like to suggest the mechanic as a figure for thinking about rhetoric and writing. In that sense. Bonnie Lenore Kyburz. what writing is. what I offer here is an addendum to an uncontroversial conclusion: If we want to think more carefully about who writers are. therefore. or rhetoric on the road" Obviously. Jenny Edbauer Rice. "Rhetoric's mechanics: retooling the equipment of writing production" Writing studies has long recognized the essential role of metaphor in shaping what we think about writing. I want to propose a shift away from such metaphors of territory and towards reconceiving rhetoric as something more like travel. we gain valuable information not only about how students struggle with themselves to create a text but also how they struggle with their writing teacher over issues of power and authority. 13 . Gregory Clark. "Meaning fi nds a way: chaos (theory) and composition" In the face of this negative history of grammatical mechanics in composition studies. post-process theories that insist upon the radically situated nature of writing seem to embrace the conceptual metaphor of chaos rather than narrow conceptualizations of orderly writing (sometimes called "academic writing" as though there existed a single model for such artifacts).1 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing By examining and extending student metaphors for composing. What would change if we were to make such a shift? One thing that would change is our general understanding of the social context in which written texts have communicative function. "Writing as travel. Lad Tobin. "Bridging gaps: analyzing student metaphors for composing" In this essay. and how writing affects our lives. we should pay attention to our figurative language and thought.
writing scholars came to see that all discourse is socially constituted and intertextual: No text functions in isolation. however. becoming a competent writer requires not a mastery of abstract rules but an initiation into a community of writers and speakers. To put it plainly. but we have made little effort to fi nd out how these metaphors are informed by other figures and by other elements of discourse. we know what metaphors people typically use when they talk about writing. and not least by Mikhail Bakhtin." Influenced by a long list of poststructuralist theorists. . the way metaphors and figures for writing have been treated in writing studies – and elsewhere. though the right general conclusion has been reached. Sometime in the late 1980s and early 1990s. stories. where researchers observed writing practices and inquired about the perspectives of people who write. We have not understood the everyday figures that help to constitute the most fundamental concept in our field: the concept writing. Below I will explain why I believe the treatment of metaphor has missed the mark in writing studies. in a direction that makes this study possible.14 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing In a more important sense. writing studies took what has been called a "social turn. how they are informed by categories. That inclination informs my study throughout. I argue that. therefore. writing studies transformed its methods of inquiry. Therefore. the study does not ask what a metaphor might possibly mean to me or you but asks instead how ordinary metaphors function in everyday discourse about writing – how they converse with one another. and metonymies. and how a negotiation among all of these elements shapes our most familiar ideas about writing. Largely because of that change of perspective. too – has perpetuated assumptions that are largely mistaken. it moved into the field. But let me emphasize fi rst where I think writing studies has moved in the right direction more generally – indeed. Rather than relying on classroom lore or on experiments far removed from natural settings.
If metaphor plays a decisive role in the rhetorical stance and development of texts. genomic science (Ceccarelli 2004). When we utter a metaphor for writing – whether the metaphor is an all-but-tacit evocation of the Conduit Metaphor or an extended elaboration of Writing Is A Journey – we cannot help but enter into a conversation. we are not the fi rst to disturb the universe. writing studies is still not a major locus of metaphor studies. a place where metaphor will not contaminate the supposed purity of literal language. how to ask the right question Surprisingly. writing studies is a relative newcomer to metaphor analysis. however. To recast one of Bakhtin's famous phrases: When we utter a metaphor for writing. James Seitz (1991: 288) said of composition's approach to metaphor: One might expect that the field of composition. then it should surely be an issue of significant concern to those of us involved in the study of writing … What one mostly discovers. evolutionary biology (Journet 2005). and stories matter at least as much as the individual metaphors themselves. A decade and a half later. But we have begun to contribute. would provide a valuable contribution on the subject of metaphor – that figure of speech now widely recognized as a paradigmatic trope. scholars in writing studies have investigated metaphors and figures in complexity theory (Baake 2003). with its close ties to rhetorical studies.How to ask the right question 15 Indeed. metonymies. is that we remain bogged down in the murky waters of legislating a proper place for metaphor. in recent years. I claim that the patterns of variation among our metaphors. an inescapable gesture of language. For example. Linguistics and psychology continue to produce the lion's share of the scholarship on metaphor and figuration. Not very long ago. Perhaps the lone voice in questioning the preeminence of . and economics (Eubanks 2000).
Bowden focuses only on voice. its design excludes discourse from non-literary writers. Only two book-length studies have been published: Darsie Bowden's The Mythology of Voice (1999) and Barbara Tomlinson's Authors on Writing (2005). both books give sustained attention to a set of metaphors and concrete data and thus move our understanding of metaphors for writing substantially forward. writing scholars have reached the same conclusion as scholars in other areas: that analyzing important figures is essential to understanding what we say and think. In short.16 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing metaphor is Jeanne Fahnestock (1999. metonymy. that number is quite small. perhaps. If metaphors and figures are as important as we all seem to agree. Neither considers a wide-ranging sampling of writing discourse. And even though Tomlinson bases her study on an impressively large corpus of published interviews. Moreover. and conceptual blending. Nonetheless. writing scholars have persistently denounced everyday metaphors that seem naïve or nefarious. who argues that figures such as antithesis have an even greater role than metaphor in scientific discourse – and thus makes an important point about the need to examine the role of figuration more broadly. Over the past few decades. while providing only the . the picture is not as encouraging. (Compare that with the number of volumes on genre. Yet when it comes to metaphors that shape our thinking about writing. in aim. 2004).) Both of these works are quite useful. Bowden's and Tomlinson's studies differ significantly from the study I present here. it is informed by a cognitive-linguistic theory of metaphor. which is in my estimation the most convincing account of metaphor to date. The great majority of scholarship related to metaphors for writing is different in character and.000 published interviews with literary authors. Bowden provides a thorough history of the figure of voice. Neither takes a comprehensive view of figuration in the discourse of written communication. Tomlinson's book examines a corpus of 3. thus by design they exclude consideration of categorization. along with a full accounting of scholarly debate about it.
Nedra Reynolds (1998) has written insightfully about composition and geographies. The most conspicuous example of that is the widespread condemnation of the Conduit Metaphor. Yet it is one thing to suggest a useful metaphor and something else to adequately describe the figurative conversation into which a new metaphor must inevitably enter. At the other end of the spectrum. Surely. numerous writing scholars have proposed new metaphors meant to set the field (and writers) on a better path. Barry Kroll has written about argument as aikido. writing studies and writing students have benefited from the current shift away from metaphors of creativityin-isolation and mechanistic-communication toward. Bizzell 1982.a. he betrays some confusion about the everyday metaphors that his rendering of the music metaphor must either build upon or contradict. and the Windowpane Theory (compare Miller 1979. the Code Model. and Doak 1993. and it would be impossible to trace all of the advocates of the metaphors discourse community and rhetorical space. a. That problem is evident – not egregiously so but rather representatively so – in Peter Elbow's "The music of form: rethinking organization in writing" (2006). to my mind. He argues that the temporal aspect of music has qualities that. Gregory Clark (1998) has advocated seeing writing as travel. Slack. Longo 2000). Nonetheless. David Kaufer and Brian Butler (1996) have advocated seeing rhetoric as a design art. metaphors that better describe what happens when we write. . help us understand better how successful texts are held together. no body of scholarship exists that attempts to verify whether or not writers generally have in mind the unhelpful interpretations of the Conduit Metaphor so often ascribed to it. For example. in spite of impressive effort in explicating his proposed metaphor. when applied to analogous qualities of texts. the Transmission Model. For all the Conduit Metaphor's prominence in a rogues' gallery of metaphors we should not live by. with little evidence that people interpret them the way critics claim. Miller. Elbow's discussion of the music metaphor is intriguing indeed.k.How to ask the right question 17 sparest explanations of what people mean by them – indeed.
Indeed. (2006: 623. itch and scratch. and temporary satisfactions: degrees of yearning and relief – itch and scratch. But. Consider the care and confidence with which Elbow outlines a new way of seeing the music metaphor. composing a piece of writing is not a question of spatial structuring but rather. though. though. it is difficult to perceive what makes it cohere. In turn. as he progresses. he believes that we compose better texts if we . A possible solution. This process is what literally holds the piece together. But it is productive – productive because it shines a light on what we do not know. as with music. he becomes less certain that he understands what people ordinarily mean by structure. That is. half satisfactions. Elbow may stand alone in indicating that there is any reason for doubt about our knowledge of everyday writing metaphors. Elbow argues that comparing music and writing can solve a conceptual space–time problem – that because we must experience a text both spatially and chronologically. journeying. he becomes less certain about his initial claim about the metaphor of music. a "problem in binding time" (625). holding together. he says. is to think of composing a text as if it were like composing music. typical of the way we talk and think metaphorically: yearning and satisfaction. Elbow begins with a fi rm assertion that his proposed metaphor will correct everyday misunderstandings about what makes for good writing that are rooted in the metaphor of structure. in his curiously evolving article. emphasis added) This passage is a soup of metaphors. Elbow notes many of these metaphors in the course of his essay. He writes: Analysts frequently note how music works by setting up expectations that are sometimes fulfilled but often delayed or not satisfied … Music tends to bring us to a state of final satisfaction by way of a journey through nonsatisfactions. he says. It's an unusual way to proceed. He focuses especially. on the metaphor of music because.18 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing We should be grateful for that confusion.
" Indeed. by Max Black in his elaboration of I. Elbow claims that his music metaphor corrects the problems perpetuated by a spatial metaphor that dominates the way most of us think about texts. perhaps. have limitations. The problem is. There are dissimilarities as well as similarities. his included. As is often said. Richards's interaction theory of metaphor.How to ask the right question 19 think of coherence as a time problem rather than a space problem. For example. music does not have semantic content similar to writing. Elbow does not build a convincing case that he has stated correctly the implications of the spatial metaphor to which we are held "hostage. 1 This creative process was described best. to manage expectations – what readers think may happen later – than to worry about where and how things should be placed on the page. .1 So far. What conversation does Elbow's metaphor enter? Does his use of the music metaphor build on ordinary beliefs about the way texts work? Or does his metaphor break new ground – offering a figurative conception of writing that contradicts what our metaphors ordinarily tell us is so? Or some of both? At fi rst. A. profitably. we cannot summarize it. and in the process make something new of both parts of the metaphor. Elbow is right that metaphors. push into the background both trivial similarities and important dissimilarities. But then he turns to questions of the kind that ought to inform all discussions of metaphors and figures. metaphors both show and hide: They emphasize important similarities. he believes. I think. Elbow uses metaphoric thinking ingeniously and. Elbow also acknowledges that in spite of his proposed metaphor's advantages. "Our concept of organization seems hostage to a hidden spatial metaphor – one of Lakoff and Johnson's 'metaphors we live by'" (628). its implications only go so far. his account of the metaphor he purports to challenge is very much open to question. With a polite nod to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. It makes more sense. so good. Writing is not music. he says.
when people say that texts should be well organized or well structured. balance against each other. he seems to have in mind that. even as he insists that his music metaphor is strictly temporal. in English we think of happy as up. Elbow himself favors the metaphor of journeying through texts. Well-structured texts should "vary the length of paragraphs. In that sense. That is. converse with each other. But they are not the structure itself. Because spatial metaphors are routinely used abstractly. subheads. If the spatial metaphor is an important . he is making a journey through time. and life as a journey – to name just a few of our workaday spatial metaphors. Effective paragraphing. they mean that they should have "some kind of satisfying visual/spatial relationship among the parts" (625). I would offer several reasons that we should doubt that. and charts" (625). use bullets. vary the fonts. and lists can make a text's structure easier to recognize. Next. metaphors work together. it is far from evident that to think of texts spatially is the same as equating their structure with typography and layout. Elbow claims that we are "tempted to treat the organization of written words as wholly spatial" (625). a text that tells readers in advance what to expect and that groups information in relation to readers' conventional expectations. states of being as places. as he reads through a physical text. not just a trek through a series of inscribed pages. Elbow's use of the journeying metaphor is entirely conventional. For a start.20 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing According to Elbow. A well-structured text is just as likely to be one that presents things in a rhetorically effective order – for instance. As Lakoff and Johnson (1980) pointed out a long time ago. everyday metaphors often rely on space as a conceptual template without need of a physical manifestation such as a printed text. Elbow's argument is thus predicated on the claim that everyday metaphoric discourse conflates textual structure with the physical layout of a text and that structure has nothing to do with the rhetorical management of "itches and scratches" that make texts successful. headings. Why should he avoid it? We all think about time via a deeply entrenched spatial metaphor.
Another reason we should doubt Elbow's account of the spatial metaphor is this: Metaphors are not one size fits all. say. We do not expect precisely the same things from a manual as we do from a belletristic essay. As it happens. In everyday discourse about writing. we have to fi nd out how people typically interpret the metaphor and whether or not they are really misguided by it. an autobiographical essay. we surely would have heard different concerns – and different metaphors. it is not the only important one. Furthermore. we asked participants to critique technical documents and kept track of the metaphors and figures they relied on most. In six focus groups. clear headings. To justify Elbow's claim that the spatial metaphor is misguided. rather they advocated placing themselves in the reader's position so that matters would be plain from the reader's point of view. we heard quite a bit about the need for bullet points and short paragraphs. we typically categorize texts and writers in ways that allow us to adjust our expectations – and our metaphors. They wanted to break up the text into bullets and lists so that they could better lead readers through it. Had we asked focus groups to critique.How to ask the right question 21 one. people often group together the structure metaphor that Elbow rejects with the journeying metaphor that he favors. Both the practitioners and the teachers advocated the use of short paragraphs. and bulleted lists. we would have to know not just how people interpret phrases like well structured and well organized but also what metaphors people ordinarily fi nd compatible with these metaphors. In a focus-group study with technical communicators and teachers of technical communication. They were concerned with the physical arrangement of text. When Elbow contrasts his . But they also advocated the metaphor of journeying. Christine Abbott and I noticed just that pattern (Abbott and Eubanks 2005). When Abbott and I asked technical writers and technical writing teachers to critique a set of instructions. they did not believe that using a good visual design was the same as organizing a text well. It is not enough to fi nd ways that a metaphor could misguide us given a certain interpretation. We heard nothing about managing itches and scratches so that a reader's interest might be piqued.
and defi nes structure as effective use of lists. Elbow makes an assumption that he does not quite spell out but which is in keeping with a large swath of writing-studies commentary on metaphors for writing: Everyday metaphors surreptitiously lead us to bad conclusions." When readers bring the wrong expectations or . We have reasons for our preferences. according to most who have described it. The metaphor is often criticized because it seems to leave out the social dimension of communication and all the negotiation and uncertainty writing and talk involve.22 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing music metaphor with metaphors of structure." Their focus is on the role of the reader. We prefer one metaphor over another. we ought to wonder: What kinds of texts are under consideration? Do the metaphors change when we discuss different kinds of texts? Lastly. But metaphors do not silently control our every judgment. Elbow provides a fi ne example of that. they'd probably shrug and say "Of course. The Conduit Metaphor is. There is rhetoric involved. and paragraphing. But Colomb and Griffin would warn me against too much talk about what's "in the text. I'm claiming that readers can be blind (deaf) to coherence that's actually in the text. We – all of us. Disagreeing with Gregory Colomb and June Anne Griffin's emphasis on a reader's comprehension. not just scholars of language – talk about the relative credibility of important metaphors. and we don't even know it. But notice how deliberate and contrary Elbow's use of it is. To some degree. He proudly – defiantly! – uses the reviled metaphor I mentioned a while ago: the Conduit Metaphor. bullet points. we are held "hostage" to the spatial metaphor. Elbow writes: In effect. a model of communication that imagines meaning as something contained in a text and conveyed intact to a reader. Conceptual metaphor theorists have certainly drawn our attention to the surprising influence of largely unnoticed metaphors. I would not claim that each of us is fully aware of our metaphoric thought. that is possible.
If Elbow had provided nothing more than his harsh critique of the spatial metaphor. I. unconscious and automatic. to my mind.How to ask the right question 23 preparation. But I don't want to push that point too far. in part. an unsatisfying effort. But they also involve us in conversations that are conscious and well considered: They participate in a rhetorical give and take among metaphors. and stories that tells us about the range of things that people ordinarily think writing is. On the one hand. or read for the wrong reasons. So there we have it. putting thoughts onto the page. to have doubts about his own critique of structure. his would be. But he does not stop there. emphasis added) Elbow's language is the same as that which has been so roundly condemned: putting meaning into words. otherwise we're just blaming the victim/reader for not creating coherence in every text. On the other. he claims to make good use of the Conduit Metaphor – first. metonymies. of course they experience no coherence. What else is new? If we read a poem of fourteen lines and don't fi nd any sonnet organization. by balancing it with other metaphors. getting ideas across to the reader. Do we really want to settle for texts that only work for readers who are ideally prepared? (2006: 632. second. the music metaphor. in some respects. Is Elbow merely fooling himself about the phrase in the text? Is he an unwitting hostage? I doubt it. He seems to think matters through as his article progresses. too. As my epigraphs show. by accepting only what he fi nds useful about it and. My argument is that all of us negotiate everyday metaphors in a complex way. When he turns to the question of signposts and . emphasize coherence as an experience in the reader. Metaphors are. that doesn't remove the need for features in the text to help create those experiences. Elbow claims that we are held hostage to everyday metaphors of structure. we are likely to be put off – or at least distracted. Just because the experience is in the reader.
" he says. To the contrary. they won't feel lost" (630). Elbow qualifies his argument accordingly. even if he has not fully answered them. he says.24 In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing maps – two very common spatial metaphors – he uses them in a very conventional way. Elbow has reconciled spatial metaphors with his proposed music metaphor: "But I am not telling a story about two kinds of organization living on opposite sides of a fence – separate but equal. By the end of his essay. . letters. To his credit. As Elbow thinks on the page. they are no longer in direct competition – his earlier claim cannot be entirely right. and combines them with his own preferred metaphor: journeying. he creates a contradiction that would ordinarily cry out for resolution. Perhaps Elbow is treating us to "the kind of spontaneous writing that turns up in freewriting. it resolves the question of "what will make [readers] continue to read" (632). But in recognizing that complexity. I believe Elbow leads us to ask the right questions. The music metaphor may not resolve all questions of organization better than spatial metaphors after all. rather than insist on an earlier point. "but if they are provided with signposts and maps. How do we make sense of the figurative conversation about writing that is already afoot? How can we add new figurative understandings if we have not adequately understood the old? I have focused a good deal of attention on Peter Elbow's essay but not because I think his essay should be dismissed. and e-mails" (640) – writing that reveals the writer's thought process. Once he says that. journals. "Readers are on a journey to the unknown. He raises an important problem – a problem that vexes discussions of metaphors throughout writing studies. the relationship between them is complicated. he comes to see that the two metaphors he focuses on are not in direct contradiction: As with many other metaphors. acknowledges their benefits. The two can work together" (646). Instead. he raises a difficulty that must be grappled with. If both his music metaphor and metaphors of structure combine coherently with the journeying metaphor.
If that figurative rhetoric is described well. Yet more troubling. we will be able to see more clearly that we need not refute all that people already believe about composing texts in order to come up with better ideas about the writing process.Summary 25 Indeed. and constructing everyday stories. all of our proposals for new metaphors and all of our rejections of old ones will be far less convincing than they ought to be. however. Summary Nearly all of the existing commentary on everyday metaphors for writing has been in the field of writing studies. . that work so far has relied almost entirely on introspection. our arguments about metaphors will be stronger if we recognize – and cannot be stronger if we do not recognize – how claims about metaphors for writing articulate with the larger figurative rhetoric of writing: a rhetoric that includes categorizing. thinking metonymically. That has led to mistaken accounts of some commonplace metaphors and. This chapter has demonstrated that point by examining an article by Peter Elbow. we fail to describe that rhetoric properly. If. on the other hand. it has often neglected to consider the conversation among metaphors and figures that informs everyday metaphors for writing. theorizing. thus. weakened proposals for new metaphors.
2 The double bind of writer and to write
Graded categories
First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably. It is best if you fail at an early age – say, 14. Lorrie Moore, "How to become a writer" Dear Mr. Blue, I always imagined that I would be a writer. Unfortunately, I just don't write and can't even seem to begin. This past winter the idea of becoming an architect jumped into my head. I want to believe that I have some great artistic calling and that when I hear the call it will be unmistakable. I do think architecture is fascinating, and I have passionate feelings about how things should be built, but it doesn't seem to fit my heart like the idea of writing a story does. What do you think? Do only great people get called? Hearing Voices Dear Hearing, It strikes me that, more than enjoying the process, you may desire the outcome. You don't want to write, you want to have written. That isn't a calling; it's just plain covetousness. Get over it. Garrison Keillor, Mr. Blue
Turn to almost any page in any book about writing, or listen to any conversation between people who care about writing, and you are likely to come across a metaphor that is familiar or striking – or both. In a single paragraph of the time-honored The Elements of Style, we encounter words that "ignite" and "explode in the mind," prose that is like "music … capable of stirring the listener deeply," writing that is done "clearly," and writers who "steer by the stars" (Strunk and White 2008: 66). Any one of those metaphors might provide us a workable place to begin an examination of figurative thought in the discourse of writing. But a better place to begin, I suggest, is with 26
The double bind of writer and to write 27
two words that could hardly be more central in the discourse of writing: writer and to write. This may seem backwards. The usual approach is to begin with a single figure, usually a metaphor, one that is deeply entrenched (such as voice or power) or one that is being proposed (such as text as music or argument as aikido), and to examine the effect the figure may have, for better or worse, on how people write. And, of course, it does make good sense to weed out misleading figures and to suggest better ones. But if we are to make sense of a broad array of everyday figures for writing – how they work together, converse with each other, shape each other – we need to pay attention to key assumptions and controversies. It is impossible to avoid writer and to write if we have any exposure at all to books of advice on writing or writing workshops or college composition courses. They tell us something fundamental about what we think writing is and what it should do. Moreover, all of our everyday metaphors and metonymies are informed by the ways we construct who is and who is not a writer and by the ways we defi ne what it means to write. To put it another way, the figurative rhetoric of writing is influenced throughout by the way we construct these crucial everyday categories. Writer and to write are both logically and rhetorically complex. Categories always embed rhetorical judgments about the world around us. When we categorize people who write and acts of writing, we do not simply place these things into natural or convenient classifications: They do not "fall into" obvious pigeon holes. Rather we navigate contradictory perceptions and opinions about writing that have far-reaching implications. The categories writer and to write exert an opposing pull on each other that makes it all but impossible to think of writing in a simple or straightforward way. At the very heart of our everyday discourse of writing, we are placed in a double bind. But before I turn to that double bind, let me say a word about the way everyday categorization works.
28 The double bind of writer and to write
How everyday categories work
Categories have traditionally been considered anything but rhetorical. Rather they have been said to be factual, uncontroversial classifications that reflect the world as it is. George Lakoff (1987) calls this the "classical" or "folk" theory of categorization and points out its failures – which are many. The classical theory assumes that categories reflect an objective world. It assumes that the boundaries of categories are clear. It assumes that all category members are equal. Ultimately, however, the classical theory fails – I would suggest – not just because it makes so many wrong assumptions but because it treats categorization too narrowly, as if we go about the world creating careful taxonomies the way scientists do – as if categorization were entirely deliberate. When scientists categorize, they determine empirically what should be grouped together and what should not. For scientists, birds are birds because they lay eggs, have feathers, and have other physical attributes that are necessary and sufficient properties of birdness. This taxonomic method of classification is a matter of calculated fact-gathering, and when we are thinking taxonomically we adjust our categories to fit the data: Different species are often distinguished because they cannot interbreed, and that is a fact that we cannot ignore if we are thinking scientifically. But that is not how categorization usually works. In everyday categorizing, we put different levels of categorization to different uses, and we privilege some category members over others. Everyday categories have a graded structure. Thus when we construct a category such as writer, we do not rationally calculate what counts as a writer so much as we tap into a model of writing in which some levels of categorization are more prominent than others and some examples are more acceptable than others. In other words, as researchers in cognitive science have shown, categories have a prominent middle. On the vertical dimension, we give cognitive and rhetorical prominence to a mid-level category called the basic level. Basic-level categories are readily accessible: We
How everyday categories work 29
recognize them easily, recall them easily, and name them easily. In English, we often give them one- or two-syllable names: bird, house, mother, chair, book (Lakoff 1987: 33). Dog is a basic-level category. Mammal is above the basic level (superordinate), and shar pei well below it (subordinate). Basic-level categories are so salient in everyday discourse that they simply must be reckoned with. For example, it's hard to imagine a discussion of writing that does not respond to ordinary basic-level terms such as writer and to write.1 Categories also have a horizontal structure with a prominent middle or center. That is, category members at the "same level" are not equally salient. As a matter of zoology, penguins may be just as much birds as robins. But penguins are not the birdiest of birds – they're "odd ducks." Robins are at the center of the category. Cognitive science calls the most bird-like birds prototypes and considers the odd ducks to be peripheral category members.2 The basic-level category
Evidence for basic-level categories is found mainly in people's ordinary language use. In the 1970s, the anthropologist Brent Berlin, the fi rst to notice a basic level of categorization, studied classification in ordinary speech among the Tzeltal speakers in Mexico and found, for example, that when asked to identify what plants were visible in the jungle, his native consultant named plants by genus (oak, maple) but not higher (tree) and not lower (white oak, sugar maple). In other words, it seemed that the consultant found middle-level categories more readily at hand – more cognitively accessible – than categories higher up and lower down (Lakoff 1987: 31–39). Cognitive linguists have generally agreed that basic-level categories are both biologically and culturally influenced. The Tzeltal speaker probably named plants according to genus because that "basic level" was cognitively accessible to him. But it was cognitively accessible to him largely because of his culture – his local knowledge and his ingrained ways of interacting with his environment. Thus there is probably nothing fi xed about the genus per se. As Berlin suggests, in urban cultures tree – not oak, maple, or pine – may function as the basic level (Lakoff 1987: 37). In the 1970s and 1980s, Eleanor Rosch demonstrated the "prototype effect" in series of experiments with categories such as circle, bird, and furniture. Rosch (1973) found that most salient category members – the prototypes – were identified more quickly and called to mind more readily than other category members. For instance, when people were asked to make a list of birds, they included birds of all kinds; some even listed bat. But the best examples were listed most often. Robin was listed 377 times, eagle 161 times, and ostrich only 3. This free-response data was confi rmed by recognition experiments. On a computer screen, participants were shown sentences such as a robin is a bird, a duck is a bird, or a robin is a fruit and asked to respond true or false as quickly as possible. Prototypes were identified more quickly and with fewer errors than peripheral examples.
especially when rational or scientific categories collide with what he calls "emotional" categories." he provided "the supreme instance of the tendency to construct rational categories which are at variance with the categories of linkage formed in emotional experience. I listened to Bobby Day's (and later Michael Jackson's) hit single "Rockin' Robin. no different. and other people may write but are not really writers. we are faced immediately not just with biases that are part of everyday categories' cognitive structure. they invite discussion and debate. Some writers are what we sometimes call real writers. The same graded structure exists for the verb to write. The fi rst robin of spring has a rhetorical presence.30 The double bind of writer and to write writer is graded in that way. In my childhood. "It is even recorded that women fainted when fi rst being told of his conclusions (possibly because of the disturbing implication that they had been sleeping with apes)" (1984: 98). rhetorically important. in an everyday sense." What is typical and what is rhetorically significant cannot be easily separated. but often with controversies about 3 Kenneth Burke discusses how rhetorically fraught categories can be. They draw us into a discussion about conflicting values and theories.. most perfunctorily applied categories in the discourse of writing. involve writing at all). Thus when we look at what might seem to be the simplest. Burke points out that when Darwin moved "man from the category of the divine to the category of the apes. Even the apparently biological category robin – cited by innumerable cognitive linguists as the prototypical bird (e. Aitchison 1994. If we want to make sense of the figurative rhetoric of writing. . Recognizing these graded structures can help us to see what is. in that respect. such as to write computer code or to write a song (which may not. strictly speaking. but is also an important part of everyday categories.3 Ordinary categories such as writer and to write are.g. Croft and Cruse 2004) – has a rhetorical dimension that contributes to its prominence. we have no choice but to think through its most prominent basiclevel categories and their horizontally graded structure. But unlike robin. generally speaking. The influence of rhetoric is especially evident for categories such as writer and to write." Burke adds. Some acts exemplify writing particularly well." I can't imagine a song called "Rockin' Sparrow" or "Rockin' Starling. such as to write a letter – others less well.
or something?" Not that I mind explaining what technical writing is. an exclusive term. even though you write 31 the categories themselves and even disruptions of the nested structure of categories that we usually take for granted. I'm a technical writer. I said that was right – though it had never occurred to me before. tells of being asked by a friend what she does for a living: "I'm a writer. "Oh. And I know that I am not the fi rst to have experienced that discomfort. but I prefer to save time when I can. At some point. My friend seemed befuddled by the idea that publication was so important to my future success. Shortly after accepting my fi rst university job. even though you write Writer is. I learned that an old high-school friend – a writer – lived near me. Why you may not be a writer . M. Research. Hayes describes the same situation in an essay included in Writing a Professional Life. He became increasingly perplexed. it is. I recall struggling awkwardly with it some years ago. my friend said. I wrote the words you are now reading. Julie would have asked one of two questions: "What's that?" Or "So you write software manuals. Hayes. for one. and we met for lunch. Gerald Graff. So you're really a writer. But I am not really a writer. I said." I answered. And.Why you may not be a writer. What do you write? Books?" As a matter of fact. am I? L. who writes technical copy for advertising and marketing. As we caught up on each other's lives. but if I had said that. I tried to describe the job of an English professor at my institution. in a way. Using the word felt somewhat fraudulent. But what is it you publish? he asked. Her response was the same as everyone else's always is. though. I became increasingly ill at ease. fumbles "painfully to explain what I do to nonacademic relatives and friends" (2003: 4). of course. So instead I gave Julie my . We encounter a persistent – perhaps inevitable – double bind.
Because of the rhetorical power of the prototype Writer. writer refers to all kinds of writers. (2001: 149) Hayes's problem is perfectly understandable. She must respond with writer because she does. but much of her essay wrestles with justifying that job title. Without a fitting subordinate category to offer. grant writers. In a purely logical sense. "I'm a writer." Of course. They are the grouses and ostriches and penguins. she could have answered straightforwardly. but not because the word writer doesn't fit. If she wrote technical manuals or engineering reports. which suits her work only somewhat better than copywriter. the generic term writer inevitably. So. invites questions about legitimacy. her friend would certainly have asked what kinds of novels she writes. songwriters – all of these are peripheral members of the category. Hayes could have answered "I'm a technical writer" and encountered only the problem of explaining what technical writers do. But is she really a writer? If she wrote novels. strangely. She knows at the outset that whatever job description she offers will be unsatisfying. it seems. right now I work for a marketing fi rm as a copywriter.32 The double bind of writer and to write standard response. But the course of the conversation with her friend seems almost beyond her control. copywriters. write for a living. But the word Writer – capital W – also names a prototype: a writer of certain kinds of texts who has a certain place in the literate world." Most people have a basic enough understanding of the term copywriter to let it go with that. Hayes's quandary is not unusual. she is caught in a rhetorical quandary. Technical writers. Hayes ultimately calls herself a technical writer. "No. Yet the graded structure of the category all but guarantees that the word will mislead. . A shar pei is as much a dog as any other. Hayes cannot claim unproblematically the basic-level categorization that – logically – must subsume her job description whatever that may be. We do not have a term that suits her job well – and her job is to write. after all.
In her memoir of writing. to be a writer – not just someone who writes very well – is as much about identity as it is about describing a job or someone's skill in writing. "If I couldn't be a writer. Yet it is possible to say that Hayes really isn't a writer. But he is quickly discouraged with the idea: Becoming a writer seems impossible to him. aren't you?" – the man insists that the role of writer encompasses much more than having written something and that it is of greater value than the act of writing itself. He argues back. there would be no particular need to write!" (2002: 3–4).Why you may not be a writer. she relates a story from Kobo Abé about a man who. the title can apply without those things. tells of becoming a writer after a transformative experience that made her realize that being a writer was her essence: I wrote a poem in my head and then I wrote it down. Margaret Atwood illustrates this predicament very well. In fact. The man in the story takes to an extreme what all of us plainly understand. But although a writer may have special skills and may be paid to exercise them. Atwood. and after that writing was the only thing I wanted to do … My transition . A lawyer's relationship to the law is a matter of skill and professional classification (whereupon respect or ridicule follows). you're a writer. The same is true of an accountant or a dentist. considers writing down his experiences. In that respect. for example. the man begins fantasizing about becoming a writer – already thinking of titles for his yet unwritten work. writer is different from other professional job titles. being a writer is "a socially acknowledged role. even though you write 33 An ostrich is a bird. Atwood quips that he'd soon be conjuring up cover designs. Negotiating with the Dead. and one that carries some sort of weight or impressive significance" (4). As Atwood explains. Indeed. When a voice in his head reassures him that writers are nothing special – "If you write. while undertaking a futile task. that is not all that justifies the title. Immediately.
That is easy to see when we think of acts of writing that are not prototypical. computer programmers write code. Hence L. like the change from docile bank clerk to fanged monster in "B" movies. to write is a basic-level category and is unavoidable. Composers write music. Hayes's hesitance to call herself a writer without further explanation (even though she gets paid to write every day). Writer is sometimes applied to students in very early grades. it always carries traces of exaltation. But. Like writer. related meanings – rather than homonymy. mathematicians write equations. Hence my own reticence in calling myself a writer (even though I spend an awful lot of my time writing). Like writer. M. But. it has a graded structure: There are prototypical examples of to write. It has become a convention of composition studies to refer to fi rst-year composition students as writers.34 The double bind of writer and to write from not being a writer to being one was instantaneous. It is a problem of polysemy – multiple. Of course. where many "writers" cannot yet spell simple words. Why typical writers may not write prototypically The verb to write is no less central to the rhetoric of writing than the noun writer. no matter what use we make of the term. let me turn to the core of the double bind: the incompatibility of the prototypes for writer and to write and the way they constrain each other. If writer were homonymous – had two distinct meanings such as anyone who writes and someone who "writes books or something" – we would be able to select the appropriate meaning depending on context. (14) Once that transformation took place. But writer is negotiated within a single discourse. for the moment. all of Atwood's writing would be the work of a writer – no matter what. as Mikhail Bakhtin would surely point out. I will explain further in Chapter 4 what the prototype writer entails. writer is used in other ways. and .
The author scribbles with a pen or types at a typewriter. There is a large pile of crumpled paper nearby. It may be tempting to see the question as relatively uncomplicated. Rather the act of inscribing is associated by metonymy (that is. When Margaret Atwood fi rst became a writer. in a wastebasket or on the floor. she "wrote a poem in [her] head and then … wrote it down" (2002: 14). the second is the prototypical act of someone who literally writes. The fi rst act is the prototypical act of a writer. to say precisely what lies at the center of the category. Imagine the most clichéd depiction of writer's block. To put it glibly. however. Prototypical writers do. a blocked fiction writer. In the opening sequence of the movie Throw Momma from the Train. rolls a blank piece of paper into his typewriter then rips it out and crumples it – before typing a word. This scene is familiar enough to be the subject of parody. Thus two prototypes are in tension. and we often do associate physical inscription with the work of a writer. Yet they do not align with each other perfectly. That is because what we take to be a typical act of writing is not just the literal meaning of to write. it is not because they cannot type. There is a relationship between the two things. All of these actions are full-fledged members of the category to write. but also acts of writing that are typical of prototypical writers. . But being a writer is hardly the same thing as being someone who inscribes words on paper. the kind you see in old movies. inscribe words onto paper. Indeed. The prototype of to write is the most literal meaning of the verb: to inscribe words on paper – what I call the pen-to-paper prototype. where the writer has cast it in a fit of frustration. indeed. yet they are on the outer edge. It is more difficult. Billy Crystal. But complications arise when we consider the relative prototypicality of various senses of to write.Why typical writers may not write prototypically 35 computers write data to digital storage media. when blocked writers fail to write. by contiguity) with the mental act of writing. the prototypes intersect only in a very limited way.
2. The AHD generally puts either the most common or the most central sense fi rst. (Often a sense is both the most common and the most central. such as articles or books. I mean the basic concept. But that is not the logic we usually follow – at least. then. the arrangement of intransitive definitions of write: 1. Metaphoric: non-inscriptive acts such as making a mental note." and "basic" all come very close.36 The double bind of writer and to write That makes for a complex pattern in the gradation of the category to write. Metonymic: thinking of what is later to be written in letters or words. or subordinate to. . defi nitions are deliberately arranged so that prototypical meanings take priority. After all. To produce written material. Obviously. not the whole of it. or symbols on paper or another surface. We can see that in the way defi nitions are sequenced in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition – which is at least suggestive evidence. it might move from prototypical to peripheral along these lines: Prototypical: putting pen to paper in order to form letters or words. but "common. we would attempt to clump the senses in groups. words. and ideally the fi rst clump would be the most basic. which other senses are subsets of." "central. To trace or form letters. (2008) "Prototypical" is. for entries with a large number of senses. of course a technical term that may not match Kleinedler's description perfectly. As AHD editor Steve Kleinedler explained it to me. If the pattern were simple. Consider. but not always.) By most central.
Most people will never write an article or a book. tracing and forming letters). Indeed. More people write letters or e-mails than articles or books. Overall. words. or symbols. but must nonetheless reach some kind of accommodation. then. books. To compose a letter. The two prototypes are at odds. almost everyone writes letters and e-mails. derived from the noun writer. The fi rst movement occurs within the fi rst defi nition. It lists three things that are traced or formed in writing: letters. Forming letters or words is prototypical. The second shift away from the prototypical is slightly more complicated. But writing articles and books are typical of what a writer does. the accommodation is to give general priority to the pen-to-paper prototype over metonymic examples of writing. forming symbols less so. The second and third emphasize the contiguity of inscription and thought: People may write articles. the defi nitions honor a . and letters without ever touching a pen or a keyboard. In the arrangement of the intransitive defi nitions above. but then to give article and book writing priority over less writerly acts such as letter and e-mail writing. we often say that people are writing when actually they are dictating for later transcription or perhaps just thinking of what they plan to inscribe at another time. (American Heritage Dictionary 2006: 1986) There is a clear. In fact. writing on other surfaces is not. Writing e-mails and letters are common examples of to write. In one respect. But defi nitions two and three do not move from most common to least common. the arrangement of definitions seems predictable enough – from pen-to-paper prototype to metonymic defi nitions. The fi rst defi nition is about literal inscription (that is. A similar accommodation is made in the arrangement of the transitive defi nitions. writing on paper is prototypical. So what earns writing articles and books priority over less writerly acts such as letter and e-mail writing? It is the intrusion of a second prototype. though intricate. communicate by mail. progression from prototypical to peripheral.Why typical writers may not write prototypically 37 3. In the same way.
[Metonymic. Indeed. [Pento-paper prototype.] 5. To compose and set down. "to compose and set down. To express in writing. Churchill). write a prelude. [Pen. especially in literary or musical form: write a poem. To indicate. To form (letters. [Metonymic. draft: write a will.] 10. the metaphoric ones last. or symbols) on a surface such as paper with an instrument such as a pen. things are complicated. For example. though the guarantee is inscribed.38 The double bind of writer and to write straightforward arrangement: The pen-to-paper prototype is mentioned fi rst. words.] 6. But.] 8. [Metaphorical.] b. [Pen-to-paper prototype. [Pen-to-paper prototype. especially in literary or musical form" appears before more commonplace instances of writing such as writing a check or simply writing five pages. a.to-paper prototype. [Pen-to-paper prototype. "to compose or set down [in] … literary or musical form" appears before four items (defi nitions four through seven) that are more commonly done and witnessed – three of which are associated with the pen-to-paper prototype: 1. set down: write one's thoughts. Facial expressions are metaphorized as text.] .] 7. Guarantee is metaphorized as writing. [Metaphorical. Foreknowledge or authority is metaphorized as text. wrote five pages in an hour.] 3. To underwrite. To fi ll in or cover with writing: write a check. To form (letters or words) in cursive style. [Metaphorical. as an insurance policy. To spell: How do you write your name? [Pen-to-paper prototype. To ordain or prophesy: It was written that the empire would fall. To communicate by correspondence: wrote that she was planning to visit.] 9.] 4. To draw up in legal form.] 2. in the middle. mark: "Utter dejection was written on every face" (Winston S.
Why typical writers may not write prototypically 39
11. Computer science. To transfer or copy (information) from memory to a storage device or output device. [Metaphorical. No visible inscription. Symbols.]
(American Heritage Dictionary 2006: 1986; emphasis added.)
Why does defi nition three receive priority? Composing a poem or a prelude is not more common than writing a check or writing a letter (or, perhaps, an e-mail message). But, for people whom we call writers, writing a poem is more common, or at least more important, than writing checks and letters. Since prototypical writers are grouped with artists – including composers of music – defi nition three even mentions the peripheral act of composing music. Definition four seems, in a sense, out of order also. "To draw up in legal form" is surely a more specialized act than "to write five pages" or "to communicate by correspondence." On the other hand, it is very much the act of a literate writer, someone whose relationship with the written word is especially important and whose written words carry weight. That person may not be a writer per se. But, as I will discuss in more detail in Chapter 4, someone who draws up a will would no doubt be what is often called "a good writer." Of course, other dictionaries present defi nitions of to write in various orders. But not just any arrangement is possible. Imagine a dictionary that lists to prophesy as the fi rst defi nition of to write. Imagine a dictionary that begins with to compose computer code, lists after that to inscribe letters on paper, and only then mentions to compose in literary form. There is a limit to how flexible the relationship between the prototypes for writer and to write can be. Put simply: It is possible to put things in the wrong order. The double bind of competing prototypes is not deterministic. If the discourse "writes us," we are nonetheless not inert texts. Indeed, the figurative rhetoric of writing is as much about contradicting typical ideas as it is about recognizing them. After all, at my friend's urging, I called myself a writer; I made the assertion in spite of my misgivings. L. M. Hayes did not deny that she can be
40 The double bind of writer and to write
called a writer or a copywriter or a technical writer; she made an argument that justified one choice over another. Furthermore, as we will see in the next chapter, the question of what is typical or what terms fit is complicated by fundamental notions about writing expertise. We cannot navigate words like writer and to write without in some measure coming to terms with what it means to know how to write.
The figurative rhetoric of writing is fundamentally shaped by the relationship between two mid-level or basic categories: writer and to write. Each of these categories is graded so that prototypical category members are cognitively and rhetorically prominent. The prototype of writer is incompatible with and yet inseparable from the prototype of to write. Although it may seem that the prototype of to write is the simply the act of physical inscription, and that judgments about typicality can be made only in relation to that central example, we actually have to make more complex judgments because the complementary prototype of writer influences the verb to write. In the figurative rhetoric of writing, all of our everyday metaphors and metonymies are shaped fundamentally by persistent negotiation between the two prototypes.
3 Bind upon bind
The general-ability and the specific-expertise views of writing
Knowing how to express yourself in clear, concise, and correct written English is a key factor for success in the twenty-fi rst century. Writing with confidence and skill allows you to communicate your feelings, ideas, hopes, and fears. In this chapter, you'll explore why writing is so important, no matter who you are or what you do. Laurie Rozakis, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing
Each time we categorize writing at the basic level rather than above or below it, we have to ask ourselves fundamental questions about what it means to able to write: If you are a writer, does that mean you are an expert at writing everything – novels, biographies, product manuals, press releases? If you know how to write, does that mean you are equally competent to write term papers and screenplays? Or do writer and to write refer to something narrower? We encounter the same kinds of questions when we categorize texts. Some of us think that it is not possible, really, to write a book; it is only possible to write something more specific: a novel or a crime novel or, perhaps, a police procedural. Generally speaking, the more subordinate the category, the more specific – that is, nontransferable – the knowledge and skills. I have seen best-selling author Harlan Coben described as the "master of the soft-centered suburban thriller" (Wiegand 2007). A subordinate category indeed. And a very particular sort of writing expertise. I call these conflicting theories the general-ability view and the specific-expertise view. The tension between them is a persistent rhetorical problem in everyday discourse about writing. We simply cannot categorize writers and writing without calling these two views into conflict. Moreover, as we will see over the course of this book, we cannot make use of everyday metaphors and metonymies for writing without encountering them. 41
42 Bind upon bind
In the field of rhetoric and composition, proponents of "genre as social action" have made a point of embracing the specific-expertise view (e.g., Miller 1984; Swales 1990; Devitt 1993; Berkenkotter and Huckin 1995). For them, learning to write competently is a matter of developing genre knowledge in context, at the level of the sub-genre. They point out that writing cannot, in fact, occur at a general level; action is always fi ne-grained. Thus what matters are very particular kinds of texts and writing situations – particular genre knowledge. In keeping with that concern, genre theorists have studied particular kinds of texts in areas such as science (Bazerman 1988; Varghese and Abraham 2004), health care (Schryer 1993; Dunmire 2000; Berkenkotter 2001), engineering (Winsor 1999), tax accounting (Devitt 1991), higher education (Russell 1997; S. Smith 1997; Hyland 2003; Tardy 2003), city management (Wegner 2004), and the blogosphere (Miller and Shepherd 2004), to name just a few. The always-cited genre theorist Carolyn Miller is emphatic about what level of classification matters. Her approach to genre
insists that the "de facto" genres, the types we have names for in everyday language, tell us something theoretically important about discourse. To consider as potential genres such homely discourse as the letter of recommendation, the user manual, the progress report, the ransom note, the lecture, and the white paper, as well as the eulogy, the apologia, the inaugural, the public proceeding, and the sermon, is not to trivialize the study of genres; it is to take seriously the rhetoric in which we are immersed in the situations in which we fi nd ourselves.
(1984: 155, emphasis added)
Writing competently, she points out, is a matter of calling on our experience: To write expertly means to understand the recurring rhetorical situations in which ordinary genres are embedded. It follows that these situations and texts must be categorized somewhere below the basic level.
Berkenkotter and Huckin would prefer to shift the focus to more "localized genres" such as a "letter from a Utah bank promoting a new savings program" (14). though. they say." "inaugural"). essay. it is concerned with how one learns to write better: Is a general knowledge of writing the key? Or is learning to write better a matter of focusing on specific kinds of texts? In contrast to the scholarly discussion. is depicted in largely formal terms with only vague comments about content." as discussed in traditional writing textbooks. (1995: 14) Which is to say that the basic level is too basic to be useful to expert writers and to theories of expertise. and a constellation of . paper – are insufficient for a genre-based theory of writing expertise. Carol Berkenkotter and Thomas Huckin claim that traditional generic classifications are pitched at such a broad level of generality that they can describe only superficial parameters of form or content.Bind upon bind 43 By contrast. basic-level genres – the book. Perhaps they exaggerate to make a point. advocates of genre-associal-action see that as problematic. Teaching the business letter or the business report – or even the "good news letter" or the "progress report" – misleads us. But everyday discourse about writing is concerned with a similar conflict between the general-ability and specific-expertise views." "apologia. genre theory is part of a specialized discussion among writing researchers. Like the scholarly discussion. about the very nature of competent writing. letter." "progress report") nor esoteric (" eulogy. For example." "user manual. everyday discourse is also concerned about status: Am I a writer or not? When I claim that I can write. We have everyday names for them. memo. "the business letter. Of course. but they are neither modified ("letter of recommendation. to write. how far-reaching is that claim? Everyday discourse about writing persistently struggles with these conflicting theories of writing and thus creates bind upon bind each time it encounters writer. When basic-level genres are given prominence in popular textbooks.
Everyday tension between the generalability view and the specific-expertise view We might expect relationships among categories to be logical. the specific-expertise view seems to win out. At other times. and ads. To illustrate that multiplication of binds. their products. and their activities to operate on one level at a time. Yet that is often not the case. Similarly. For example. we may pair a subordinate-level noun with the basic-level verb to write simply because there is no subordinate-level verb available. So are people who write novels. the general-ability view seems to dominate. These matched sets are familiar: Novels are written by novelists. It is possible. Newspapers and magazines by reporters and journalists. of course. Even if we do not always pause to reflect on the ways we mix and match categorical levels. Grant writers write grant proposals. On the other hand. Journalists write articles. Grants by grant writers. our ordinary word choices draw us into the ongoing debate about writing expertise. Poems by poets. Technical writers usually produce technical documents. And so are people who write poems. But ordinary discourse about writing nonetheless builds in complications and contradictions that are useful to us when we want to assert one or another view about ourselves and about writing. or does not. imply. I will focus below on the prototype for writer and the breadth of skill that the prototype does. that some word choices are motivated merely by convenience.44 Bind upon bind related categories. and poets often compose poems. Ad copy by copywriters. we may pair subordinate-level nouns with superordinate verbs. When category terms match by level. in matched sets. our word choices have . Novelists write novels. grants. But everyday categories do not form a tidy system. Most of us rely on the classical or folk theory of categorization to some degree. Instead. it might seem logical for writers. People who write for newspapers and magazines are often named by the basic-level term writer. when different levels of categorization intermingle.
writing a magazine article about biker gangs is not appreciably different from writing a memo to a new marketing manager about muffler sales in Toledo (18). and a few Brontës. is to achieve something very particular. In Gardner's view. such as the one expressed by John Gardner in On Becoming a Novelist. Although the title of his book uses the word novelist. you face similar demands when you write a shopping list. the pitfalls are the same" (1999: 3). thesis. a Balzac. even by dint of hard work. at times. In Words Fail Me.The tension between views of writing-expertise 45 implications that are of a piece with a debate that is well elaborated and explicit. She is taking a stand against a well-known contrary view. a community newsletter. and writing a play is not so different from writing a magazine article on dry-cleaning methods or a speech on exotic pets (166). But. "The true artist's verbal sensitivity may well be different … " he explains. Patricia O'Conner admonishes. O'Conner is not simply describing the world as she sees it. a Ph. they have to know the same things that you do. even if you're just a beginning writer (5). and an e-mail giving directions to your house (35–36). equivocate internally.'" he says (1999: 1). "The honest answer is almost always. It is always in doubt whether or not. That debate is especially evident in the way advice books for writers vary from each other and. there's no mystery to writing well … whether your work ends up in a history professor's e-mail. 'God only knows. by which he means an artistic writer of good fiction. she insists. She insists again and again that writing is all one thing.D. Of course. in chapter titles such as "The Writer's Nature" and "The Writer's Training and Education. "from . "Contrary to popular opinion. or a best-selling novel." Gardner makes it clear that to be a writer. novelists are different from other kinds of writers because they have a special kind of linguistic sensitivity and unusual psychological characteristics. she does not deny that there is such a thing as a real writer – a Tolstoy. a Melville. an aspiring writer can succeed in becoming an actual writer. he uses writer as an interchangeable term – for example. a marketing report. For her.
the general-ability and the specific-expertise views both assume that writing ability has – more or less – a nested structure. he gives advice specifically applicable to the interview. 62–63). 19–20. as I learned in the course of my interviews. business writing. Nonetheless. A typical statement: "Of all the subjects available to you as a writer. "the best sports writers" (180). Indeed. But I do not want to characterize the conflict between the general-ability and specific-expertise views as simplistically polarized. For all the tension between them. and so on – an implicit acknowledgement that not all writers have identical skills and good English is not all you need to produce good texts. and humor. Gardner is squarely in the specific-expertise camp. sports writing. William Zinsser in his perennial best-seller On Writing Well. or to any uses … good English is your passport to wherever you need to go in your writing. arts writing. He often distinguishes between kinds of writers. Advice books frequently accommodate both the general-ability and the specific-expertise view.46 Bind upon bind the usual 'writer of good English'". science and technology writing. but to teach good English that can be put to those uses. is intelligent but not in the way of the mathematician or philosopher. too. newspaper columnists and magazine writers are often asked to write procedural manuals "on . People who can produce good texts in highly regarded genres such as novels and newspaper columns are assumed to be capable of writing less exalted texts. the memoir. But he begins with a broad assertion that all non-fiction is alike: "My purpose is not to teach good nonfiction or good journalism. Yet the theme of his book is what a "writer" needs to know. the one you know best is yourself" (133. "a technical writer" (149). He refers to "a journalist friend" (134). the travel article. "the memoir writer" (136). the novelist is observant in ways that others are not observant. advises only about writing non-fiction. emphasis added). with contending sides that can never fi nd common ground. and is daemonically compulsive – which distinguishes the novelist from the shortstory writer and the poet (3. your work and your life" (1998: xi).
writer implies an ability to write at a professional level in a wide variety of genres. writer implies broad writing abilities that they do not wish to claim.1 Summary of prototypes' intersections with theories of writing expertise. Prototypical Writer General-Ability View Prototypical writers such as novelists and journalists usually claim the title writer. Non-Prototypical Writer General-Ability View Some non-prototypical writing professionals such as technical writers and academics call themselves writers. Non-Prototypical Writer Specific-Expertise View Some writing professionals may reject the title writer. and neither are the reverse. the title implies an ability to write at a professional level in a wide variety of genres. It is a bid upward both in level of categorization and in prestige. For them. For them.The tension between views of writing-expertise 47 the side. Yet claims to broad expertise are not automatic. ." but no one asks technical writers to write newspaper columns or novels (though some do that on their own initiative). Table 3. The relationships between typicality of writers' prototypes and views of writing expertise are summarized in Table 3. For some.1. Prototypical Writer Specific-Expertise View Some prototypical writers call themselves writers but claim only to be able to write at a professional level in a specific genre or grouping of genres such as newspaper columns and articles or memoirs and fiction.
technical writers did not uniformly eschew the title writer. as might be expected. what my interviewees had in common was a patterned set of rhetorical concerns. technical writer. to be a writer. from my perspective – the pattern of responses did not closely align with job descriptions. Not only did they have well-considered opinions about how to categorize themselves. The responses to my questions were as various as the writing professionals themselves. He often used . Instead. I did not ask them which view they favored – general-ability or specific-expertise. how they prefer to describe the work they do. These people evinced a belief that they had a general ability to write. The question of what to call themselves hinged. the journalists and the memoirists. and what words they use to describe themselves – writer. M Hayes (2001) struggled with the word writer – just as I faced my own ambivalence about being called a writer – the people I interviewed took seriously the issue of what to call themselves. they often weighed carefully the question of how much or what kind of expertise to claim. At the same time. The person who drew the fi rmest connection between being a writer and the generality of a writer's expertise was Dirk Johnson. if ever. on whether or not they perceived themselves as prototypical. But it would be a mistake to draw lines too sharply. memoirist. Rather I asked open-ended questions about when they fi rst considered themselves. Interestingly – and unexpectedly. as were claims to a general writing expertise. journalist. Claims to the title writer were sometimes qualified. But all seemed to face the same rhetorical bind. The writing professionals most comfortable calling themselves a writer were. and so on. in part. Just as L.48 Bind upon bind Writing professionals' negotiations of writer When I interviewed writers for this project. an experienced journalist who has written for the New York Times and Newsweek and has published two non-fiction books. For instance. but their choice of titles and descriptors also seemed to matter to them.
writing is writing. Plainly. Eric Zorn. "I tell my students that. I'm still kind of waiting for that in some ways. called himself a "commercial writer. Johnson was pleasantly humble about the breadth of his skills. and websites." Like all of the people I spoke with. "Absolutely. for Steinberg. He takes on projects ranging from stories for Brides Magazine and Catholic Chicago to ads for steel alloys. they did not agree uniformly that all writing is the same. a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. nobody is required to read what they write. technical manuals. and therefore it needs to be engaging and entertaining and accessible. but has left fiction behind. it has a voice. no one said.Writing professionals' negotiations of writer 49 phrases such as "when I fi rst became a writer" and "as a writer. "Every piece of writing in my view is a story of some sort. from writing a feature article for a national magazine to writing a letter. "I can write anything! Just try me!") However. was drawn as a young person to all kinds of writing. he was resolute in claiming that all writing is the same. (In fact. I asked him if he really wants his students to believe that all writing is alike – that writing a non-fiction book is the same as writing a letter or an e-mail message. it has some sense of drama either in the form of conflict or a challenge." pointing out that he expects everything he writes to be published somewhere. Johnson is currently teaching writing for the first time in his life." He went on. Although all of them seemed comfortable having substantial writing ability attributed to them." Yet when asked a direct question about whether he calls himself a writer." where the pace is fast and the product ephemeral. it has a protagonist." Likewise. he hesitated: "Well. He also emphasized the differences . a compelling voice early on. other than me. He emphasized the differences in audiences and expectations for "a newspaper guy. It has an opening scene. Other journalists also referred to themselves as writers in the course of conversation. a problem to be overcome. a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times and author of several non-fiction books. Neil Steinberg. though not necessarily in a newspaper or a book." he said.
It was just the act of getting thoughts down on paper. it's a hard voice to get back. for him. it's very tough to get at the truth of something. you're used to really kind of getting to the bottom of a problem and researching something." When he was asked to write a personal reflection for a newsletter about his work running a food pantry for the homeless. he pointed out that "being a reporter gets in the way" because once you get "above reporting traffic accidents or something. Nobody anticipated that it was the kind of writing that you do in books. he sees important distinctions between different kinds of writing. It was sitting in front of a piece of paper or in front of a typewriter and writing. For him. But he sees major differences in each writing situation." That distinction remains for her. writing in-house newsletters for a consulting firm "was a horrible way to live" because "if you're a journalist. you know." Freelance journalist Robert Sharoff was drawn in his early years to all varieties of writing: "It was just writing. he found that "once you get out of the habit of writing personally." In writing about complex situations. Like others who routinely referred to themselves as a writer. She laughed about it in our interview." Certainly. She thinks of her early journal and letter writing as "free" and thus different from "when you're writing . she was drawn to all kinds of writing early in her life. Sharoff's working life attests to a general writing expertise: He has sought and accepted work from writing for a consulting fi rm to writing feature stories for the New York Times. each presents distinct challenges." But these days. for which he claims not to have "the gift. she brought pieces of her writing. when Register was in grade school and was asked to share her hobby.50 Bind upon bind in skills required for newspaper writing versus fiction writing. The memoirist Cheri Register handled the expertise question by making distinctions among her own expertises. and I don't think I distinguished between fiction and nonfiction at that point. Indeed. saying that people wanted to know: "Did I have the people I wrote letters to send the letters back? And that's what writing was – was writing letters.
from a job title to a title that connotes admiration. and I don't put what I do with novelists. the conflict between the writerly prototype and breadth of skill was especially difficult for them. But I don't associate what I do with journalists. So that kind of writing is totally different from when somebody says. different from other types. they write for a newspaper or a magazine." Among the other writing professionals I interviewed – three technical writers. a historian. they bid upward from subordinate category to the basic level. He demurred when I asked him whether he calls himself a writer as. and they write feature articles or some such thing or write trade magazine articles. It was not obvious that any of them would identify with prototypical writers (though three of them did). And it was not obvious that their writing expertise went beyond the requirements of their job (though. a freelance website developer and trade magazine writer. A person who says. Second.Writing professionals' negotiations of writer 51 as a writer. and a United Methodist bishop – there was more variety about claiming the title writer. they seemed to be bidding upward – in two senses: First. I want something to come of this. "Oh. again. such as from technical writer to writer. He fi rmly took the specific-expertise view – at least until he reached the very end of his response: If [people] say. When they did claim the title writer. because everyday discourse provides them with alternative titles. they bid upward in prestige. Perhaps for that reason. say. Russell Friend is a longtime technical writer and a past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication." immediately in my mind I go to. That is not wholly surprising. "I write novels" – that brings something else to mind. He explained that technical writing is a certain type of writing. "I'm a journalist. this is my work." Just something totally different comes to mind. three of them did claim a general writing expertise). I think those are vastly different . a journalist would. "I'm a technical writer or technical communicator. You know.
Partly because Bohlin had been an admirer of Ernest Hemingway. took a contrasting approach. after graduating. Another experienced technical writer. Unlike Friend. It is hard to imagine someone being more reluctant to group himself with those who are typically called writers." he said. . "I don't think I would have had those writing skills. Peter Bohlin. claiming the title writer and then backing off just slightly. in other words. Although he took evident pride in his work. unmodified. Bohlin studied psychology and. Friend refused to bid upward. and descriptions" – to be concise." "If I had gone right out of college and tried to do the same thing. He distinguished his knowledge and skills from those of journalists and writers of fiction. a feeling of association with prototypical writers remains with him – both because he sees his current work as a continuation of his original intent to work as a writer and because he endorses the general-ability view. And for well-articulated reasons." That small gesture is another kind of bid – a highly qualified recognition that the general-ability view is a possibility. who studied technical writing in college. prepared him for a technical writing career because. At the same time. worked to become a novelist." His novel writing. because [as a novelist] I was working at improving my writing. he offset his well-elaborated specific-expertise viewpoint with an acknowledgement of the general-ability view – that we might say he does write short stories and novels "in a certain way. Never tried to write a short story. he was able to write without "all kinds of fun adjectives. writing is a transferable skill. He observed during our interview that when he began his technical writing career he "had real writing skills to bring to the business world. Never tried to write a novel. as he sees it.52 Bind upon bind kinds of writing which I have almost no educational background in and nearly no experience trying to do. Yet I suppose you could say I'm writing short stories and novels in a certain way. stories. Although he did not achieve commercial success writing fiction.
But for Bohlin. one that reinforced his connection to the prototype: "I'll put technical writer if there's a long enough line. that he could one day write another novel. but I won't say instructional designer.Writing professionals' negotiations of writer 53 When I asked him what he calls himself professionally. such as interviewing and managing information technology – because for him writing is his main skill. I won't say all the other things I could say. and occasionally takes on technical manuals. His magazine writing has been successful because of a persona that he developed for trade articles. given the time. writes for trade magazines. I'm going to say writer. and they give me a small little spot to write it down. I won't say consultant. Sean O'Leary began with the aim of writing novels and has turned to writing other things." Bohlin calls himself a writer – even though he complements his writing with a variety of other skills. the general-ability view was evident: "Even now I still think of myself as a writer. The columnist Eric Zorn calls himself a writer. He commented that making "a living as a writer has [not] diminished that skill and in some ways it's made it better because I've learned to write a lot of different styles. His technical writing has been successful because of his ability to be "a prose-producing machine. yet claims only to know how to write one genre especially well. all kinds of writing must be subsumed under an encompassing ability so that he can closely associate himself – as a technical writer – with the center of the category. But it cannot be made without endorsing the general-ability view. But what he has is a collection of skills that amount to a general ability to write. the one without which his work would be impossible. I've ." I followed up. He now develops websites. he explains. That upward bid may be motivated partly by a desire to be associated with a widely respected title. If somebody asks me what I do. His skills are varied. Others make a similar bid." Yet he could imagine. "You don't put down technical writer?" That elicited only a reluctant hedge. He is comfortably prototypical.
and it exposed him to charges of heresy (ultimately dropped). The writing professionals who most vigorously rejected the word writer and. Defi nitely. As she put it. Betsy Maaks. who began as a technical writer in the 1980s after completing a BA in French. Worobec did not budge. He told me that he wrote it because of a growing conviction that progressive voices in the church needed to be heard. It's a little different than just general writing but I mean good English is good English. rejected the general-ability view were the historian Christine Worobec and the United Methodist bishop.54 Bind upon bind learned to write more cleanly. even though her books on Russia's common people have won her such honors as the Heldt Prize. no professor at a research university fails to recognize the importance of scholarly publication – what seemed to her more central to her work was investigation. Worobec refused to call herself a writer. He confi rmed that his work has always required him to do substantial writing every week. likewise. even writers of fiction. Bishop Sprague's book Affirmations of a Dissenter may well constitute the defi ning moment of his career." One kind of writing feeds the ability to do another kind of writing. newsletter articles." She commented that she enjoys reading and discussing historical novels. In our interview." she answered. I pointed out. most writers. sees little difference between her work and the work of other kinds of writers: "I think the technical part is strictly a matter of vocabulary and maybe some structure. "Defi nitely. Yet he would never call himself a writer and does not claim writing expertise beyond the limits of his vocation. including sermons." Of course. must be researchers as well as writers. . Joseph Sprague. her conversation was punctuated with the phrase "as an historian. and I asked whether or not she feels she is in the same business as the people who write those books. what drew her to history was "the detective work." Although she did not underestimate the role of writing in her work – certainly. but not so much putting it down.
the College Board's (2005a. particularly at college students. and logical presentation. the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). but they also confi rmed the power of the rhetorical bind that talking about writers and writing places us in. But." For Sprague and Worobec. 2005b) shifting rhetoric. The College Board administers the most widely taken college entrance examination in the United States. the quandary usually presented by writer seemed to be no quandary at all. When the College Board addresses parents and writing teachers. Consider. the generalability view. Yet I would suggest the following: Sprague and Worobec may have escaped the rub between the title writer and its implied claim to broad writing ability. But when it addresses students. Students as "writers" Current composition theory leans strongly toward the specific-expertise view. for all his writing experience. Students are encouraged persistently – insistently – to bid upward. then. precisely because of the writerly prototype and the general ability it often implies. Indeed. .Students as "writers" 55 and more. however. for instance. and even given many colleagues' encouraging him to write more. the general-ability view seems to be especially useful in selling the idea of writing to students. That may be partly because not everyone who hopes to have the ear of students is committed to writing researchers' prevailing conclusions. it emphasizes qualities of writing that pertain most directly to academic writing and thus academic success – correctness. Yet that theoretical leaning does not govern much of the public rhetoric of writing that is aimed at students. nor claimed a general writing ability. argumentative soundness. sophisticated vocabulary and thought. they were especially careful not be ensnared. Neither was indifferent about the word writer or about the extent of their writing abilities. They neither claimed to be writers. Perhaps more to the point. it emphasizes the writerly prototype and. along with that. he found the idea of his writing a book to be "audacious.
I would observe – as a strong thesis statement: "If I took the floor to speak. not only is writing all one thing. he says. I had better be like a good book" (38). and each kept my light on late into the night. Indeed. between the story of a failed steam engine designer and a fairy tale about a blind acrobat. (38) These books. Nonetheless. there to convince students that school writing is not an end in itself. Marcus refuses to differentiate prototypical writers from other people who write. Novelist Ben Marcus testifies that to become a writer is to develop a special relationship with the big truths – to experience and question the essence of life. In short. Each was fascinating. As a young person. Although his enthusiasm for writing draws strongly on the writerly prototype. surprising. Marcus recognizes and responds to the specific-expertise view. he aspired to be a writer because writing was for me the truest way to be complete as a person. He says of the childhood books that awakened him to the power of language: I saw no categorical difference then between a theory of allergies and a book of creation myths. and more than that it was a chance to discover what I did not yet know … [to] grapple with the hardest questions: Why are we alive? What sort of people should we be? What will happen to us now? (2004: 39). I had better have something good to say. but dinner-time conversation is part and parcel of the writing enterprise.56 Bind upon bind Posted for student consumption are testimonials from capital-W writers. Why . For Marcus. where good conversation had the same qualities – not coincidentally. something engaging. provided him with something interesting to say at his parents' dinner table. insightful. his endorsement of the general-ability view is elaborate and forceful.
But we should not see composition studies as entirely univocal.Students as "writers" 57 else would he bother to assert so explicitly that there is no difference "between a theory of allergies and a book of creation myths. a large body of research has shown rather persuasively that writing is fundamentally a situated act: to write as an engineer or a professor or a lawyer requires that one become. and "at the end of four years. it is something you must decide for yourself. I was a writer" (12). She refers to her "bubbling writerly hopes" and "the desire to be a writer – a desire that keeps you up at night and makes you wake. True. 13). Chambers's awareness of audience is palpable. though they may find all of those college writing assignments mere drudgery. Writing is all one thing. Veronica Chambers recalls a childhood love of books that led to writing journalism. and novels. Bursting with enthusiasm. In college. through . no fi reworks or literary wordplay" (13). then present it to the world: 'I am a writer!' As scary as that may be" (11–12). they lead to a prototypical writer's sensibility – a sensibility founded on skills that are taught in school. Yet. though she speaks of writer in breathlessly exalted terms. panting" (2004: 12. she credits her success to her workaday college writing experiences. memoirs. That is a far cry from the dominant claim in composition research: that all writing is connected to particular genres and distinct discourse communities. she claims to be "still the same writer I was as a student: simple. As she works to conflate her experience as a writer with her student experience. between the story of a failed steam engine designer and a fairy tale about a blind acrobat"? Also posted on the College Board site. She reassures students that. after offering several anecdotes about the way professional experience dramatically changed her and her writing. When she began writing professionally. she wrote and rewrote twenty papers monthly. At the end of her essay. she elevates the idea of becoming a writer. she realized "that my dream of becoming a writer was not going to be placed on my head like a crown: 'You are now a writer!' But rather.
or a lawyer. maybe not the pedants). distinct from yet related to the capitalized title of Writer. for instance. Terms such as student geographer. Also beholden to the general-ability view are the words compositionists often use to describe students of writing: student writers. student violinist are nearly unheard of – we call these people geography students. at least with respect to grammar and mechanics. picayune grammar instruction in the college writing classroom: Published contemporary writers do all sorts of things students are taught to avoid. an engineer." and Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle never uses quotations around his characters' dialogue. But what's at issue in most college writing classrooms are genres such as the research paper. adult writers. Consider. that students should be held to the same (lax) standards as prizewinning authors only makes sense if we have in mind. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer E.58 Bind upon bind apprenticeship. student historian. The modified terms may have difficulty bidding up to the term writer. as Dunn and Lindblom do. the general-ability view. To say. in the same way the term technical writer does not comfortably bid upward. most English teachers. even the dreariest pedants. Patricia Dunn and Kenneth Lindblom's argument against hyper-traditional. would probably allow sentence fragments in a work of fiction. young writers. even if we consider it a polysemous term. and . But writer. indeed. They might even permit a stylistic absence of quotation marks (well. Other areas of study do not usually emphasize the similarity between students and professionals. and. But the broad discourse of composition studies makes room for the general-ability view also. It suggests that there is a continuum from student writer to Writer. simply writers. Annie Proulx's novel The Shipping News is chock full of what any grammar handbook would label as "fragments. (2003: 45) Of course. cannot escape its resonance. history students. a professor.
and about ordinary expectations that are satisfied or thwarted. they can bid up to the unmodified title writer. The way we treat writer and to write informs the way we make sense of all of our everyday figures for writing.Summary 59 violin students. the category terms writer and to write are complicated by competing theories of writing expertise: the general-ability view and the specific-expertise view. Creating Writers Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment and Instruction (Allyn and Bacon). However. If someone says that a writer is clear or colorful or musical – that expression is a product of the utterer's accumulated judgments about who is and is not a writer (or a certain kind of writer). then. writer usually implies the general-ability view. Simon & Schuster's Handbook for Writers. when non-prototypical writers (such as technical writers) adopt the general-ability view. The Writer's World: Paragraphs and Essays (Prentice Hall). the rhetorical assertion implied by the titles of writing guides such as Writer's Repertoire (Longman). Summary In addition to having competing prototypes. In general. In that sense. Consider. about the limits of that writer's expertise. . A Writer's Reference (Bedford/St. Martins). Figures are licensed by the ways we conceptualize the world. writing expertise is seen as nested: prototypical writers are assumed to have all of the abilities of non-prototypical writers and more.
and the author writer Dysgraphia is a form of agraphia. Trade Is A Game. the good writer. Ridgley. Trade Is War. And they are 60 . On Writing If we hope to understand our important metaphors and metonymies for writing. we also have to understand the stories that license these figures. Dysgraphia: Why Johnny Can't Write America's universities don't teach college kids how to write – at least. Trade Is A Journey). Diane Walton Cavey. Fifty-percent of their business is not cigarette related business because they discovered that their market can no longer expand. National Review Online While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer. dedication. and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one.. As I found in my earlier research on metaphors in the discourse of trade and business. Philip Morris. it is possible. and timely help. to make a good writer out of a merely competent one. a good example. not how to write very well. Stephen King. When I asked a series of focus-group participants to discuss whether or not certain metaphors seemed true to them (e. with lots of hard work. Stanley K. For instance. metaphors are integrally associated with stories that provide rhetorical support – that make a given metaphor seem either true or false. It is seen in children who are slow to develop writing skills and in adults who acquire the syndrome due to brain injury. one participant believed Markets Are Containers to be a credible metaphor and justified his judgment this way: I'll give you a. Markets Are Containers.4 Three licensing stories The literate inscriber. the total inability to write. they persistently justified their responses by supplying stories of how trade works or how the world works.g.
and thus it made the container metaphor seem not just possible to imagine but factually right. the story that attaches to writer includes many elements that have nothing whatsoever to do with writing. akin to what Jean-François Lyotard (1979) calls "grand narratives. But the conventional or "grand" narrative is particularly important because conventional narratives can exert immense rhetorical influence. originality. Some may be personal and idiosyncratic. people who favor the metaphor Corporations Are (Tyrannical) Governments support that choice of figures with a now-conventional story of approaching economic dystopia (Eubanks 2005. (Eubanks 2000: 117–18) For him. sentence structure. Indeed. They surely operate tacitly. for example. yet indispensable to crucial judgments we make about the world. nonetheless. Such narrative reasoning commonly supports metaphors of trade. Moreover. many companies who are expanding into other areas – I don't know. they can be so well known and commonly believed that they can operate tacitly – hardly noticed at all. that the people we call writers are simply those who have the most skill at writing – the best command of vocabulary. when we examine them closely. Others are widely shared as conventional wisdom. But they are familiar. Licensing stories take more than one form. Logic might tell us. hundreds of them. 2008). textual arrangement. that story presented a generalizable example of how markets had fi xed boundaries. even though they are often made explicit. I argue here that three conventional stories of how writing works license our most common writing metaphors and metonymies. they have many features that might seem illogical. So they are trying to get away from it. You will fi nd many.Three licensing stories 61 trying to get away from the businesses that are more lean. For instance. In fact. These stories are told in different ways. including current metaphors of globalization. though. ." Either can justify a choice of figures.
she might pursue a challenging career. the good-writer story – the story of writing as an educated person. Imagine this: You have a teenaged daughter who writes well in school – who gets As on most high-school essays. he gets at best Bs – and often Cs! Something must be wrong. We usually assume that abilities possessed by a literate inscriber (someone who reads and writes at a basic level) are also possessed by a good writer (an educated person who reads and writes correctly and logically). Having done well on school essays does not preclude such a narrative twist. The three stories are related in the following ways: (1) They are hierarchical and largely nested. We usually assume further that an author writer possesses all of the abilities expected of an inscriber and a good writer. some elements of the inscriber and good-writer stories attenuate at the . But imagine your surprise if your daughter were to write a well-regarded experimental novel or an award-winning screenplay. where her ability with words is an advantage. But on school essays. they shape our narrative expectations. But it does not strongly suggest it either.62 Three licensing stories The stories are as follows: the literate-inscriber story– the story of basic written literacy. Our stories of writing tell us that writing abilities are hierarchically related so that higherlevel ability subsumes lower-level ability. After that. and the author-writer story – the story we associate with the prototypical writer. None of this would be surprising. Imagine another scenario: You have a son who at the age of 17 wins a fiction contest and has a short story published in a magazine. She might score well on her college entrance examinations and then make good grades at a good college. That suggests a path that your daughter's life might follow. (2) Even though the stories are largely nested. These assumptions are not disconnected factual propositions.
The familiar authorial story does not say that author writers cannot reason logically. . Three stories does sound awfully convenient – I cannot deny it. they rely on two fundamental metonymies: Writing Is Thought and Writing Is Identity. and makes different use of. cannot write. It is fair to ask whether more than three stories of writing are worth considering. Indeed. of course. and the author writer do seem to be especially notable in everyday discourse about writing. as cans. good-writer. Each story emphasizes a different aspect of. He argues that we should pay attention to thou shalt not rather than it is not because it makes us notice action – or. If we neglected to consider these three stories in one way or another. drama (1966: 9–13. good writing is a story of mastering logical thought and clear and correct expression. In particular.Three licensing stories 63 highest level. the good writer. only presences. 419–75). One way that we can identify these stories of writing with some certainty is to borrow an idea from Kenneth Burke. stories of the literate inscriber. and they may also license metaphors and metonymies. we might think of the three stories as three "cannots" that imply what is most valued in positive form. these metonymies. but it does permit logic to be at times a less prominent story element for author writers than for mere good writers. whereas author writing is often a story of expressing (or even channeling) non-logical intuition. Nonetheless. In a similar way. and author-writer stories by examining instances of cannot – that is. we can discover what makes up the inscriber. Burke points out that the negative is particularly revealing: It is a unique function of symbolic thought because there are no absences in nature. (3) Stories do license metaphors and metonymies. other familiar stories of writing. but they also are themselves motivated by figures. we would miss a great deal. For instance. There are. to use the Burkean word.
or symbols on a substrate. More typically. Even the most spare defi nitions of what it means to write rely on the Writing Is Thought metonymy. The inscriber story comprises not just the literal act of inscribing but also the metonymy Writing Is Thought. we say of people who are not literate inscribers that they do not know how to write. In fact. that they cannot write. We could also say. we have conventional ways of telling can't stories in abbreviated form. if someone cannot write that does not mean merely that the person cannot physically put words. someone who cannot perform acts of literate inscription does not know how to read or write.64 Three licensing stories the literate-inscriber story Stories of can't write are at least as familiar as stories of can write. does that mean that they cannot punctuate correctly or that they have no particular gift for elegant phrases? Or does it mean that they can write a simple letter well enough but not acceptable copy for a website? Cannot write leaves open all of those questions and more. scholarly defi nitions of writing systems make the metonymy clear. In US English. If we tell them in unconventional ways. For example. we could say of people who are not literate inscribers that they are not writers. we risk confusing their meaning or implications. it means that the person does not have underlying knowledge about writing. That is certainly true of the can't story applied to someone who is unable to write well enough to be called more than minimally literate. We pair read and write because. to be what I call a literate inscriber. If someone cannot write. In The World's Writing Systems. But that phrase can suggest a broader notion of to write. More importantly. letters. And even that misses the mark somewhat. Peter T. If we spoke like Martians. Daniels says that writing is "a system of more or less permanent marks used to represent an utterance in such a way that it can be recovered more or less exactly without the . in the literate-inscriber story. without sounding terribly non-idiomatic. does that mean that they cannot fill out a form or write an application letter – or just that they cannot do it well? If they cannot do it well.
unlike dictionary defi nitions. in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. offers: "a system of recording language by means of visible or tactile marks which relate in a systematic way to units of speech. in the family of the individual and in society. Quoting "The Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Florian Coulmas. Like the most basic dictionary defi nition of to write. Reading has historically been considered the sole key to literacy – even the basis of morality (for example. speak in English. for example alphabetic vs. Writing has historically been the junior partner in reading and writing. write. it adds. But spare defi nitions of writing systems do not do justice to the wide-ranging implications of the Writing Is Thought metonymy. as: to communicate relatively specific ideas by means of permanent visible marks" (1996: 26). which together make written symbols sufficient without the inscriber's verbal interpretation. at a fi rst approximation. reading the Bible). "To 'write' might be defi ned. But. they emphasize further that inscribers and readers share a language and a system of inscription. these definitions focus on physical inscription and representation of language in certain units (such as letters or words). compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job. The distinction is not trivial. logographic writing" (1996: 555). Somewhat more expansively. Our ordinary language acknowledges that metonymy whenever we say that someone does not know how to read or write.The literate-inscriber story 65 intervention of the utterer" (1996: 3). "This is a broader view of literacy than just an individual's ability to read. prefaces his theoretical discussion with. Inscribing is a metonymy for knowledge." it calls literacy "an individual's ability to read. junior because reading has been more . the more traditional concept of literacy" (National Institute for Literacy 2006). in Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Writing entails not just the ability to inscribe letters and words but also that the writer understands what those words mean in a social context. Consider the way the National Institute for Literacy website (2006) describes literacy. Geoffrey Sampson." To emphasize the point.
to law. a literate inscriber can claim at least the following: • • To produce texts that are perhaps not flawless but that are not socially embarrassing. • To be entitled to the self-respect that derives. though not necessarily eloquently. to news media. To be literate in such a world means not just reading insightfully but also producing rhetorically sophisticated texts that take part in a text-driven world (2005). Having the skills I have listed means living a certain kind . It suggests a readingand-writing literacy possessed by those who read at so-called grade level. As Deborah Brandt (1995. "This is what is so politically disenfranchising about present-day illiteracy: one's world is almost totally organized by a system in which one can have no real say" (1995: 652). and thoughts. partly. Inventing ideas to be inscribed may be largely irrelevant to the inscriber's public writing life. who can record in writing items. the literate-inscriber story exceeds what is often meant by functional literacy. As writing technologies proliferate and the so-called knowledge economy takes hold. who can produce more or less correct texts. though. to contracts. To be able to write things down – make lists. where writing fits into society. This ability indicates that the inscriber has acquired a basic education. More specifically. events. That relationship is rapidly changing. Yet the literate-inscriber story extends beyond a list of skills or abilities. compose texts such as personal letters or e-mail messages. For all of these reasons. 2005) points out. who understand. writing well enough to fill out forms is hardly sufficient for making a comfortable life. at least in a rudimentary way. • To be able to record his or her thoughts. from the ability to secure employment that requires the ability to read and write. People now need to understand how the written word shapes all aspects of life from instructions. fill out forms.66 Three licensing stories crucial to functioning well.
orthographic. Part of that story is. Knowing how to read and write is a success story. Writing Is Thought has to do with matters of judgment. To put it another way. and it therefore has little salience in the story. and raising social and economic expectations for one's children. concealment and shame. rising socially and economically. if only a certain kind of success. whether or not good writing is on the decline in the white-collar workplace and in society. of course. All of this knowledge is assumed for the good writer. And that mapping triggers yet another metonymy: Writing Is Identity. more self-evidently rhetorical than the literate-inscriber story because good writing is so often a matter of open debate – what counts as good writing. activities that are part and parcel of phrases such as can read and write and does not know how to read and write. Good writers not only record their thoughts in writing. Writing Is Thought and Writing Is Identity indicate a range of activities that flow from literacy. Together. whether or not high schools and colleges teach writing well enough. A literate person possesses linguistic.The good-writer story 67 of life – one that includes the possibility of avoiding poverty. they demonstrate in writing their ability . For the good writer. and textual-cultural knowledge. The good-writer story is distinguished from the literate-inscriber story because of a difference in the way it configures the Writing Is Thought and Writing Is Identity metonymies. the can't read and write story evokes a far-reaching mapping of the Writing Is Knowledge metonymy. the writing–thought metonymy is about knowledge that the inscriber either possesses or does not. The phrase does not know how to read and write suggests a story of a deficiency that keeps a non-inscriber from fully participating in economic and social life. perhaps. For the inscriber writer. and whether or not good writing will continue to matter in an increasingly oral and electronic world. the good-writer story The good-writer story is. Its opposite suggests failure far beyond failing to learn how to decipher or inscribe words on a page.
Part of this cannot write story is about dedication to learning. It is a double-edged sword. College students who cannot think have nothing to write about: Hence they cannot write. But someone who goes to college is expected to be a good writer. in the essay section of the College Board's SAT. In turn. A college graduate who is a poor writer is an educational failure and a cause for complaint. logical. Nowhere has it been said more memorably than by Newsweek. the College . which famously published a cover article titled "Why Johnny can't write" (Sheils 1975). Conversely.68 Three licensing stories to think. Of course. logical. We say of these failures she is not a good writer. But when it comes to expectations of college and college-educated writers. he is not a very good writer. Little or no blame is put on a poor college writer's inability to fi nd inspiration or want of innate ability. of course. Whereas literate inscribers are expected only to be able to record thoughts. it has a well-understood meaning. Cannot write is more than an incidental phrase in the discussion of college writing. Usually. as the ability to write a grammatically correct. good writing is supposed to be a byproduct of collegepreparatory and undergraduate education. Someone can. To the contrary. if not alarm. the Writing Is Identity metonymy demands a different self-image and societal place. and original essays cannot write: Hence there is a strong suspicion that they cannot think. and somewhat original argumentative essay (College Board 2005a). cannot write might seem to allow for a good deal of definitional leeway. good writers are expected to have thoughts worthy of inscription. college students who cannot produce clear. We do not say does not know how to read and write. Critics of writing instruction in high school and college echo the phrase again and again. and it becomes an issue for debate chiefly in its absence. The SAT defi nes good writing narrowly. Consider the response to recent worries about the poor quality of writing among entering college students. and in egregious cases he or she cannot write or does not know how to write. be a good writer without going to college.
Some fi nd the SAT's conception of good writing too limited and its standards too lax. 15) . and tested. (2005a. (sec.. perhaps it's worth asking whether practice in reflexively taking a position on any potentially polarizing issue is what aspiring college students – or the rest of us – need most. for her. improve sentences. persistence or ability?"). "What is more important to success. but they do not substantially disagree with the SAT's defi nition of what the aim of college writing should be. emphasis added) In other words.'' as the College Board's National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges has pronounced. and that improvement has two components: better mechanics and better thought. The multiple-choice questions reveal how well students use standard written English. But she does not challenge the SAT's general parameters. The multiple-choice questions will test students' ability to identify sentence errors.The good-writer story 69 Board's (2005a) story casts good writing as a matter of academic effort – the mastery of particular knowledge that can be taught. the SAT supports the objective of improving student writing. is whether or not the SAT sufficiently measures good thinking.g. author and magazine editor Ann Hulbert (2005) questions the SAT's reductive either-or essay prompts (e. learned. 6. bolstering their chances for academic success in college. Consider its description of why the SAT essay section is important and what it measures: The addition of the writing section reinforces the importance of writing skills throughout a student's education and supports the academic achievement of all students. and improve paragraphs. The essay measures the student's skill in developing a point of view on an issue. For example. The question. Hulbert writes: But if the goal of ''better writing'' is ''improved thinking.
using reasoning and evidence based on their own experiences. and so on – all things far more valuable than superficial features such as length. and a vapid emulation of an authentic argument. MIT testing expert Les Perelman points out the uncanny correlation between length and score on the SAT's 2005 scoring samples. revision would give students the chance to strengthen their thesis statement. the essence of good writing" (2005b. he does not challenge what should constitute good college writing. Presumably. In a similar vein. add relevant and convincing support. emphasis added) . The College Board's response leaves the question of what makes for good writing untouched: "In writing. emphasis added). quantity does not necessarily mean quality. Still. readings. noting that longer essays usually score high and yet may contain howlingly absurd factual errors (Winerip 2005). emphasis added). He simply believes that speedy writing and speedy scoring fail to show who writes well and who doesn't. the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) says that "good writing is rewriting" (2005. In fact. as we are all aware. textual sophistication. (2005a. the ability to communicate a complex idea clearly in as few words as possible is. and worthwhile. Then they must develop that point of view. thought. possibly original. for some. Complex thought. vocabulary. He says in a National Public Radio interview that "the main factor that differentiates good writers from bad writers is the ability to go back and revise" (2005. Indeed. emphasis added).70 Three licensing stories From a slightly different perspective. or observations to support their ideas. correct factual errors. all sides seem to have a common defi nition of good writing – the writing expected of a well-educated person – that involves some combination of grammatical-mechanical correctness. forming their own individual perspective on the topic. Clear expression. The College Board's rubric is nothing if not familiar: Students must fi rst think critically about the issue presented in the essay assignment.
With the possible exception of "interpreting obscure and allusive texts. Like literate inscribers. people who think clearly also write clearly. and even arguing a point of view with a certain amount of eloquence" (2000: 44). or mechanical errors." these are the things that they believe Johnny cannot do.The good-writer story 71 Thousands upon thousands of high-school and college papers are graded according to similar standards every school year: Evidence of critical thinking. strong thesis. I'm a pretty good writer" (Holmes 2005: 1." when critics demand to know "why Johnny can't write. author writers may have exceptionally creative. despite a nearly complete absence of instruction in the freshman English course he took in 1964. luckily for them. seem to understand what the standard is and what it is called. well-constructed sentences and paragraphs. One high-school senior remarks of the SAT essay section. ample support. Other kinds of thinking are less important. conducting and incorporating research into my writing. nor does he mean that he can create texts that are the work of an author writer. [the essay is] probably going to help me. At the other end of the spectrum. Jasper Neel sums it up well. and to attend to details – also display those qualities in their writing. few grammatical. and people whose minds are disciplined by education – which teaches them to be logical. The good-writer story depends on the Writing Is Thought metonymy. reading and interpreting obscure and allusive texts. He writes that. emphasis added). but that sort of operational thinking is assumed – relegated to the background – in the good-writer story. to know and respect facts. clear. . people who have complex ideas also write complex texts. when it was all said and done he "felt comfortable formulating a thesis. crafting sentences. According to the good-writer story. marshalling evidence. Many students. "If anything. good writers must think in order to write (how else can someone put meaningful marks on a page?). I doubt he means that he can merely inscribe with some measure of correctness. but it limits its scope to a certain kind of thought. usage.
Plainly enough. For some. correct grammar is commonly seen as a threshold requirement for acceptable workplace writing (Beason 2001). to put it mildly. many can gather information in the library but are not "capable of turning that into a real paper with a thesis and an argument" (Bartlett 2003: A39). most often their inability to construct the sort of lengthy. She is not surprised that students who are encouraged "to let their deepest selves loose on the page and not to worry about syntax. and multiculturalist writing teachers for not insisting on "clear. sophisticated research papers required in upper-division courses" because. logic. MacDonald snipes that writing professors may overlook grammar and usage errors "but employers are clearly not as generous" (1995: 13). on the other. creative thought can be. The good-writer story has an important economic dimension. thoughts. logical prose" (1995: 3). deconstructionist. as a writing specialist at Princeton explains. It is a safe bet that Princeton prefers standard edited English.72 Three licensing stories even chaotic. But that kind of thinking is not required of good writers. Indeed. MacDonald fears that many college students are simply not good writers and. Contemptuous as MacDonald's style may be. In her jeremiad against contemporary writing pedagogy – unoriginally titled "Why Johnny can't write" – Heather MacDonald berates process. too. Patricia Dunn and Kenneth Lindblom (2003) note . The Chronicle of Higher Education reported in 2003 that many professors in Ivy League universities "cite a host of writing-related shortcomings among students. Many discussions of college writing instruction assume that instruction fails when it does not lead to skills that employers fi nd acceptable. On the one hand. or form have trouble adjusting to their other classes. too much emphasis on creativity and self-expression is the very reason that Johnny cannot write. fi nds loftier writing goals beside the point." where professors may "insist on numerous references to the text and correct English prose" (7). she is not wrong about what is ordinarily expected of good writers. unappreciated.
who majored in French as an undergraduate. Really logical thinking. When I asked Betsy Maaks. they cannot get good jobs.The good-writer story 73 the grammar–jobs connection and observe that seemingly all nonEnglish teachers believe that grammar should be a major portion of the writing curriculum. I asked him what it is people who cannot write cannot do: They're lacking some basic use of the language – the vocabulary. . and I think the French background I have lends itself to that. The usual reason given for valuing grammatical correctness in the workplace – in addition to presentability – is that it promotes logic and clarity. French grammar is very logical. employers do need people who can think clearly and thus express themselves clearly – and perhaps the other way around. rather he strongly recommended using the active voice – which he says forces the writer to clearly understand the subject at hand and." Similarly. and you want to tell the user something about this screen or the prompt on the screen. If you don't have some of those basic tools. They don't seem to be able to envision what their completed work will look like. and you're in a process. technical writer Pete Bohlin links grammar. If people cannot write. therefore. I think. what's going to happen next for the user. too. What's your target? What do you want this thing to look like? … If you've got a screen. logical text. about her main ability as a technical writer. mechanics. he did not elaborate on imagining what might be an appropriate text or the user's situation. you have to be thinking about what came before. she said. you can't put yourself in the head of the user when running a software procedure. When I asked Bohlin his main advice for aspiring technical writers. some of those things. "I bring really clear thinking. and other basic linguistic knowledge with the ability to create a usable. Naturally. to write clearly about it. and then the screen shows up. sentence structure. in particular.
the good writers that critics wish for should be able to claim at least the following: • To be able to produce not just grammatical sentences and texts but also reflexive knowledge of grammatical. arguments about them. To sum up. The literate inscriber is seen as deficient by comparison and is encouraged to aspire to being a good writer – in fact. good writing is both assumed and can be. • • • To have a respectably large vocabulary and not misuse words. That is. To be able to present complicated ideas in a logical order and make sound. • To be able to compose clear. and economically useful knowledge – is the way up. they achieve high social status that only highly literate people can achieve. Just as important as the specific skills and knowledge that good writers possess is a host of things associated with good writing by metonymy. For author writers. social. author writers are presumed to . mechanical. and they have cultural sophistication that goes hand-in-hand with good writing and its corollary. in a sense. sophisticated sentences and paragraphs. they have social influence that proceeds from good writing.74 Three licensing stories Such good writers are what colleges are expected to produce: People who can think well (Writing Is Thought). somewhat original. To have strong learning and analytical skills. Some good writers may produce graceful prose but that is less important to being a good writer than clarity and accuracy. and stylistic correctness. repellant. both directly and indirectly. may be ridiculed if he or she does not aspire to be a good writer. Good writing – a metonymy for academic. good thinking. The good-writer story is related to the author-writer story in the opposite way. Good writers pursue careers (rather than merely have jobs). To be a good writer is also to be not just a literate inscriber. and people who are well educated (Writing Is Identity).
three executives of the Princeton Review purport to grade possible responses to typical SAT essay prompts from three canonical authors – and the Unabomber. Shakespeare – even worse: 2 out of 6. I have heard it said about John Grisham and Stephen King. Don DeLillo. that the author in question is not a good writer. So much for good writing. and Susan Sontag. (He could probably do it dead. But some of the attractions of the good-writer story can become pejoratives in the author-writer story – plodding prose qualities such as clarity (at the expense of inventiveness). But Ted Kaczynski scores a perfect 6. Most often. linear logic. and Gertrude Stein a dismal 1 out 6. About Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer.The author-writer story 75 be good writers if they so choose. In that sense. they reinforce their nested relationship. Of course. 2004). and in bad good writing a preference for polysyllabic utterances over short words. usually. not Swarthmore – let alone the College Board. Shakespeare could produce a perfect 6 if he wanted to! He could do it in his sleep. But even as the Princeton Review executives distance the author-writer story from the good-writer story. In the article. The relationship between good writers and author writers is illustrated well in an Atlantic Monthly article called "Would Shakespeare get into Swarthmore?" (Katzman et al. About E. The author-writer story Author writers are associated with perhaps the strongest negations of all.) But why would he want to? It is Shakespeare who sets the highest standards of writing. can't write is the perennial negative. Hemingway scores an embarrassing 3 out of 6. Annie Proulx. One is the familiar carping phrase terrible writer. . This disparagement does not mean. obsessive fact-spouting. which is applied at least as often to commercial and critical successes as it is to so-called failed writers. it means that the author is not capable of achieving an ineffable quality – of grace or mood or insight – that makes his or her writing truly admirable.
This splendid kind of writing always remains difficult to achieve because to write well is to explore oneself deeply. of course. But real writing seemed to Goldberg "not within my ken" (1). There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer … To do writing practice means to deal ultimately with your whole life" (3). author writers ask of themselves more than mastery of a set of skills. We are supposed to understand. for her. writing next to her autograph. Goldberg describes her early self as "a goody two shoes" who "learned commas. is to overcome the cannot that places the possibility of writing beyond one's wildest dreams. A scene from a mystery I happened to read encapsulates this point well: An established writer signs an autograph for a young girl who aspires to write and calls her "the writer I've heard so much about.76 Three licensing stories Yet the cannot write that is applied to established writers may be less revealing than the cannot that aspiring writers often experience: the part of the author-writer story that tells us that people cannot simply choose to become a writer." to which the embarrassed girl replies with the negation "just poems mostly. To become a writer. But her narrative of writing is nonetheless conventional. In the standard narrative. She was a good writer." The established author nonetheless encourages the dream. To write as an author means to . that this must sound impossible to the young girl – just as it sounded impossible once to Natalie Goldberg. colons. Goldberg says that "learning to write is not a linear process. semicolons" and "wrote compositions with clear sentences that were dull and boring" (1986: 1). that some kind of calling or talent or life experience is required. "Someday you'll be signing a book for me" (Krueger 2001: 113–14). author of Writing Down the Bones. it will take you everyplace" (3). It only became possible for her when her Zen master encouraged her to make writing her Zen practice because "if you go deep enough in writing. Perhaps Goldberg is especially inclined toward mysticism and mystery and that affects the way she discusses what it means to become a writer.
though it can be nurtured. author writers are given the familiar poetic license that permits them to break all of the rules good writers. the author writer does inscribe. an author can be said to have written something even if he or she did not compose any of the words that make up the text. Indeed. The literate-inscriber and good-writer identities are available to most diligent and relatively intelligent people. To put it another way. is more complex and is often said to be mysterious in origin. Author writers are often depicted with pen in hand. But the author-writer story is marked not so much by the imaginative quality of the writer's thoughts as by the kind of person the writer imagines him. and to a less rigorous standard literate inscribers. but the means of inscription is irrelevant. The author-writer identity. In some imaginative genres. but those skills are not sine qua non as they are with good writers. typewriter on table. generally speaking. Actual inscription is not writing itself but rather a metonymy for the mental activity that is actual writing – a kind of thinking performed only by author writers. The author may just envision a plot or a concept – as with the film credit story by. dramatic scenes. poetic themes. In fact. though. For example. or laptop on lap. . author writers are. as is even the ability to inscribe. are expected to follow. writing is profoundly figurative. Placed in the foreground is a complex of writerly traits – perhaps quirks – that are associated with authorial writing. and the writing–thought metonymy juxtaposes the author's physically inscribed words with the writer's ideas. expected to be able to spell and punctuate.The author-writer story 77 develop a range of professional habits and personal characteristics that lead one to produce high-quality writing. More often.or herself to be. in the author-writer story. those ideas are imaginative – story plots. Many times. Joseph Heller dictated Something Happened into a small tape recorder. Henry James his later books to an amanuensis. the author-writer story recasts Writing Is Thought and Writing Is Identity so that the skills and knowledge associated with the inscriber and the good writer are placed far in the background.
These commonplaces are many and familiar. To justify my own view of myself in my life. Because an angel dictated to me … To act out antisocial behavior for which I would have been punished in real life … To experiment with new forms of perception. Because the story took hold . To make money so I could sneer at those who formerly sneered at me. Margaret Atwood has compiled an impressive list of them – in answer to the question What causes you to write? Here is a highly abridged version: To record the world as it is. To attract the love of any woman at all. and relations are present in varying degrees. so that some but not all of a collection of elements. Because to create is human. To show the bastards. qualities. To make money so my children could have shoes. Because I knew I had to keep writing or else I would die … To reward the virtuous and punish the guilty. To set down the past before it is all forgotten … To satisfy my desire for revenge.78 Three licensing stories No hard-and-fast set of characteristics defi nes the author writer. Because to create is Godlike. because I couldn't be "a writer" unless I actually did some writing. or – the Marquis de Sade defense. Rather author writers are related by what Ludwig Wittgenstein calls family resemblance. Because I was possessed. To create a recreational boudoir so the reader could go into it and have fun (translated from a Czech newspaper). To attract the love of a beautiful man … Graphomania. To attract the love of a beautiful woman. Author writers' self-descriptions include commonplaces about writers and writing that are notably absent from those of the good writers that I interviewed. Because I hated the idea of having a job … To justify my failures in school. Perhaps the best sense we can get of the author-writer story comes from what author writers say about themselves and from the advice some of them give to aspiring writers. Because I was driven to do it by some force outside my control. used by ironists – vice versa … To thumb my nose at Death. Compulsive logorrhea. To make myself appear more interesting than I actually was.
praise of the universe or to win a lover (though one of my interviewees did mention that writing seemed a good way to "get girls"). (2002: xx–xxii) Atwood's collection. powerful. Some of those cited by Atwood did not show up persistently in my sampling – for instance. and I sat down and wrote a novel … It was just terrible. and funnier.A moment of becoming 79 of me and wouldn't let me go (the Ancient Mariner defense) … To speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. but there was a struggle going on inside me to fi nd some sort of creative or spiritual or aesthetic . writing a poem in her head and knowing because of the electricity of the experience that she'd become a writer (2002: 14). automatic. though pithier. a strong desire to express thoughts in writing. I classify the commonplace elements of the author-writer story as follows: a moment of becoming. he won a Story magazine contest. and an exceptional love of reading and words. Like Atwood. Not all moments of becoming are so magical as the one Margaret Atwood describes – as a child. To expose appalling wrongs or atrocities … To speak for the dead. But I never questioned any longer whether I was started as a writer" (2003: 7).") Anne Lamott's calling came early: Throughout my childhood I believed that what I thought about was different from what other kids thought about. came relatively late. I collected commonplaces from both print sources and conversations. While in a Harvard writing class. for instance. a commitment to truth-telling. non-logical writing experiences. and the significance of that was unmistakable for him: "That fortified me. A moment of becoming The author writer often has little doubt that he or she either was always meant to become a writer or reached a clear turning point at which writer became his or her primary identity. is very similar to mine. It was not necessarily more profound. Norman Mailer's turning point. (Notice the cannot buried in "any longer.
About the artsiest thing you could be was a teacher so … I still don't exactly know why. reinforced by later success. part attraction. real estate. I knew I was going to be a writer back in. and poets. Robert Sharoff. I knew what I wanted to do from a very early age. It's a little spooky really … I don't feel like I wandered around in the wilderness trying to figure out what I wanted to do. after she earned a Ph. Those people didn't exist in the town I grew up in. (1994: xx) The force of that moment may have grown in her memory. and other subjects for the New York Times. fourth grade. In her childhood. though she acknowledges having been a writer in the making for many years. I have no idea where that comes from because it's not like I come from a family of artists and writers. in our interview: Well. playwrights. architecture. like. But again. But even post hoc certainty is part of the author writer's sense of calling or becoming. with some perplexity. Such callings are not the exclusive province of fiction writers. Memoirist Cheri Register's moment of becoming arrived late. part career direction. a journalist who has written about music. I came to believe that I might be able to put a pencil in my hand and make something magical happen. she and a friend exchanged letters and wondered whether they would one day become great authors because it seemed odd for two working-class girls to be so interested in writing.D. He recalled. and numerous other publications. Chicago Magazine. But it is not a considered decision to attain a skill or to write a particular thing – not the self-discipline and school-based study expected of good writers. But .80 Three licensing stories way of seeing the world and organizing it in my head … And there was a moment during my junior year in high school when I began to believe that I could do what other writers were doing. told me that he understood very early that he was and would always be a writer. in Scandinavian languages. What he describes is part impulse.
The moment of becoming. versus the impact a writer of books may have. describe unexplained moments of creativity. for her." Eric Zorn spoke to me about the kind of impact a columnist may have. had always been. I've got to do my work now. Cheri Register. As she described it. harbingers of a future vocation. she became seriously ill partway into the project. for example. satisfies that impulse by speaking for others who are not likely to write their own memoirs. She planned to write a biography and then to base a novel on that work. As a young girl she wrote frequently in diaries and journals. "There would be times when I would have to just sit down and write something because it was on my mind. Those who become writers often describe early writing experiences that struck them as significant or. in sharp contrast to good writers.A strong desire to express thoughts in writing 81 Register made a decision to become a writer in earnest after she left a teaching position. Zorn began . the sense of always having been a writer comes with certain inclinations and experiences. at least in some measure." When she became a columnist for her high-school newspaper. a strong need to record their thoughts. was a matter of going public with what. she felt a strong sense of mission: The feeling of health was so powerful because I had just been so debilitated that I thought this is it. When she recovered. and a desire to be heard. A strong desire to express thoughts in writing Author writers. I got this sense of mortality – that time was going to run out. That expressive impulse does not always lead to fiction writing. perhaps. Of course. and what I did was write a book about the chronic illness that I had just come through … That's when I became to the rest of the world a writer. she found an "outlet" for the writing impulse and enjoyed the fact that it "won me both a lot of approval and a lot of disapproval. However.
And Channel 11 will have me on to do Chicago Tonight. It's like poking at a rubber surface. Freelancer Sean O'Leary turned to writing at Cornell. They certainly always popped into my mind. and then it comes back out again. "I don't recall anyone ever saying 'You should be a writer." But I also know that the next day it's gone and there's something new. five years. But these college-age attractions came on the heels of childhood experiences of spontaneous creativity and an accompanying desire to record his creations. There's a saying that writers will trade a thousand readers today for a hundred readers in a year and ten readers in ten years for one reader in a hundred years. that makes a difference. there is something that people will be referring to in a year." O'Leary told me." He described his college experience in similar terms: "There was a need to share my thoughts with other people. and I mean there is the compulsion to write a story once you think of a story. compared to what. say. where he romanticized Richard Farina and Thomas Pynchon. As a columnist. he is able to speak to an attentive and sometimes large audience. To do something that means something. "so it was natural.' But I learned to read very early. in ten years. that I began to write stories. and I'll know that all over the city people will be saying "that jerk wrote this" or "did you see that" or "it's high time someone said that. in a hundred years. something he sees as a fundamental desire of any writer: On any given day. With someone who writes books. I may write a column that's being talked about on the WGN radio and WLS radio." . and I liked stories.82 Three licensing stories with the aim of writing novels and learned along the way that he was more interested in writing about reality. I think. So there's that desire to leave something behind. The story itself or the idea of the story popped into my mind and I felt compelled to put it on paper. your impact is huge. and it'll be right in the center of what's going on. a novelist might expect. but it does not satisfy a desire to leave a body of work behind. You make the impression. and you move on.
As Neil Steinberg put it to me." Powerful. Sean O'Leary says. almost physical. They are breathing deeply." Cheri Register described it as "a euphoric rush" when her writing is going well. Their handwriting is looser. more generous. And yet it's my language that is producing this but with its own force. that can be worthy of recording and worthy of being heard. in keeping with O'Leary's emphasis on physicality. Natalie Goldberg can tell when her writing students "break through" because "their teeth are rattling around in their mouth. sometimes not to write "feels like drowning. no longer tied to their gums. experience of writing – something akin to what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has called "flow" (1990). author writers sometimes report a strong. "Especially when I would have those experiences of essays just writing themselves … There is this language that is sort of independent of my effort talking to me inside my head.Powerful writing experiences 83 The desire to express things in writing manifests itself in different ways. But author writers persistently tell the story of ideas that come to them with force. non-logical writing experiences It makes sense that someone who identifies him." She added. It's like a rush … I feel it in my chest. their hearts might be pounding hard or aching.or herself as a writer would describe the experience of writing differently from someone whose writing is ancillary to another activity. Indeed. "If I'm writing creatively or sometimes even if I'm not writing creatively. that she believes that such exhilarating writing produces endorphins – so that after a good day of writing she sometimes dances around the house. automatic. Related to this physical exhilaration is a feeling of being guided by an unconscious force or an inner voice for which the . and their bodies are relaxed enough to run for miles" (1986: 50). there almost is an emotional high that comes over you when you're hitting the right words and you get a good metaphor and you can go with it … It's almost a physical thing.
and was invading my brain" (36). They get hammered at night and in the morning their heads are full of pain and adverbs. Writes Keillor: Okay. During the fi nal stages of The Deer Park. 35 kids a class. or assembling parts in a factory. says Mailer. 1. anguish writ large on their marshmallow faces. but the book had its own logic. (2006: sec. This near-automatic writing has a familiar corollary: the author writer's block. at last. This kind of exhilaration is anti-logical. it subsides and allows the automatic writing to begin again. let me say this once and get it off my chest and never mention it again. Some – such as Garrison Keillor – fi nd stories of the writerly struggle a bit much.84 Three licensing stories writer is merely a transcriber. I have had it with writers who talk about how painful and harrowing and exhausting and almost impossible it is for them to put words on paper and how they pace a hole in the carpet. five classes a day. It's the purest form of arrogance: Lest you don't notice what a brilliant artist I am. He remarks. or planting alfalfa. and so I did not need close reason" (38). To which I say: Get a job. 5) . which "wafts up from the soul or unconscious" (1994: 112). Anne Lamott urges aspiring writers to "stop the chattering of the rational mind" so that they can trust intuition. "My powers of logic became weaker each day. Somewhat less dramatically. "It would be close to say the book had come alive. and feel lucky to have written an entire sentence or two by the end of the day. let me tell you how I agonize over my work. Try teaching 8th-grade English. Others may have difficulty writing. and then tell us about suffering. but so would golf be. Writing is hard for them. from September to June. The fact of the matter is that the people who struggle the most with writing are drunks. Norman Mailer describes writing the last draft of The Deer Park in a kind of ecstasy steered by "the navigator of my unconscious" so that "the work became exhilarating in its clarity" (2003: 36). but the author writer's block is heroic – a badge of honor worn until.
Of course. This does not come without irony. Certain inconsequential fudges may well be common. Lamott speaks most often about fiction. especially when someone he's interviewing is less than straightforward: I occasionally get on my high horse enough where I don't mind considering myself an instrument of justice. I have more than once heard magazine and newspaper writers chuckle about stories for which they made up incidental "quotes" or "facts. and left out important contextual information or slanted their view of it – all in the name of good storytelling. And you know . Writers of fiction tell the truth by making up falsehoods. but there is nonetheless a serious commitment among writers to "get at" the truth. real writing is "writing from a place of insight and simplicity and caring about the truth" (225). A commitment to truth-telling If author writers tell the story of an unconscious sense or an inner voice that guides their writing.A commitment to truth-telling 85 Some parts of the author-writer story are easier to listen to than others. Steinberg 2003: A20). Sean O'Leary sees truth-telling as an integral part of his magazine writing. this is supposed to be kept within certain bounds. And though good manners prevents me from saying who and when. more rational sources. The egregious example of Rick Bragg comes to mind: a Pulitzer-Prize winner who pretended in stories for the New York Times to be a fi rst-hand witness to events actually seen only by parttime stringers (J. that may be because it seems to them that the inner voice is more truthful than more conscious." represented themselves as more involved than they actually were. Lamott advocates breaking "that habit of doubting the voice that was telling quite clearly what was really going on" (1994: 111). For her. But she and others link writing to truth of both emotional and literal varieties. One indication of the author writer's commitment to truth-telling is the widespread condemnation that Bragg received.
" You see. Eric Zorn emphasizes that all good writing is well informed. An exceptional identification with writing and writers It almost goes without saying that those whose identity is intertwined with literate activity would express a love of books. He loathed it … He would say. authors. and my father hated it. "Well. There's a fair amount of ego. He explained: Oh this book was a disaster. and I've made some pretty good enemies over the years.86 Three licensing stories what? Some of it's just self-righteousness. Neil Steinberg thinks that what separates worthwhile writing from failed attempts is that ability to be unsparingly truthful. In a memoir about his father. you did send me the bill. he speaks of "opening people's eyes" and "making the world a better place. Some of it is that I just clearly think that the readers have a right to not be lied to. There's my perverse pleasure in making the assholes pay. but that's so petty. you can't write. too. Some talked about favorite writers and books. he was especially candid and admits to having some regrets – yet insists that the candidness was essential. "But. And I mean there's some good old Presbyterian sense of fair play here. "Yes. Dad. Some recalled in childhood needing to apologize for their large vocabularies. which he describes as a sort of courage. if you're trying to look good. . You sent me a bill. "Why did you have to have that story about me sending you the bill for the cab to the airport?" I said." He'd say. He cites extensive research he does for his column. Dad. Some remember reading extensively and attentively. and language. it's such a moment. research that may never show up in the final written product." He aims not just to have all the facts but to make a truthful argument." And I'd say. as indeed my interviewees did and writers who publish about writing do. On matters such as the death penalty and gay rights. But he also aims for more consequential truth-telling.
Writers are different from the rest of us. she worried that "my father [a writer] was going to turn into a bum like some of his writer friends. I drink too much but I'm not an alcoholic. People . Sean O'Leary joked about the reason he'd become a freelance writer rather than sticking with writing novels: I'm a very good writer but not a great writer. the identification can be nearly perverse. a free spirit. That aligned well with the reverence Lamott's family placed on books and great writers. They portray writers in a particular societal and psychological posture.Exceptional identification with writing and writers 87 But identification with writing and writers entails more than just admiration for a writer's superior abilities to think and to arrange words – in fact. a free spirit" (xv). That's the way writers are. Later on. for that matter. illustrates that possibility. And that's because I'm only kind of depressed. At the same time. I'm not an extreme enough case to make me a great writer. On the other hand. Lamott wanted "to be a writer when I grew up – to be artistic. in Bird by Bird. Yet they all have something to do with the author-writer story." and a tendency to be depressed. "Coolest possible father. I'm able to survive fairly well in society and have a great family. she noticed that her father's writer friends had begun to commit suicide at an alarming rate (xxii). perhaps suicidal – these things do not indicate an especially "ideal" ideal. one of her friends thought she had "the coolest possible father: a writer" (1994: xvii). I just don't have all those terrible characteristics." "artistic. Anne Lamott's description of her early life. When Lamott was young. the ability to write at all." partly because of her dismay when her father wrote a magazine article about an afternoon he had spent "with a bunch of other writers" during which "they had all been drinking lots of red wine and smoking marijuana" (xv). Most people who care about writing can name favorite writers whose work is a key to their love of reading and writing. None of them have directly to do with the ability to write a particular kind of text or." "drinking lots of red wine and smoking marijuana. So I guess I can give up a bestseller for that.
Schaeffer explains that. and there'll be some poor schlub suffering through his life. and you just see him trying to get through his day and complaining his complaints … I've thought maybe that will be me. he became enamored with the Roman satirist Juvenal. and people will read it and take heart. and they'll print a really nice book with some picture of me on the cover. Sean O'Leary has an equally intense feeling about his literary heroes. Achilles became the imaginative universal of bravery. The newspaper columnist Neil Steinberg told me that when he was young he intended to be F. gives it recognizable form. "All attributes of Divinity were identified with Jove. Men who were brave were Achilles. according to Vico. He recalled deciding to become a writer while he was 1 In ordinary parlance. ." Yet. and Henry Miller. and centurions are stepping on his feet. and he's getting hit in the head with casts and stuff. We do. Maybe 500 years from now I'll live on some database. He's walking around … kvetching about the crowds in Rome. admired the risk-taking and commitment to art of writers like Hemingway. people who claimed the title writer had no difficulty naming important writers who had influenced them and explaining the texture of that influence. Scott Fitzgerald. When he grew older. but actually him. we use the word "icon" almost as loosely as we use "famous" or "genius. of course.88 Three licensing stories who call themselves writers have especially intense feelings about their literary heroes. not like Achilles. we might call these writers "cultural icons. The metaphor constructs a figure that embodies primal experience. and experience emotions. so much so that he sometimes imagines himself as a latter-day version: He's this bitter 40ish guy in Rome." Vico's term "imaginative universal" suggests what is missing in the word icon but may exceed what is needed. lately. John Schaeffer defi nes Vico's imaginative universal as a means by which the primitive mind conceptualizes sensory experience: "The giants [primitive people] make noises. the technical communicator who prefers the unmodified title of writer. and returns those qualities to humans because of their association with the mythic figure. But Jove is created when the Giants transfer (metapherein) those human qualities to the sky and see it as a vast body making angry noises" (1990: 88).1 In my interviews. hear thunder. Clever men were Odysseus" (89). Peter Bohlin. Samuel Beckett. But even iconic writers are not quite gods or even demigods. Likewise.
Yet. He died on the way home from the party celebrating the publication of his book – which. He's no Shakespeare is a stock phrase. for humorists. You sense the tragedy of your own life. Cheri Register said she has a particular interest in how writers describe their processes and illustrated that with a story about a chance encounter with Joyce Carol Oates: I know I've read that Joyce Carol Oates writes whole novels in her head before she puts them down. even though he came to reject his early idealization of writers. But the iconic writer still is not quite a case of a Vichian imaginative universal because the writer is not beyond judgment – not an unchallenged Jove who casts lightning across the sky but a revered Hemingway or Shakespeare whose work is read and criticized.Exceptional identification with writing and writers 89 an undergraduate English major at Cornell. is very compelling to a teenager. of course. came to believe that they hindered his own writing (especially the influence of Pynchon). We say that an up-and-coming writer is the new or heir to Dickens. the metaphor is nearly always Mark Twain. made a best seller out of a damn average novel. a decision that hinged generally on his admiration for what he called the "Cornellian" writers: I was at the age where all the romantic visions of the writers' lives were very compelling. You can't get any more romantic than that. Metaphorizing works in the negative. and that tragedy is very compelling because you don't realize how tragic it can be … Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut had just been thrown out of Cornell when I got there. She knows what's coming make selected writers into universal metaphors. I'm not really being facetious … I think the idea of being a solitary figure in a loft. also. Faulkner. Fitzgerald. . really. he said without hesitation that these literary heroes had shaped his attitude toward writing – shaped his life. and Richard Farina had written Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me and had just died on his motorcycle. O'Leary ultimately outgrew these enthusiasms and. with the requisite amount of suffering that accompanies it. in fact. and it seemed like a good way to get women.
with logical presentation. Experiences a transformation into a writer. notes. Has a powerful commitment to truthtelling in writing.90 Three licensing stories Table 4. Produces sound arguments. letters. e-mail messages. Has a strong desire for written expression. but with poetic license and with exceptional style. mood. Produces complex. with sophisticated style. forms. Can record his or her thoughts. Produces essays and workplace genres with clear. Good writer Produces correct grammar mechanics. sophisticated prose and factual accuracy. factual accuracy depends on genre. Has strong learning and analytical skills. though not always eloquently. Literate inscriber Produces minimally correct grammar and mechanics. . compelling texts with exemplary style. or insight. non-logical composition. Sometimes produces logical texts and sound arguments but may produce non-standard texts. Produces lists.1 Summary of the three major narratives of writing. Author writer Produces usually correct grammar and mechanics. often experiences automatic. Usually has strong research and analytical skills.
these narratives influence what metaphors and metonymies we use to think about writing and what we make of the metaphors we use. Oates could not possibly write a book in her head. And I thought.1). "She's writing now. and more than an embodiment of cultural expectations. We expect author . In my own judgment. Summary Everyday discourse includes three major stories of writing: the literate-inscriber. Something almost supernatural pervades the story of this encounter. and the author-writer stories (as summarized in Table 4. the good-writer. Good writer Meets the standards of degree holders and is acceptable to employers. Author writer Has an exceptional love of reading and words. Together with persistent tension between prototypes of writer and to write and an ongoing debate between the general-ability and specific-expertise views of writing. Oates is more than just a good example of a writer. The stories have a largely nested relationship. I was going to go on the elevator and Joyce Carol Oates walked off the elevator and smacked right into me and had this glazed look in her eyes and didn't say a word – just walked on. though she may think about her books in excruciating detail before writing them. And why not. it seems." For Register. on the paper. Any of us might be fascinated – transfi xed – if we could catch a glimpse of Beethoven composing or da Vinci painting. One time at the Modern Language Association. more than just a metonymy for a social system in which writers operate.Summary 91 Literate inscriber Is entitled to self-respect in a literate society. But what seemed to fascinate Register was not so much the impossible myth itself but the fi rsthand glimpse of a writer in the moment of creating.
We expect good writers to have all of the capabilities of literate inscribers.92 Three licensing stories writers to have all of the capabilities of good writers and literate inscribers. however. For example. That nesting is imperfect. Some elements attenuate at higher levels. the author-writer narrative does not emphasize logic to the same degree as the good-writer narrative does. .
that you might have been doing it all your life if you had only had the luck to think of it. and voice A complex metonymy The content of writing is speech. the very idea of a core self that underlies an authentic voice has come to be seen. You will never know how much enjoyment you have lost until you get to dictating your autobiography. & how well & compactly & sequentially it constructs itself. just as the written word is the content of print. "What is the content of speech?. & what a dewy & breezy & woodsy freshness it has. it has seemed – encourage students to fi nd their voices and express themselves. many writing scholars now take issue with expressivists who – quite reasonably. And you'll be astonished (& charmed) to see how like talk it is. 93 . & labor & fuss & the other artificialities! Mrs. they are merits. in a letter to William Dean Howells Writing scholarship is on the horns of a dilemma with respect to the figure of voice." it is necessary to say. Indeed. There are little slips here & there. but these are not blemishes. but I have not talked a sentence yet that she has wanted altered. little inexactnesses. Understanding Media Dear 'Owells – I've struck it! And I will give it away – to you. and print is the content of the telegraph. then you will realize. "It is an actual process of thought. their removal would take away the naturalness of the flow & banish the very thing – the nameless something – which differentiates real narrative from artificial narrative & makes the one so vastly better than the other – the subtle something which makes good talk so much better than the best imitation of it that can be done with a pen. As the field turns increasingly away from the idea of the romantic individual and works to complicate notions of the authentic voice." Marshall McLuhan. Clemens is an exacting critic. & how real it sounds. talk. & what a darling & and worshipful absence of the signs of starch. which is in itself nonverbal. & many desertions of a thought before the end of it has been reached. with a pang. & flat iron.5 Writing as transcription. Mark Twain. If it is asked.
as naïve or even deceptive. He argues: When it comes to our own writing. talk. then. Darsie Bowden calls a voice a "mythology" that flies in the face of the multiple and contingent ways that voices and selves are actually constructed. for Elbow. we can scarcely avoid noticing whether the words we put down on the page feel like our words – whether they sound like our voice or one of our owned voices. multiple and dynamic discourses do not create theoretical problems that make the figure of voice unsustainable but rather create psychological problems for the writer to resolve. Arguments of that kind are compelling indeed – so compelling that even the best-known academic proponent of voice. supervision. But. and even if we accord the writer the power of language selection. Yet even here … we write best if we learn to move flexibly back and forth between on the one hand using and . and management – assuming that a person is ever entirely free to select the language she wants – ultimately writing down words and sentences cannot free written language from the influence of previous uses and histories. But these patterns themselves are collocations of other patterns (of words or discourses). and voice by many. She reasons that a unitary voice is not possible. such as preponderance of latinate vocabulary. interacting profusion of discourses to which Bakhtin alerted us: Given the stronger centrifugal or disruptive forces [stronger than unifying forces] that proliferate meaning and sense. acknowledges that we cannot operate well with too simple an understanding of voice and self. (1999: 71) She goes on to explain that writing is subject to further disruption as readers interpret texts and that those interpretations are inevitably influenced by "the social aspect of linguistic interaction" (71). given the intersecting. or periodic sentences. 2007). could there still be such a thing as a consistent voice? Writers certainly have some control in their selection of linguistic patterns.94 Writing as transcription. colloquialisms. Peter Elbow (1994.
and resistance" (1994: 242). how do we encourage socially responsible writing? Doesn't that make even the writing most of us want to encourage seem self-deluding? Randall Freisinger has grappled with that paradox as well as anyone. He argues that "teachers of writing need to reexamine and revise lessons of … Authentic Voice pedagogy and seek to incorporate them into the increasingly influential assumptions of postmodernism" so that students can understand "how to locate themselves within the complex network of surrounding institutions and culture. If we reject authentic voices and selves. Elbow's line of reasoning appeals to common sense – but without really refuting postmodern critiques of voice. and fairly formal talk at colloquia. postmodernism. he contends that writers can nonetheless express themselves authentically and powerfully: "Of course most of us have more than one voice that feels like us: we may feel just as natural with a sports team. He notes that few terms are more "problematic. self. we say. and if we temper that by writing as "ventriloquists. If we only "feel" that something is our voice. We speak of it in the ordinary discourse of writing." isn't it misleading to talk about fi nding your voice? But the problem is just as thorny on the other side of the question. talk. and voice 95 celebrating something we feel as our own voice. People who do a lot of writing surely understand what Elbow is talking about. But just because we have multiple voices that sound like ourselves … " (27). intimate casual talk with family. That was my academic voice. not the real me. and ideologically loaded than voice. and on the other hand operating as though we are nothing but ventriloquists playfully using and adapting and working against an array of voices we fi nd around us. (1994: 30) Though he acknowledges the range and fluidity of discourses. we need to help students develop voices without making them choose between two dubious ideas: that their voices either spring whole from deep inside themselves or that their . defi nitionally complex." In other words.Writing as transcription.
voice is associated with the three major narratives – the literate inscriber. yet it is something crucial that every writer ought to nurture. and the author writer. I want to reconsider voice in those two ways. and voice voices are mere artifacts of roiling. Thus voice is not a unitary figure that is open to a single critique. it would be better to ask questions such as these: When people evoke the figure of voice. voice varies more and in different ways than has been evident to current commentators because it is not the kind of figure it is assumed to be. Second. Everyday figures have multiple shapes. Rather than begin by questioning whether or not there is such a thing as an authentic voice. the good writer. power-packed discourses that entirely subsume them. and here is why. it also preserves a rather singular idea of what voice means in ordinary discourse. But it is better seen fi rst as a metonymy – a metonymy that may 1 Elbow (2007) arrives at a similar conclusion. we can recognize that voice is never really the expression of an individual speaker or writer. though not quite a synthesis. To address the problem of voice.1 Freisinger's synthesis does seem to resolve a difficulty. In fact. Proposing a nuanced and useful version of authentic voice is a productive thing to do. if not sufficient. They are not inserted as fi xed ideas into discourse. And it is always complicated by the conflicting prototypes and contending everyday theories (see Chapters 2 and 3). they function interactively – both shaping discourse and being shaped by it. But while it may be a useful redefi nition of voice. He suggests fi nding some measure of comfort with voice not by resolving the question but by embracing contrary notions. Like all of our everyday figures for writing. Voice is virtually always called a metaphor. But does the proposal respond to voice as it functions in everyday discourse? I argue not. what stories license their use of that figure? When people license voice with different stories. talk. condition of effective written expression. On the one hand. it exhibits the problem I raised in the introduction to this book. no matter how subtle that critique may be. where they unilaterally exert their influence. a tool a writer can bring to bear as a necessary. how does the figure change? In this chapter. .96 Writing as transcription. we need to ask different questions.
in fact. and most metaphorical. not that his car hit my car. let me fi rst explain how the notion of conceptual metonymy differs from the traditional account. But colorful examples are almost always misleading when it comes to noticing how basic figuration is to language and thought. with the three major stories of writing discussed earlier. We read Shakespeare. the end for the beginning. Before discussing variations of the voice metonymy. I hope to show that Writing Is Speech has a paradoxical structure that is not sufficiently acknowledged in academic critiques – that. therefore. Finally. of the familiar configurations of the concept.How conceptual metonymy works 97 ultimately motivate metaphors. How conceptual metonymy works Until recently. though complexly. I will describe three varieties of Writing Is Speech that correlate. these substitutions supply elegant variation without seeming to alter meaning very much. I will discuss the relationship between figures for writing and figures for speech. Especially in light of cognitive linguists' recent contributions to the understanding of conceptual metonymy. Typically. the whole for the part. the idea of discovering one's voice is the least singular. We say that the other driver hit me. reveals a far more complicated set of meanings than is generally recognized. the power of the purse for control of the budget. metonymy has been treated as less puzzling and perhaps less important than metaphor. these definitions provide examples of lively expressions: the sword for military power. and the like. By examining these sub-metonymies. Next. rather than metaphoric projection. But recent work has begun to show that claims about the pervasiveness and complexity of metonymy have been too small. not one of . Most noun-for-noun metonymies are not especially colorful and are. the effect for the cause. Traditional accounts say that metonymy (and synecdoche) are matters of relatively inconsequential word substitutions such as the part for the whole. the crown for the king. In the traditional view. but nonetheless a metonymy at root. hardly noticed. seeing voice as mainly a matter of contiguity.
98 Writing as transcription. we can see that metonymy is everywhere in everyday language. it also shapes the way we think about nearly everything – including speech and writing. In short. to bike (for riding a bike). out there in the world and independent of us. In the same way. But simply noticing that metonymy is a common device does not explain its conceptual importance. and voice Shakespeare's plays. and many more. lawn mower. hat rack. Adjectival metonymies also go unnoticed: mousetrap. the folk theory. In the case of perception. An often-criticized weakness of the information-processing metaphor is that it seems to assume a fi xed relationship between meaning and language. desk drawer. Metonymy does not just pervade the way we talk. an extremely useful one for us as living organisms. When we do read a Shakespearean play. this . Fauconnier explains: What we are conscious of determines our folk-theories of what is going on. is that everything we perceive is indeed directly the very essence of the object perceived. to ground out in baseball (associated with the adjectival metonymy ground ball or grounder). The effect is contained entirely in the cause. talk. Consider Gilles Fauconnier's cautionary example of a metonymy that misleads us about language: the metonymic dimension of the informationprocessing metaphor. we mean that we've read the non-physical linguistic entity that is contiguous with one of many physical inscriptions – inscriptions that may vary in a thousand ways and still represent the same work (Reddy 1993: 178–80). sports drink. our folk theory of language is that the meanings are contained directly in the words and their combinations. But the source of the problem is not the metaphor per se but instead a metonymy that makes the metaphor possible. relying just on the traditional defi nition. Verb metonymies abound: to book (for writing into an appointment book). The effect (meaning) is attributed essentially to the visible cause (language). bird feeder. And again. since that is all that we are ever consciously aware of.
emphasis added. For instance. this folk theory. but the causal relationship between language and meaning is. And for that reason. compare Radden 2000) I want to emphasize that Fauconnier attributes the stubbornness of the folk theory to the contiguity of the effect (meaning) and the cause (words and phrases) – a conceptual metonymy. This cognitive view significantly enlarges our understanding of metonymy's ordinariness and reach. an illusion.How conceptual metonymy works 99 folk theory is extremely useful to us as human organisms in everyday life. when we substitute hand for sailor. like other folk theories. and all of the implications of maritime service. it has made its way into many scientific accounts of language. Indeed. the notion that forms have meaning is unproblematic. Panther and Thornburg 2003). Farm hand is meaningful because of its contiguous . and the information processing model of language breaks down … The … illusion that meaning is in the language forms is both hard to repress and hard to acknowledge. is wrong. the level of scientific inquiry. but because it seems so literal. each time we name a category member. we gain access to the way it is metonymically related to other category members. Or. the contiguity of words and meaning is there for all to see. metonymy is powerful not because it seems mysterious or extraordinary. to use Fauconnier's word. It makes sense. Barcelona 2000. the metonymy (or synecdoche) opens the way to all we know about sailors – the social role a sailor fills. to put it in a positive light. At another level. it is not simply a matter of wordplay. Likewise. Not just a word substitution or pairing. Radden and Kövecses 1999. conceptual metonymy is a point of access to a broader context (compare Fass 1997. which is how metaphor is often described. Moreover. where he (or she) fits into a command hierarchy. and the "only" problem becomes to give a formal characterization of such meanings associated with forms. it is an imaginative accomplishment based on metonymy. (2000: 99–100. In such accounts. Dirven and Pörings 2002.
To use Charles Fillmore's term. It frames. the function of metonymy is more than a matter of comprehension. nonsense. (I do not favor gender stereotyping. In that way. too. by emphasizing the presence of one thing. Günter Radden and Zoltán Kövecses (1999) demonstrate the tacit influence of the familiar part-for-whole metonymy pretty face. We use a few key metonymies . We do not need to mention the face expressly for it to operate as a principal feature of prettiness. and voice relationship with other workers – to a cognitive model of worker (see Lakoff 1987). talk. she has a pretty face often indicates that the woman in question has only a pretty face.100 Writing as transcription. voice. When we say she's not just a pretty face. In each case. Moreover. Similarly. however encyclopedic that comprehension may be. we typically mean that the woman is pretty in other ways.) Once you encounter a concretely expressed metonymy. It says nothing at all about her intelligence. conceptual metonymy. For instance. the metonymy recruits a commonly understood conceptual system but makes a distinct comment about it. metonymies exert considerable conceptual and rhetorical influence. culturally speaking. but it is part of everyday talk. not the usual complement of beautiful physical characteristics. and other metalinguistic figures In the everyday discourse of writing. That framing can operate subtly – even tacitly. Radden and Kövecses might have mentioned also how pretty face responds to subtle shifts in phrasing and context. she is pretty usually presumes that the woman has a pretty face – because to say that she is pretty except for her face is. She is just a pretty face derides a woman's intelligence. Contrastingly. it asserts the absence of something else. pretty face is the chief metonymy for prettiness. metonymies act as "frames": they give some elements of a conceptual system greater attention than others and thus impose a certain perspective. things are never simple.
philosophical. and to write work as metonymies for language competency. it draws attention to what we typically value most for native language use. it also pushes oral ability into the background. cultural. As the metonymy brings written literacy into the foreground. language. even deeply entrenched metonymies such as Writing Is Thought and Writing Is Identity are configured differently in relation to various stories of writing – which are themselves related to each other in complicated ways. (See de Beaugrande 2006 for a discussion of the vexed relationship between speech and writing as linguistic data. Writing does not merely substitute for native language competence as a matter of elegant variation. . In other words. as we have seen. speaking is the chief metonymy for foreign language skill (Radden and Kövecses 1999: 2–3). and other metalinguistic figures 101 to provide access to the main elements of writing: writer. A non-native who reads French may not speak it. And it is inevitably colored by social. We assume that natives can speak and consider them more proficient if they can read – and more proficient yet if they can write. though a fairly complicated and variable one. in the standard hierarchy. A non-native who speaks French ordinarily reads and writes it also. metonymy. when we consider the voice–text metonymy. speech. Writing works in the opposite way. This framing is complicated because. but those that pertain to orality. thought. Indeed. and reader. to read.Voice. is the chief metonymy for high-functioning native language skill. text. none is more far-reaching than the metonymy of voice and text. we have to consider virtually all metalinguistic figures – not just those that pertain directly to writing.) Consider the different ways the words to speak. too. That we can identify a chief metonymy for native language skill underscores the fundamental rhetoricity of metonymy. to speak usually stands for all of the language knowledge we acquire. Writing. In that sense. These metonymies give one or more of these elements greater presence relative to the others. metonymy both shows and hides. When we say that we learn to speak a foreign language. like metaphor. Among the metonymies that shape our thinking about writing.
tête à tête for a one-on-one conversation. at least to voiceful writing. Indeed. Goossens places metalinguistic figures into three classifications: body-part figures. sound figures. tight lipped or close mouthed) evokes a metonymic image of someone not speaking. Louis Goossens (1995) has cataloged numerous metalinguistic metonymies and metaphors. figures of violent action often seemed primarily metaphoric but had plausible metonymic motivations. But to write well often means to write voicefully.102 Writing as transcription. Sound figures tended to be metaphoric in Goossens's corpus. Body-part metonymies can motivate related metaphors. paying special attention to their inter relationships. That makes metaphors and other figures for speech relevant to writing. a figure of orality. Similarly. stroking someone's ego is a metalinguistic metaphor with a . There is an additional catch. Body-part metonymies include tongue for language. close lipped (or more idiomatically in the United States. but it is easy to imagine verbal defamation being accompanied by similar violent action such as spitting or striking. getting something off one's chest for a spoken confession. and voice and political influences – influences that are always set concretely in a time and place. Indeed. talk. To be especially competent in one's native tongue means that one can write well. we cannot say just that orality is privileged in one instance and writing in another – that orality is the chief metonymy for competence in second language use and writing for competence in native language use. But often the phrase is used metaphorically for people who speak yet do not reveal certain information. but he does note that she giggled instead of she spoke is at least as metonymic as it is metaphoric because it suggests the act of speaking and giggling at the same time. those who are most admired as writers can claim to have found a voice. Surely. For instance. and so on. I would add that violence is not the only kind of physical act associated with language. To throw mud is metaphorically to defame. and figures of violent action. Of course. the status of writing has evolved dramatically over the centuries (Ong 1988). They overwhelmingly have to do with speech.
to the self. Speaking kindly is often accompanied by touching. talk. It is perfectly comprehensible to say that someone writes in a voice that is both musical (which describes the writer's linguistic style) and resolute (which describes the writer's character). Each time we use the word voice to talk about writing – including in modified forms such as personal voice. Talk. it spreads from written and spoken word to thought and. a tête à tête cannot usually occur in writing. many can be extended to writing. It brings into relation all of the ways we conceptualize writing and all of the ways we conceptualize speech: It makes it possible. (potentially) spoken words. (See also Semino.) Metonymies of Transcription. . to apply select metaphors for speech in the domain of writing. It is possible to get something off your chest in writing as well as speech. As it extends its reach. But the metonymy does not end there. Thus the metaphors we use to describe personal character interact with Writing Is Speech. On the other hand. passive voice. Even where a figure seems to apply more aptly to either speech or writing. we need to recognize that it inhabits a figurative landscape that applies to language use generally. Hence the metonymy emphasizes the contiguity of thought. and authentic voice – we draw upon the entailments of that metonymy: We accept a framework that tells that we have in mind words that could be spoken but are instead put in writing. ultimately. not just in speeches. whereas we can say that a speaker giggled. Although the metalinguistic figures cited by Goossens apply primarily to speech. and the discovered voice 103 metonymic motivation. growled. for instance. and written inscriptions. and the DISCOV ER ED VOICE We might think of voice in this way: Voice is the most familiar word used to express the conceptual metonymy Writing Is Speech. or barked a phrase. Likewise. we would not be likely to say that of a writer. it interacts with a broad constellation of metaphors. Mudslinging is done in the print press. Furthermore.Transcription.
and the Discovered Voice. That association between writing and speech may seem quite literal – not figurative at all. Writing As Transcription Writing As Transcription is the most basic way we have of understanding the relationship of writing and speech. in the same way. that they would say in purely oral situation. It's possible. the entailments of the metonymy are familiar enough. to transcribe speech with utmost fidelity. I call the three (sub-)metonymies Writing As Transcription. or even the ubiquitous write it down. It is not as obviously figurative as the figure suggested by a musical or resolute voice. The closest thing to a . we talked on e-mail. and voice The best way to make sense of the patterns of variation within Writing Is Speech is to think of it as three related figures rather than just one. he or she says (in a text). In practice. and hesitations. good writer. We recruit Writing As Transcription each time we use ordinary phrases such as the text says. But when people dictate for transcription. As I have mentioned. it typically varies from what would be spoken if it weren't for the influence of a written record. of course. Thus writing and speech are contiguous. talk. written compositions always differ from speech – from e-mails to novels. but Writing As Transcription is no less figurative at root and is pervasive in the way we think about writing. writing almost always records mentally conceived words. Indeed. I told them in a letter. Written words stand for spoken words. and author writer). Even a dictated text – captured by a secretary or voice-recognition software – ultimately omits errors. as we have seen. The three stories have a complex nested relationship. The metonymy tells us that to write is to express with symbols what would otherwise be spoken.104 Writing as transcription. Each figure corresponds to the three major stories of writing (literate inscriber. the text makes it sound like. repairs. and these relationships are reflected in the metonymies they license. Writing As Talk. and though it can record spoken words. But remember: Writing is not usually a transcription of spoken words. they do not say the same things.
some writing does seem to be more transcriptive than others. In fact. places such as the United States have become so thoroughly literate that it is difficult to imagine speech that is not thoroughly influenced by writing.Writing As Transcription 105 transcription of natural speech that I can think of is a candid transcript – such as a transcript of a broadcast or a wiretap. In that respect. This transcriptive writing does not attempt the writerly transformations that separate ordinary speech from written language. and more. author writers. As John McWhorter points out. most of us cannot think without the interference of written language: Who among us can say the word dog without spelling it out in our heads (2003: 3)? The idea that speech exists separately from writing and can. That is. be transformed sequentially. pitch. yet. but the transcript can never capture the nuances of cadence. Basic literacy is conceptualized as something very close to orality. But we do not expect writerly transformations of language in the writing of literate inscribers. In those cases. even though that relationship almost never occurs. In the conceptual metonymy. Thus speech is a precondition of literacy. Writing As Transcription is licensed most directly by the literate-inscriber story. therefore. from oral form to written form. As I pointed out in the last chapter. people can be called literate even if their writing does not exhibit the craft and revision that we associate with good writers and. And. though. is a near impossibility. speech is diligently written down. We all know how to talk before we learn how to write. we expect more from literate inscribers than the mere ability to inscribe letters and numbers. even more so. One way of ridiculing people who have only basic literacy is to point out the ways that their writing mirrors their own. Literacy encompasses a rich gamut of cultural knowledge and expectations. Basic literacy is also seen as a matter of step-wise progress from living only by the spoken word (illiteracy) to being able to write down what previously someone could only say (literacy). often . we idealize the relationship between writing and speech – imagining them in an uncomplicated relationship. timbre.
the date you came to Aurora.106 Writing as transcription. of course. But when he calls it as "straightforward" and "honest" as the man who wrote it. the fi rst trip you made over thee Sieras to California. When a job application calls for . marginally literate writing has been associated with colloquial speech. or near Walker River. As far back as Mark Twain (and surely much farther). Twain's view of transcriptive writing survives today. don't think for a moment that I intend to steal any of your Thunder. which themselves indicate a close relationship between speech and writing. What I am in dout is. Nevada – allso. on. but onely … (141) And so on. and have ben jocting down incidents that came to mind. also as near as possible date. for several years. This kind of ridicule has long been part of the discourse of language and race. fi rst. when our mine was jumped. In his autobiography. even the most basic forms of writing do more than just transcribe speech. in the early 60's and have com to the conclusion to do so. second. Twain remarks of the writing of an old friend. The letter he writes to Twain seems to be a transcription of what he would otherwise say: Two or three parties have ben after me to write up my recollections of Our associations in Nevada. But it is not limited to racial politics. unskilled or unrefi ned and. is what all writing would be if we did not make it into something more. you tended sick man. Writing situations call for utterances different from those of oral situations. Twain treats this writing affectionately. Of course. and voice colloquial. "He is utterly simple-minded and straightforward and his spelling and punctuations are as simple and honest as he is himself" (1990: 141). but also by a distinctly colloquial style. after coming to Nev. he also acknowledges that it is not crafted in the way a more sophisticated writer would do it. talk. But the friend's writing is not just marked by phonetic spellings. speech. Writing that does not transform itself from spoken style to written style is.
it assumes a literal and singular voice – the actual vocal emanations of the literate inscriber or a close approximation in the literate inscriber's mind. the journalist Robert Sharoff spoke of "getting my thoughts down on paper". The three major stories of writing are. but we are usually more concise in writing than in speech. and the memoirist Cheri Register thinks of writing as "mind and finger work" – and values . the metonymy assumes no craft or revision. In response to What is your name? someone might write "Donald Smith. Writing As Transcription assumes certain things about writing and writers that are different from the assumptions suggested by other parts of the Writing Is Speech figure. we perhaps write something like what we would say in response to a spoken question. and perhaps as typists or pen-wielders. Literate inscribers have not developed skills as writers. indeed. What applies to a literate inscriber also applies to a good writer and an author writer. the skill of transcribing speech is mechanical. "Just call me Don. the lists are elliptical and full of abbreviations and include no explanations or asides. it was a part of my interviews with writing professionals.Writing As Transcription 107 us to write our name and address. Certainly. the historian Christine Worobec spoke of the need to "put things on paper". users of punctuation. To begin." But no one would add. Writing As Transcription evokes a limited notion of writing. Once conceived. especially not registers that are appropriate for written genres. But such transformations are less a matter of writerly skill than of convenience. For example. actual speech or mentally imagined speech need only be recorded. but rather as spellers. In turn. it is because they have not developed the ability to express themselves in various registers. Furthermore. If literate inscribers' writing often mirrors their own speech. nested." My grocery lists are not identical with what I tell my wife that I plan to buy. as I have said. There is only one voice to transcribe – their own physical voice. at least when it comes to minimum expectations. But we should not think of it as applying exclusively to literate inscribers.
there is no assumed connection between speech and writing. Although we sometimes assert that writing is transcribed speech (Let me put my thoughts in writing). Write like you talk urges good writers not to preserve but to recover the connection between speech and writing." Yet. In fact.108 Writing as transcription. In that metonymy. the metonymy of thought. For example. we also recognize that speech and writing should not be identical in sophisticated texts. thought. in fact. but it is often recommended for people who write letters. but that transcription has implications that go further. Good writing becomes abstract. it tends to correct the good writer's greatest sin: lack of clarity. has achieved a conversational prose style. no one would say that a literate inscriber who competently transcribes his or her thoughts. even if that transcription transforms those thoughts to some degree. Write like you talk is good advice that requires qualifications. That prompts a second metonymy closely associated with the good-writer story: Writing As Talk. novels. Their thoughts and potentially spoken words are in some sense transcribed. reports. For good writers. the problem for good writers is that the connection is often severed. . talk. impersonal. memos. let alone discovered his or her authentic voice. and papers rather than memoirs. Certainly. and feature stories. transcribing our conversational style. Writing As Talk The metonymy among writing. and speech is fickle. spoken language. For one thing. and writing is not limited to Writing As Transcription. bloodless. for good writers and author writers. and voice most work that seems to be entirely formulated in her mind and "just has to be written down. columns. we imagine we can write conversationally without. Conversational writing is not the exclusive property of good writers. in his advice on writing business correspondence.
but it does evoke our relative comfort with face-to-face communication. you're being asked to bridge the gap between the spoken and the written word – to narrow the difference in the way that you would give an order verbally and the way you would write that same order in a memo … but you can do these things and still capture the tone and cadence of spoken English. Write like you talk helps us imagine – sometimes vividly – a context for communication. It evokes our social selves. convoluted. (Amateur Astronomy Magazine 2009) . You all take turns telling stories about your experiences that have taken place since you were last together. where we can use social cues to guide what we say. they just excitedly tell of some of the experiences that have happened to them as they have lived the life of amateur astronomers. We can become abstruse. Writing As Talk's chief practical advantage is that it recognizes how prose can go horribly awry when we do not have social cues to help us communicate.Writing As Talk 109 David Lewis acknowledges the limitations of the standard advice under the heading "Writing (More) the Way You Talk": Naturally. Indeed. (1999: 119) The expression write like you talk probably does not convince us that we are naturally adept at constructing sentences fit for transcription (the very thought of dictating a letter makes me quake). Thus it calls on writers to make use of pragmatic cues that get lost when writing becomes a matter of disembodied craft and composition. dull. while waiting for some clouds to pass. Consider this online advice for potential contributors to Amateur Astronomy Magazine: Write like you talk! Imagine that 30 of you have pulled your lounge chairs up into a circle in the dark at a star party. No one stops to look up big words in his dictionary or thesaurus. These stories are good. you're not being asked to write exactly the way you talk. Rather.
as the astronomy example does. Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb tell students that making a written argument is much like having an ordinary problem-solving conversation – discussing with a friend what kind of food to eat. Wait a minute. but also the active contribution of a reader as an interlocutor. They ask students to imagine an interlocutor so that that they can anticipate weaknesses in their own reasoning: "Even if you spent the day reading. Some of the best advice on good writing teases out the fuller implications of Writing As Talk. and think. impenetrable. leaving the reader merely to react. But they do know that when people write. not to contribute substantively to the writer's thought process. You read. dry. Their presentation of the metonymy. It is supposed to fend off bad writing. someone who creates the text along with the writer. I wonder how he would explain … " (4). thus. Cloning has no moral implications. even when writing is called conversational. Every action has a moral dimension. with a boss what software to buy (2002: 4). detachment. In some ordinary conceptions. suddenly preferring big words over small and stilted language over a more conversational style. The editors of Amateur Astronomy Magazine do not think that an actual transcription of what people say on lounge chairs in the dark would make a good piece of writing. and voice What is evoked here is not at all a word-for-word correspondence between spoken and written language but instead a scene of comfortable. This insistence on conversational writing is supposed to do more than just help you to write better. brings into focus not just the role of the audience as receiver. you probably had silent arguments with writers. figures such as objectivity. Can objective . with a teacher whether or not apes can count. talk. spontaneous communication.110 Writing as transcription. The metonymy Writing As Talk contrasts with figures that deny or minimize the orality of written language. By contrast. they often cast aside their ordinary instincts about communication. wooden. it can seem to flow from writer to reader. impersonality – writing that is described metaphorically as turgid.
in which the pronouns "I" and "you" appear frequently. Indeed. of eschewing abstract and passive prose in favor of language more akin to the spoken word. most of my clothes had dried off. it was in the limited sense that their professional writing was somewhat individuated – a departure from the corporate voice that effaces the personality of the writer. But the passage they quote sounds very much like fiction that we are all familiar with: "By 12:29.Writing As Talk 111 prose be read appropriately in anything other than a dry. and the value structures of powerful corporate communities" (1994: 88). But personal voice in a corporate setting is not usually so much a matter of projecting personal values as a matter of linguistic choices. corporations. I was partway into a soggy bagel. wrote a non-fiction book about tracking a computer spy that included both personal narrative and more "objective" prose." Nancy Allen and Deborah Bosley make the case for the importance of personal voice – and thus reject objective or impersonal voice – in technical writing. discourse conventions. Would Cliff Stoll endorse the general-ability view of writing? Would he claim the title writer for himself? We can only guess – but I suspect he would. One of their interviewees. but hopes to have found his voice. . When the technical writers did claim to have inserted their own voice into their technical writing. I suspect that Stoll is not merely writing the way I talk. What Allen and Bosley call "the overriding voice" in the book is personal in the sense that it is in the fi rst person and non-fictional. wooden monotone? In an essay called "Technical Texts/Personal Voice. They interviewed several technical writers who confi rmed that personal voice is often discouraged in technical and professional writing "because of the constraints imposed by traditional epistemology. and most of the way through an astronomy article" (quoted in Allen and Bosley 1994: 89). Cliff Stoll. Allen and Bosley's interviewees seem to be aiming for more than writing conversationally. though my sneakers still squished. At times.
" One technical writer objected to the "marketing blather" in one set of instructions because "I don't want to be bothered with listening to someone tell me how good they think their product is. It's stuffy talk. and stuffy (Abbott and Eubanks 2005). Indeed. In our focus groups. highfalutin. bureaucratic. the remedy for negative influences is not to fi nd one's voice – not in the sense that author writers fi nd their voices. writing that was arrogant. they criticized. preachy. Writing As Talk is configured positively – as something to be achieved. it is to evoke language from desirable social situations – to be conversational. talk. To write in these ways is to be influenced by undesirable models. and voice Typically. people understood the sample writing to be student work and could not believe that bureaucratic writing was produced by an arrogant bureaucrat. personal. But Writing As Talk can be viewed in the opposite way. The linguist John McWhorter argues that . one professor in our focus groups complained. in the framework of the good-writer story.112 Writing as transcription. Christine Abbott and I came across many of these voice–personality metonymies. Finally. highly nominalized passage. We associate certain "sounds" with organizations. I'm going to put these big words in here" (187–88. "It's bureaucratic language. and behaviors that are not viewed favorably. gracious. formal. in our focus groups. not everyone thinks "writing like you talk" is particularly good advice. among other things. direct. patronizing. ideologies. ostentatious. marketing blather. Writing of a certain kind is ordinarily associated with bureaucracy or arrogance. 93). literary. The metonymies assume a social self. The human voice is never far away in these assessments. These pejorative metonymies do not rely on a notion of Writing As Talk as especially stable or unitary. Referring to a poorly edited. friendly. However. What mattered was a metonymic association. personalities." Another technical writer imagined things that the "arrogant" writer of a set of instructions might say or think: "I'm so much more educated than you are. As participants commented on technical documents.
ultimately. fails to communicate and. not the other way around. like a simple metonymy. But it suggests a writing goal that is sometimes difficult to achieve – not a transcription of all of the words that reside in our heads or come out of our mouths. but something in the middle: conversational writing. one used a different kind of language. Certainly. unpretentious writing. a particular sort of good writing. in nineteenth-century America. a long tradition in which the standard for good English was written English. author writers – whose work is admired and who have achieved a special societal status – do not merely write the way they talk. complete with carnation and big hats … Talking was for conversation. Write like you talk seems. irritates.Writing As Talk 113 the ideal of writing like you talk has become an all-too-pervasive view of what makes for good writing. (xvi) That view remains alive in our discourse today. writing is actually a transcription of speech: "The oral toolkit is ontologically primary. He argues that. in the wrong hands. perhaps. As he sees it: The issue … is that in earlier America it was assumed that a certain space in society required that English be dressed in its Sunday best. That is no doubt why in its "Author's Guidelines" Amateur Astronomer Magazine (2005) bothers to warn its contributors not to reach for a Sunday-best diction that. we are leaving behind. in the United States. Writing is just a method for engraving on paper what comes out of the mouth" (2003: 3). although . He observes that in most world languages. just as we use forks and knives instead of eating with our hands. not a distillation of an idealized manner of speech to which we can only aspire. mostly to our detriment. in public or on paper. McWhorter argues that we need to draw a clear line between writing and talk. excellent oral performances emulated writing. rhetorically sensitive writing.
the author-writer story. Because the writer is the only person who can gain access to true memories or knowledge. In books on how to become a writer (capital W). The idea that developing as a writer means to fi nd one's voice is not just remarkable for its ubiquity. and voice some may adopt a conversational style. Voice is not – at least not primarily – a matter of oral style. The Discovered Voice assumes the relationship is an extraordinary one. and that they are written instead – but it also hedges significantly on those assumptions. but also for its complexity. Such a transcription would be "depressing" (2004: xvii). It is a conceptually elusive version of Writing Is Speech that is strongly associated with the prototype for writer and. in turn. The Discovered Voice metonymy embeds the same assumptions as Writing As Transcription and Writing As Talk – that we think in words. This internal writerly voice is an unimpeded expression of memory or knowledge or – and this is the word that matters most – truth. The Discovered Voice Writing As Transcription and Writing As Talk assume that the relationship between writing and speech is ordinary. Rather they can lay claim to something more elusive: voice. voice is contiguous not so much with the speaking voice as with an internal mental voice that is distinct from ordinary speech. he says that speech is "a bad metaphor for writing" because: For 99% of people who do it. that those words might be spoken. and scholar Louis Menand makes plain the complex metonymic quality of voice – though he often uses the word metaphor. [writing] is the opposite of spontaneous … [C]hattiness. essayist. The critic. talk. slanginess. and . But that voice may have little to do with the writer's way of speaking. Menand explains that voice is not a transcription of actual speech or even of the "yakking away" that goes on inside a writer's head. Moreover. in-your-face-ness. the writer's truth can only be expressed in the writer's voice.114 Writing as transcription.
the thing they worry they may fail to fi nd or. For author writers. Such an account of voice underscores the imaginative quality of the metonymy. Menand tells us. revision. which is mediated by an imagined mental voice – which is. as energetically as Menand insists that voice is not transcribed speech. But the Discovered Voice takes much more than that into account by placing a series of elements side-by-side-by-side. the Discovered Voice is a metonymy for the self – an authentic self that has access to the often elusive remembered self. an imagined bodily voice different from the author's actual voice. To fi nd one's voice usually . adjacent to but not identical with the author's bodily voice or. the Discovered Voice is really a complex of metonymies that are associated almost always with the kind of writing that ambitiously literate people aim to produce. In that way. suddenly lose. voice is a metonymy of text and thought. sometimes. (xvi) In short. Because writers hear what is in their minds via this imagined mental voice. he nonetheless associates voice in writing with embodied sound – specifically singing. Singing is what writers hear internally and. If the Discovered Voice were a metonymy as metonymy is traditionally defi ned – if it were merely a matter of substituting one contiguous literal entity with another – there would be no confusion about what voice might mean. It would mean simply that the text accurately transcribes the writer's speech or potential speech.The Discovered Voice 115 any other feature of writing that is conventionally characterized as "like speech" are all usually the results of intense experimentation. Indeed. voice is "an artificial construction of language" that "feels personal" (xvii). walks around the block. unnecessary phone calls. calibrating. Yet. in turn. once they've found it. and recalibrating. the Discovered Voice is a metonymy for truth or experience – the memories and interpretations of memories that are stored in the mind.
For her.116 Writing as transcription. Yet not everyone reserves the pursuit of voice for author writers. a Ph. Similarly. a memoir. "I got it! I trust my voice. a play. For example. He calls voice "the writer's presence on the page"." a voice that does not imitate your speaking style but expresses "the truth of your experience that can only come through in your own voice" (1994: 198–99). all people who write – even beginners – can have the same aims as prototypical writers. even everyday writing is practice for greater achievements. According to that view. Anne Lamott. following the general-ability view. a general-ability advocate. I'm off to write the great American novel. . as we saw in the last chapter. talk. for writing freely about the experiences that are stored within you: The trust you learn in your own voice can be directed … into a business letter. a novel. These include committee reports for his department and tenure-and-promotion letters – which are surely not prototypical "voiceful" genres. especially not those who subscribe to the general-ability view of writing.D. writes of finding "your own true voice. Don't think. yet he insists that voice – in fact. I can get passionate and voiceful about the damnedest things" (2004: 27). a special relationship with the truth and with truth-telling. he writes of good-writer genres: "Assigned topics and authentic voice are not mutually exclusive … a fair amount of my writing is directed by others. But it is something you must come back to again and again. "authentic voice" – can be a part of any kind of writing." (1986:13) In Crafting an Authentic Voice. dissertation. Yet Romano's bid upward – urging good writers to aspire to achievements usually associated with prototypical author writers – is not uncommon. Tom Romano makes a case for the general-ability view with respect to voice. trusting your own voice applies to all kinds of writing because. Natalie Goldberg describes voice as a matter of fidelity to yourself and being open to your own experience. and voice means to succeed as an author writer – which is in part to have.
" He explained. As one who teaches writing to very young people. a threeword sentence that stands as a paragraph on its own occasionally if I can manage it. And the sensibility is very often to try to get to the emotional core of something. they are being encouraged to aim high. The journalist Dirk Johnson thinks of voice as "a combination of technique and sensibility. but that is not because they are not entitled to voice. simple. Under the heading "Finding a Writing Voice. Fletcher says. but I took it as one because it suggested that there was something about the way I was communicating that stood out. "In my own case. .'" They may not have meant it as a compliment. to do what the most admired writers do – to expect from oneself what authors expect: truth fulness. because childlike honesty usually disappears with age – making for "upper grade classrooms populated by writers who have lost their voice" (73). That is. When good writers are exhorted to write voicefully.The Discovered Voice 117 Of course. less is more. It's just that they are no longer open to having it. Writers must work to retain this intimacy. to be sure – may have lost their writerly voices. emotional connection. Ralph Fletcher argues that the voice has to do with an open and passionate connection to experience that is natural to childhood." he recalls a colleague saying that voice in writing has much to do with "an intimacy between … the author and what is being written about" (1993: 72). but in the service of truth-telling." It is a way of crafting words. Romano would not have to assert that "assigned topics and authentic voice are not mutually exclusive" were the ordinary assumption squarely on his side. 'This is Dirk Johnson's story. "I began to read this article and I hadn't seen the byline and I thought. elegance. Johnson said he hoped that his own voice was recognizable as his and no one else's: I always felt best when people would say. a point of view that is associated with themselves alone. the technique is to try to be very spare. upper grade writers – good writers.
they often use adjectives borrowed from activities whose products make a more direct appeal to the senses – painting. they perceive those qualities. boom." and no one asks them where. sculpture. music. Even after a piece comes out. It is not by accident that Johnson turns to the music metaphor. It has no color and it makes no sound. People say. and each time I read it. Like many a successful writer. The Discovered Voice – licensed by the authorwriter story – goes hand-in-hand with metaphors of music. concise. It is the same one that attracts Louis Menand. sort of rhythm to it. (2004: xiv) . Its shape is without significance. but also if it has a certain cadence and melody because I think that it needs to have a boom. Menand provides us a small catalog of metaphors that are associated with the Discovered Voice: You cannot taste a work of prose. When people talk about writing. Discussions of "tone" and "texture" are carried on in the complete ontological absence of such things. achieving that aim – that voicefulness – has partly to do with capturing his own." or "pungent. But the reverse is not true." or "lyrical. that I could have done differently to make it better. exactly. who equates a writer's voice with singing. and intensity that are not generally applicable to good writing. but a certain musicality: I often will read out loud what I've written to see not only if it sounds good. boom." or "shapeless. he checks his style by reading out loud. physical voice. But what he listens for is not the sound of ordinary talk or conversation. To call good writing symphonic or colorful or stirring is to say that it exceeds expectations. I will see something. Author writing may be clear. and well structured in the same way that good writing should be. "the writing is colorful. cuisine. I will read it sometimes fi fteen or eighteen times. sometimes little and sometimes not so little. though.118 Writing as transcription. talk. color. and voice For Johnson.
and the like. Or something else. Such metaphors are part and parcel of the Discovered Voice because fi nding one's voice leads a writer to produce work that deserves to be described as colorful. lyrical. If we imagine that that's what the writer has in his or her head. Or painting. And they do. All of these metaphors add up to "voice.The Discovered Voice 119 WRITING AS TRANSCRIPTION WRITING AS TALK DISCOVERED VOICE Written record "Conversational" style Style that "works" Potentially spoken words Social self: writer's way of speaking Writer's craft: author's unique personal speech or persona Thoughts/ internal speech Thoughts/ unedited internal speech Thoughts/ uninhibited internal speech Logical mind Truthful self Experience Experience Experience Figure 5. .1 Overview of the three versions of Writing Is Speech. Menand's commentary reveals one way that metonymy and metaphor combine. He begins by denying that voice is a matter of transcribed words. Indeed. it makes sense to call writing a form of singing. yet insists on the metonymic relationship between mental or embodied singing voice." he says. pungent.
An overview of the three versions of Writing Is Speech is provided in Figure 5. whereas voices are always an unstable product of multiple and contingent influences. and author-writer stories. and the Discovered Voice. each of which combines metonymy and metaphor: Writing As Transcription. Thus voice is better understood as the overarching conceptual figure Writing Is Speech. talk.1. But the figure of voice is itself the product of complex discourse. and voice Summary Writing scholars have criticized the figure of voice on the grounds that it naïvely suggests a stable authentic self. That figure can be divided into three distinct subfigures. . good-writer. These versions of voice differ from each other because they are licensed by different stories of writing: the literate-inscriber. Writing As Talk.120 Writing as transcription.
As with voice. As we have seen already. The brain is part of the body. Holly Lisle. the spirit. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. believe it or not. stable. Red Smith. recent scholarship on writing and the self rests on a strong assumption that most of us hold onto the naïve concept of a unitary." As Candace Spigelman explains. and permeable discourses we actually use to construct our so-called "selves. is a fiction – if a convenient one – that ignores the multiple. the character. independent core self. and ultimate authority over their texts creates an inaccurate and ingenuous conception of the composing process. visions. But even noticing this abundance of metonymies does not give us a rich enough sense of how we ordinarily bring together voice and self. It seems to suggest that language is a transparent vehicle for exposing the thought processes of a unified 121 . The voice is contiguous with language. anyway – is to sell yourself. Your job – if you want to make a living at this. which is contiguous with thought. the personality.6 The writing self Conceptual blends. Ten Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice There's nothing to writing. expressive rhetoric's insistence on students' private voices. much of this critique has been directed at expressivist pedagogies: To many composition theorists. Red: A Biography of Red Smith The figure of self is closely related to voice and presents many of the same problems. writing scholars (and others) point out. writing–speech–self metonymies operate pervasively and complexly. fluid. Such a self. multiple selves Your job as a writer is much more than just selling your books. the soul. which is contiguous with the self – the mind.
and stretch backward and forward in time" (437–38). And when they do. will reveal the truths about itself and about life. Newkirk 1997.g. to use Spigelman's words." communities that are "multilayered. In short. I do not dispute the point that has been made. But that is only part of the picture. Bazerman and Russell 2003. Too little attention has been paid to how figures of the self are constructed. unchanging self" (2008: 423). if adequately investigated.122 The writing self and consistent mind at work. Ivanič 1998. interconnected. to the rhetorical import of claims to a singular self. many composition theorists have come to see that the everyday notion of the real me. in her essay on autobiographical writing and voice. And the argument against a "unified and consistent mind at work" is a strong one. Flower 2008). they're mistaken about the way identities really are formed. The self is "relational" – related to "communities in and around which our individual identities are formed and embodied. Faigley 1989. LeFevre 1987. "language is a transparent vehicle for exposing the thought processes" of a "unified and consistent mind at work.. . Drawing on Paul John Eakin. In one sense. (2001: 70) Spigelman states the case fairly. just does not stand up under scrutiny: Hence a veritable avalanche of research has endeavored to demonstrate that writing identities are shaped by multiple and contending discursive forces. Along those same lines. a notion that has been a staple of some writing pedagogy. So well established and pervasive is this line of research that I could not begin to do it justice here (e. What I argue is this: Writing studies has paid little attention to the figurative landscape within which the figure of the core self operates. Everyday discourse about writing does sometimes propagate the idea that." People who write do talk sometimes about expressing who I am. a mind that. she explains that "the story of the self cannot be told outside of a cultural context" (437). deep inside. Jane Danielewicz cautions that she does not subscribe to the everyday belief in "a stable. I believe. Bartholomae 1995.
To put it another way: It was difficult for me to fi nd examples of the naïve pairing of voice and self that writing scholars feel the greatest urgency to refute – specifically. Finally. The sampling of writing discourse that I examined suggests that the core self – the real me – is far from the only conception of self at work. core self or professional identity may not be so much an unexamined belief as an ethical requirement. That is. writing professionals often use voice and self in ways that contradict predominant accounts of these figures. Those who did speak of fi nding their voice did not speak of a singular core self – indeed. author writers commonly deny that they have a core self – even as they claim to have found their individual voice. In short. the core self is largely displaced by more complex imaginative constructions. Conceptual blends are formed by combining "input . How conceptual blending works Writing "selves" are constructed through what Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner call conceptual blending (Turner 2001. at least for people who write professionally. were inclined to speak about multiple voices and selves. What I offer here is an alternative account of writing and self that considers the variety of conceptual blends. both simple and complex. that people use to construct "themselves" when they write. claims about the self are shaped by a range of conceptual blends that allow multiple constructions of self to operate simultaneously. when writing professionals lay claim to a singular writing self.How conceptual blending works 123 and to the broader constellation of figures of self. Three things seem to be at work: First. Fauconnier and Turner 2002). Second. that claim is more rhetorical than ontological. When the idea of a core self did emerge in my study. Indeed. Those whose conception of self was closest to a singular writing self did not speak of digging deeply in order to discover their voice. the notion that finding one's voice implies a belief in a singular core self. for both good writers and author writers. it did not exhibit the naїve quality that writing scholars have rather insistently ascribed to it.
new judgments. Great American II. in the blend the 1853 event is contemporaneous with the 1993 event. By itself green is appealing. But Fauconnier and Turner point out the numerous imaginative elements that make the blend work. when a modern catamaran. Conceptual blending is a wide-ranging process that underlies imaginative constructions of all sorts. To imagine that. new emotions. more importantly.5 days ahead of Northern Light" (Fauconnier and Turner 2002: 63). new events. 8 hours. all blended together. of course.. Most obviously. and. A few days before the catamaran reached Boston. and events so that new elements emerge in the blend: new relationships. such as dissimilar weather conditions and the fact that one ship was carrying cargo and the other not.g. some as complex as constructing elaborate counterfactual scenarios (e. grasp the fresh inference that green breakfast food does not sound appetizing. the relationship of ships to the ocean's surface. set out on the same course. settings. by themselves eggs and ham are appealing. observers were able to say: "At this point Great American II is 4. we have to merge generic similarities such as the topography of the ocean. Philip K. the routes the ships sailed. Think of the way Dr. cognitively integrated spaces." Even a small child can imagine the blend and. . Seuss famously combined color information with what we eat for breakfast in the phrase "I do not like green eggs and ham. we have to leave out things that are not similar.124 The writing self spaces" – mental packets of information – to form new. Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle about the world after Hitler's victory in World War II). At the same time. It seems straightforward enough because we comprehend the blend so easily. green eggs). This process involves more than just adding one thing to another. they are not. some as routine as attributing qualities to objects (for example. We combine qualities. That time was still the fastest on record in 1993. Consider this relatively elaborate blend described by Fauconnier and Turner: The clipper ship Northern Light sailed in 1853 from San Francisco to Boston in 76 days.
In the blend. "It is a central aspect of human understanding to think that people have characters that manifest themselves as circumstances change" (2002: 249). of course. And in the blend. we can experience that emotion ourselves. embittered Krapp listens to tapes that he has recorded throughout his life. Yet we do it automatically. An aging. We also construct our "selves" in this complex but automatic way. As Fauconnier and Turner point out. So as we grow and change. It is also common. we may insist that our spirit or personality remains constant: I'm still the same old me. It's how we think. which uses both the stable-identity and series-of-people blends. But Krapp would not be repulsed by just any young whelp. He is especially repulsed because he and the . Think of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape. I was once a new father. We talk about the person I used to be and the person I am now – sometimes insist that that's not me any more. we use conceptual blending to meld our different stages of life into a single identity. For example. my appearance. None of that is possible without an elaborate conceptual blend. my outlook.How conceptual blending works 125 Once we've sorted out the similarities and dissimilarities. In the blend. I was once a college student who had not declared a major. Over time. Yet I think of myself as a single person – with an overarching identity that accommodates almost any imaginable change in particulars. for us to imagine ourselves as a series of distinct people. We all change over time. Rather we juxtapose it with a contrasting conceptualization. we add the element of competition. we can imagine sailors driven by competitive emotion – in fact. and he is often repulsed by what he hears. we compare the relative progress of the ships. He can't believe he was ever "that young whelp" – as if the young whelp on the tape were another person (1960: 13). I have experienced innumerable changes in my roles. we can then conjure up elements that are found in neither the 1853 nor the 1993 scene. I once weighed 8 pounds and did not know how to talk. we surely haven't forgotten about our continuous identity. When we say those things.
more generally. The young whelp is a different person. For literate inscribers to fill out a job application. That is. Yet the blend seems entirely natural – not "intuitively like a blend at all" – because "there is no clash between the inputs. lists. we do not conceive of Paul as the father of Sally until we think of Paul and Sally as part of a cultural model of the family in which Paul and Sally are assigned roles. the literate-inscriber story licenses the figure of the singular self. Fauconnier and Turner point out that seemingly uncomplicated identities are formed by blending well-established cultural frames with people's unique identities (2002: 119–22). such as competing frames or incompatible counterpart elements" (122). yet all "selves" are constructed by means of conceptual blending. . Literate inscribers' and good writers' claims to a singular self More than other stories of writing. what is expected of various kinds of writers. They argue that if we say that Paul is the father of Sally. The same process of conceptual blending is at work as we construct writing identities. they do not need to think consciously of themselves as anything other than themselves. They call these simplex blends. Sometimes people can write simply as the person they are. Some of these constructions seem more straightforward or literal than others. People do not need to construct their own identity in complex ways in order to write notes. short letters. Apparently. yet Krapp is the young whelp at a later stage in life. We cannot do this without multiple input spaces: the family frame and the individuals Paul and Sally. or e-mail messages. "we have to create a blend in which some of the structure of the family frame is integrated with the elements Paul and Sally" (122). What distinguishes the seemingly literal blends from the obviously figurative ones is mainly what writing professionals expect of themselves and. Yet even the simplest construction of self is an imaginative achievement.126 The writing self young whelp share the same identity.
It's no surprise that we are often unaware of any mental work: Most cognition is quick. I am fully myself – I bring all that I am to the task. Yet we must map onto ourselves certain frames (e. What matters in the figurative rhetoric of writing is not just that writers must always rely on conceptual blends. At the same time. at other times I let a little of "me" sneak in. we may fi nd it rhetorically necessary to underscore even a simplex blend – to maintain a conceptual distance between role and self. but we can be aware of blends when they are brought to our attention. though. familiar enough that I could adopt a "naturalized" rhetorical stance: I could say that when writing as an administrator. imagination. the more likely we are to claim that we are writing as ourselves. so we have no need to make a distinction. Nothing about the individual is likely to contradict the person-as-applicant or person-as-friend frame. we can never fully switch off our conscious minds. The more comfortable the cultural frame. The relative invisibility of such simplex blends is a result of what Fauconnier and Turner call compression: The role of applicant is associated so closely with the application writer that they seem to be one and the same. I feel it is important to speak in the formal voice of an administrator. In point of fact. Depending on the role we adopt. when I write in my role as an administrator in my English department. or any.. but that writers must alter their conscious perceptions of self in order to write competently. The self called upon in filling out an ordinary form is . because what I write tends to involve subtle choices about tone and content. unconscious. At times.g. I am often well aware that I am writing in a role that requires me to cordon off part of who I am. otherwise we have no way of understanding who we are or what we are doing. to think of yourself as the one who fills out a form or who writes a simple letter is a simplex blend that may seem not to involve much.Claims to a singular self 127 In the same way. I take on a relatively familiar role. easy. We do not need to be aware of the blending process in order to form a blend. job applicant or friend). Affirming or ignoring the imaginative quality of roles is a matter of rhetoric. For instance.
Although he insisted on the idea of a core self.) In my interviews with writing professionals. and I was retiring in [19] 64. That may not describe reality well.128 The writing self usually not a conscious writerly masquerade: since there is no ethical alternative but to write as our "actual" selves. I might not want anyone to think that I held part of myself back and thus composed my text craftily or artificially. however – came from United Methodist bishop Joseph Sprague. he also expressed sophisticated conceptual blends of voices and selves. In other words. but rather with a call to serve his faith and to speak out for social justice. I might well answer that I did – even though my writing was surely complicated by institutional or professional frames. (The three possible versions of this simplex blend are illustrated in Figure 6." He associates his writing not with any desire to be a writer per se. of course. He also discussed how he found the "passion" to write so near his retirement: If I had been a bishop in the church. that's what we do. a self that does not change according to circumstances. but it fills a rhetorical need. The only example I noted – a vivid one. But sometimes the claim to write just as ourselves is rhetorical – a claim to sincerity. But a little bit. I doubt very much that I would have written . When I asked him what motivated him to write Affirmations of a Dissenter. he spoke of the need for a "progressive voice" in the United Methodist Church. Sprague's view of writing is far from simple.1. What confidence he has in his own writing comes from the early encouragement he received from professors who praised his academic papers. In spite of many years' experience in writing sermons and more. I might call upon the figure of the core self. rather than 2004. Sprague is a good writer. That. If I were asked who composed the e-mails I sent on a given morning. he said in our interview. is a complex blend in which various speakers and writers are melded into a single figurative voice. it was striking how seldom that kind of claim was made. "I'm surely not a person whose career has been focused on writing for publication.
King. Pike. That. There were a myriad of voices then. experience. he preserves his current age. In the blend.1 Writing as an administrator: three possible versions of a simplex blend. Bultmann. saying the same kinds of things that I would have said. too. [the book]. clearly.Claims to a singular self 129 Naturalized simplex blend S S S Everyday self frame Compatible administrator frame Conscious simplex blend A A' +E' E Everyday self frame Administrator frame Rhetorical assertion of a naturalized simplex blend A A'+E ' E Administrator frame Everyday self frame ' = fresh inference ' = denial of inference Figure 6. is a complex blend in which Sprague transports himself from the current time (one input space) to an earlier time (another input space). .
for him. He responded rather adamantly: "No. I could not say that. To bring to his writing anything less than his whole core self would be a fraud. To write as a provocateur would be disingenuous – wrong. to borrow Jane Danielewicz's phrase." Even his evoking "the nice little Quaker boy" was a way of emphasizing the continuity of his character. he was not quite himself – that he wrote in the role of bishop or theological provocateur. But not entirely so. I am writing as me. which has not changed as his role and status have changed. I asked him if it were possible that. in writing. There was no mistaking the rhetorical importance of his claim to write as me. it is because I'm angry. His tone of voice made it clear that this point was non-negotiable. a "story of the self" that was "told outside of a cultural context" (2008: 437)." Sprague's preceding rhetoric was. in a way. He expressed yet another blend of selves when I asked him whether the angry response to his book arose not because of what it said but because people "hadn't heard it from you. but the story he told was not." He responded. but there's some anger in me that the nice little Quaker boy doesn't always want to put forth. that role cannot be separated from his larger identity. . no question about that." He was fully cognizant of the cultural frame into which he fit as a writer of theological commentary. and that awareness made it impossible for him to write merely in the role of bishop or social activist. Thus his most adamant declaration about himself as a writer was a simplex blend in which he asserted a complete correspondence between himself as a writer and all of the other ways he might frame his identity: "If you think the book is angry. Just the opposite: Sprague was acutely aware of the institutional and cultural dimensions of his story. But.130 The writing self and philosophy and imagines himself a contemporary of people who are now long deceased – which leads him to conclusions that can exist only in the blend. more nuanced and rhetorically aware. Sprague was unequivocal. It doesn't mean I have all the answers. "Or from a bishop in the United Methodist Church.
wants to say. I wondered whether she identified with the women or wanted to speak for them. She noted that she brings to her writing a "historian's sensibility. she well understood that it was possible for the writing self to be blended with other identities. is not a matter of discovering her voice or self but rather a matter of being clear about what she. For them. but one whose obligation is to report accurately.Claims to a singular self 131 Other writing professionals' claims to singularity were more akin to a job applicant who writes as a singular self. The historian Christine Worobec. demonstrate their value in organizations. the historian. she explicitly set aside discussion of her professional role – as a given – and described the way she thinks through her argument until she develops "selfconfidence" that she has begun "the proper way. She observed that the psychiatrists who reported on the women were to some degree "channeling their [the peasant women's] comments by asking certain kinds of questions." and embraced the title of historian throughout our conversation. Betsy Maaks. not to identify with those whom she studies. for example. people she came to know largely through psychiatric reports. to the Russian peasant women she has written about. for her. emphasizing technical communication as a frame for writing may be especially important because of the field's relative newness and often-lamented invisibility. technical writers nonetheless have to explain what they do and. The technical writers that I interviewed also identified closely with their professional role. for example. Even though technical communication frequently has been listed as one of the most promising careers in the United States. for instance. I asked her about her relationship." Writing well. . Who else? At the same time. But when she talked about her writing." But her position is that of a perhaps "sympathetic" reporter. in fact. implied a unitary self by largely ignoring the question of self-defi nition. These claims were made by good writers who closely identified themselves with their professional roles – so closely that competing identities were irrelevant to their writing.
Maaks focused not on individual recognition but instead on the quality of the technical document: "My coworkers and I are interested in the satisfaction that comes from knowing we did our best. Friend was the third person to graduate from the technical writing program at the University of Minnesota and has had a long career in a field where it is the norm for the writer to go unrecognized. the question of identity receded into the background. "My parents had the hardest time figuring out what I did until I went to the VCR and pulled out the instructions. No problems.'" Russell Friend and Pete Bohlin spoke in the same way. there was no mention of his own identity but instead a strong focus on the work of a technical writer. when "there weren't many technical writers." He enjoys "investigating and interacting and overcoming obstacles of various kinds that you encounter in learning about the product and learning more about the product than you really need to convey. It's going to help them out. To be a good technical writer. shortly afterward. Much technical writing is done . I know users are going to be able to use this really well and fly through this stuff like butter. like the historian Worobec. when she described her writing process. He described his work not in terms of identity but rather in terms of task. you have to "envision what the completed work will look like" and "put yourself in the head of the user. Maaks was introduced to the field in a college course and. In her early career. When he discussed the writing process." For technical writers." She added humorously." she documented applications for the IBM PC – "all kinds of cool topics." But. 'This is my effort here.132 The writing self gave me her "seven-second blurb" to explain her job: "I translate highly technical information into communication that is readable and usable for end users. sought out technical writing jobs." Pete Bohlin took the same approach." All of the technical communicators I spoke with recounted stories about entering the field that revealed a strong affinity with their work. He works to "document products carefully. such self-effacement may even be a requirement of the field.
In my interviews and in books on writing. they can be at a loss: They are required to write in a role that does not always fit well or does not fit yet. For example: "Collaboration can yield a disunified document … [because] the more people involved in the collaboration. she makes sure collaborating technical writers are "clear in their writing and present it in a way that's not going to stick out like a sore thumb. As technical writers have put it to me from time to time. We notice that most in the breach. Betsy Maaks said to me that. and that places an unusual burden on writers to subordinate themselves to the organization. in everything from design to spelling" (Markel 1997: 52). Indeed. Technical writing textbooks sometimes emphasize the risk that a collaborative team may fail to reach such harmony. A close affinity between personal and professional identity is quite common. professional frames are not likely to fit snugly – until one becomes an academic. they must conceive of themselves complexly. The exception to this seems to be becoming an author writer – someone who claims the capitalized title Writer." The point is to write smoothly together. Author writers' claims to a complex self For author writers to write well. the company. becomes a technical writer. the author-writer frame seems to require conscious attention to complex self-creating blends. they work together so that a collaborative document seems as if it is all one voice or was written by one person. or the team – a merging of individual voice or self with groups that are themselves merged collections of individuals. as a supervisor." Pete Bohlin lamented that a poor writer on a collaborative team is like a "flat tire.Claims to a complex self 133 collaboratively. the greater the variation of style. not of the individuals who developed it … [because] that manual is likely to be developed cooperatively" (Rude 2002: 33). That complexity can take a number of forms. becomes an engineer. Author . When students begin to write academic papers. Or: "The user manual is perceived to be the product of the organization.
"Before I was a novelist. They ask. As a reporter. there forever in the notebook" (2002: B1). because she believes that "good writing is good writing wherever you fi nd it" (B1). for her. They speak also about writing as parts of themselves (the sarcastic part of me). in part. But author writers persistently go beyond ordinary constructions of self. as invented selves (a character or voice I have developed). the heart of the novelist. And the whole is not the mere sum of the parts. "It's piped. and the reporter is always there." . Her ear for fiction is. Who am I when I write? And the answers involve complicated conceptual blends. I was a columnist. at root. Surely. Anna Quindlen provides us with a good example of this in a short piece called "The eye of the reporter." and "from decades of writing down their words verbatim in notebooks" she learned "how real people talk" (B1).134 The writing self writers speak of professional roles – writing as a journalist. amid the Altoids. if an author writer speaks of constructing an alternative self for writing purposes. and before I was a columnist. I was a reporter. it is an alternative to – sometimes an extension of – a more conventionally conceived personal self. a reporter's ear: All of us in journalism know of the times we've read a neat little quotation … and we thought. almost reflexively. she has a writing identity that has multiple yet inseparable components." She writes. or writing as someone else (the Hemingway or Royko in me). It is Quindlen's training as a reporter that makes her the kind of novelist she is. In other words. she learned to "distinguish between those details that simply existed and those that revealed. So. She is able to meld her identities together. Yet being a reporter and being a novelist are not precisely the same thing. None of these conceptions precludes more ordinary ways of constructing the self. writing a novel is not entirely different from writing a newspaper story. the keys and the lipstick. They even renounce their own presence so that they can get out of their own way and let the writing come to them (I let the words flow through me). writing as a novelist.
The complexity of Quindlen's self-construction is more typical than not. That happens in fiction. The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg remarked to me that when he writes as a columnist. For Quindlen." It's just too pat. in Flatbush or on Fifth Avenue" (B1). it really is not the whole of himself speaking: "Obviously. she learned to write "where cutting is commonplace. the only difference is that the scene is all in her head. (B1). too impersonal at another. It's the H. too homogenized.Claims to a complex self 135 reporter's jargon for "It's invented. Through a recursive process Quindlen becomes a blend of prospective novelist. he considers changes in identity or voice to be necessary for the job of commercial writing. swift and draconian" (B1). Quindlen's blend of selves is illustrated in Figure 6. "I always wanted to write fiction. unlike many novelists." Indeed. It said in my high-school prophecy." who had to learn to "go places I was not welcome and ask questions that were intrusive and even rude" (B1). you don't have the complexity of your soul when there are only 900 words. So maybe it's in you. the line of dialogue that sounds like a speech or a stage direction or a maxim instead of a sentence. She looks back to an earlier self and confesses. too flat. 'Ambition: To write the great American novel'" (B1). She takes this blending of identities a step further. "not. And there is more. He once wrote under . and rude reporter turned novelist. The reporter in her helps her "to make every word count" because. It's the Robert Benchley in me. competent but rude reporter. too. as in my past life. She continues to use her reporter's shorthand notes to keep facts straight. too perfect at one level.2. The acerbic me. That earlier self was "a Catholic girl with napkin-on-the-lap manners. Her identity as a reporter is not just a matter of her lived experience but a blend of herself as reporter and other people as reporters. L. reporterly identity isn't just what she learned as a reporter but what "all of us in journalism know" (B1). Mencken in me. You can hear the fake with a reporter's ear. also.
and that is like the craftsman in me. stepping into someone else's skin" (1986: 79). Catholic Chicago. It may be tempting to think of these blends as casual selfdescriptions. it's an editorial voice. While enumerating the various voices he adopts." He observed that he has changed voices or selves in order to write articles for Bride. But they are usually rhetorically pointed. a senior citizen publication. Steinberg also identifies strongly with the Roman satirist Juvenal and wonders if "maybe that [Juvenal] will be me 500 years from now. tossed out with little thought. That's what being a lover is: stepping out of yourself. Consider the difference between Quindlen's and Steinberg's self-constructions. pauses. Their . it is part and parcel of most writers' development: Writers "fall in love with other writers … They take on a writer. and it's not my voice. calling it "a tool for the job. as Natalie Goldberg explains." As we saw in an earlier chapter. But. read it over again until they understand how the writer moves. he commented. not to be given serious weight. a pseudonym. "I wrote … tomorrow's editorial. and even an advertisement for a steel alloy. read everything by him or her.2 Anna Quindlen's blend of selves." Such close identifications with other writers can be a source of unease for some. and sees.136 The writing self Novelist frame Identification-withother-reporters frame N I N' I' C' R' C Catholicgirl frame R Experiencedreporter/columnist frame Fluid blend of influencing identities ' = fresh inference Figure 6.
caught up in trivial . with a different part of himself. But. of course. But it saved me in Packinghouse Daughter. Your adult voice kind of imposes itself on your child's. Mencken in me. that the friend had saved the letters. naïve kid. I asked her how she felt about that." But their points are at odds. something that I think is just endemic to memoir writing is that you remember yourself as smarter and more sophisticated than you were.Claims to a complex self 137 method of self-construction has some similarity. that would also be a matter of rhetoric. In telling me about her early experiences with writing. Steinberg claims that compartmentalizing identities is the key tool that allows him to use different voices for a newspaper editorial and an article for Bride – that each genre is different and requires him to write in a different voice. Complex blends can be a key to a writer's critical examination of his or her craft. Quindlen the general-ability view. And this was a very real reminder that I was just a stupid. many years later. she talked about having written letters back-and-forth with a teenage friend. L. Steinberg says that when he writes a column "It's the H. The memoirist Cheri Register faces the special problem of being both the writer and the subject of her writing – she must closely examine her younger self and yet maintain critical distance. Both Quindlen and Steinberg embrace the idea that writers can have components to their identities: Quindlen says that "The reporter is always there". That affects not just the story told in her memoir but the way she sees herself as a writer. the reporter in her always exerts its influence because good writing is good writing: Her novel writing is better because she uses a reporter's eye and ear. Perhaps in a face-to-face conversation Steinberg and Quindlen might reconcile their perspectives. Steinberg takes the specific-expertise view. only to discover. and she said: I'm not going to say it was a thrill because some of the stuff we wrote about was so stupid. Quindlen says that no matter what she writes. You know.
That person is fairly close to the actual me.138 The writing self stuff. she reconstructs herself as a writer. and they worry about holding on to selves and voices that have worked well for them. I read something and think. It's very challenging to maintain that sort of angry voice. I read memoirs now that kind of strain my credulity. He recalls having identified with Thomas Pynchon and Richard Farina in his early development. so that as a young writer he did not write quite as himself. and who is – in keeping with the author-writer story – committed to the truth. constructing writing selves is not just routine. In so doing. As pervasive as ordinary conceptual blending is. Sean O'Leary talked about his successes and failures in constructing appropriate selves and voices. and that I wasn't as politically aware as I had imagined myself to be in retrospect. you didn't really think that when you were 5 years old. which is a strong brand I've sort of established. At the same time. especially when I'm not particularly angry. Register takes apart the blend of her adult writerly self and her childhood self. you just thought of that a few weeks ago when you were writing it down. Author writers worry about leaving poor constructions of self behind. but it also matters whether I'm in my sardonic attack-the-vendors mode. but I fi nd it extremely tiring to write those. He now sees that as excessive hero worship that kept him from writing as well as he could have. He told me that in his magazine writing he adopts a "character I created to write technical trade articles": It really does matter what the magazine is and what the assignment is. his ability to adopt others' styles or to draw upon aspects of himself remains an important part of his craft – and not an easy one to sustain. . though. a writer who is able to separate imaginary former selves from actual former selves. So I'm really glad she did that [saved the letters] – because it was just the check I needed.
Indeed. At one point he wrote a letter to Garrison Keillor. too. That contradiction may be less than meets the eye. "When I'm writing an instruction manual." For O'Leary. back when he was more of a "stylist" than a "reporter. these are powerful metaphors – to be an instrument of justice or a Christ figure – that have at least as much force as more literal understandings of himself as novelist." he said." He added. Outside of our formal interview. there is no one writing it. He takes pleasure in exposing corporations' lies in his trade articles. It's being written by a prose machine whose objective is only clarity. "I've found out that some people like instruments of justice … but you may find yourself nailed to a cross. Even so. O'Leary has said to me with comparable conviction that he is fully aware of himself and fully in control when writing manuals." The journalist Robert Sharoff also discussed his concern about sustaining a professional persona: the "mean" voice he once relied upon to make his living." something he says is motivated by a "good old Presbyterian sense of fair play. he must have an awareness of both his own erasure and his controlling presence. To imagine that you are not writing. but he also explained it metaphorically – as religious justice. and web developer." Of course. acting as "an instrument of justice. "That's the objective. even selferasure is an imaginative blend.com: . technical writer. he keeps in his writerly toolkit a tactic that is typical of technical writers: selfeffacement. he began to wonder if he had lost this journalistic voice forever. you must fi rst imagine that you are writing and blend together the two scenes. who was then writing an advice column for writers at Salon. Because self-effacement is not just an unconscious blend but also a conscious rhetorical claim. trade magazine writer.Claims to a complex self 139 That angry voice is close to the "real" O'Leary." After an important upheaval in his life and after gaining experience in "straight reporting" for the New York Times. what O'Leary controls most of all when writing manuals is the potential interference of alternative writing selves who might not share the objective of "only clarity.
Explaining why he writes now in a kinder way. Disappear into everything you look at" (82). however. Natalie Goldberg emphasizes the importance of learning to "trust your own voice" (1986: 60) but also urges listening to the external world to the point of disappearance: "You listen so deeply to the space around you that it fills you. personas aside. The core self the selfhelp books have in mind. reassuring letter saying that my former manner or style had been an act and a very effective one because it had paid the bills for many years. it pours out of you" (52–53). The voice is usually not clear: "More often you will hear subterranean murmur. somewhere inside of the writer. is far different from the actual self that we typically associate with the literate-inscriber story.140 The writing self I felt myself losing this persona. "Forget yourself. and so that makes me a mellower person. much more so than the writers I interviewed. but personally I'm at a much better place than I've probably ever been in. "It's odd. She says that "by listening in this way you become a clear mirror to reflect your reality and the reality around you" (53)." And a mellower writer. Anne Lamott urges writers to hear a "small inner voice" (1994: 113) that is so often stifled by the influence of others or by one's own ego. but I hadn't found a new persona. a truth ful voice that is there to be found. and when you write. Am I going to wind up writing a pet column or something? [Keillor] wrote back a very nice. Paradoxically. It may sound like one of the many separate voices that make the sound . in self-help books. the ultimate strategy for selfdiscovery is self-effacement. popular self-help books for writers emphasize. and I wondered what was going to happen to me. which was kind of nice. At the same time that Sharoff called his "meaner" writing voice a "persona. he observed simply. Finally." he saw his move away from it in relation to his private development – perhaps his real self. but that life had overtaken this and that I was now going to have to learn to write and live in a different kind of way. She distills this approach into the exhortation.
creeping in from around the corner" (114). But even when writing is based on the notion of a singular self. Summary The figure of the self has been criticized on the same ground as voice. Writing scholars have become increasingly dubious about the notion of an authentic self that is stable and singular. Ironically. conceptual blending. in everyday writing discourse. she claims.Summary 141 of a creek. all constructions of self potentially have sophisticated rhetorical motivations. Moreover. oblique and sneaky. however. The murmur is a kind of intuition that can only be understood metaphorically. who are most likely to construct complex conceptual blends that allow them to write as multiple or contingent selves. Or it may come in code. you must let the horse lead without your direction because "you will only get in the way" (114). . the self is a matter of figurative thought – that is. the phrases authentic self and core self are associated most closely with author writers. A friend of Lamott's calls it "his animal" (114) – which leads Lamott to advise that when you're lost as a writer.
" and in Carolyn Miller's well-known formulation the "windowpane theory of communication. 142 ." "the code model. Bowden 1999. however. thus we never transmit a perfect representation of the "external" world through a secure pipeline leading from giver to receiver (e. In short. Evans 2003. Weiss 1997. at the end of the line." According to the Conduit Metaphor. objections that vary in motivation and rationale. most of us have said that the Conduit Metaphor is wrong because language does not work the way the metaphor assumes. current language scholars object that language is fundamentally indirect. Cowley and Love 2006." "the transmission model. have raised objections to the Conduit Metaphor. Krzeszowski 2006). Slack. Longo 2000. contingent.g. imprecise.. Bizzell 1982. without overstating the case. and unstable. Miller 1979. Many language scholars. and. language contains meaning. I want to argue the opposite point: Prevalent objections to the Conduit Metaphor are wrong because metaphors do not work the way the objections assume. that no element of our figurative rhetoric of writing is more important than the Conduit Metaphor. Miller. audiences remove the unaltered meaning from its container. It is known by various names such as "the container metaphor. is not the variety of analysis applied to the Conduit Metaphor but the nearly unanimous condemnation the metaphor elicits. speakers and writers use linguistic containers to send meaning to audiences. and Doak 1993. What is most striking to me. Almost universally. Prior 1998.7 Writing to "get ideas across" The role of the Conduit Metaphor What we've got here is a failure to communicate. Axley 1996. including writing specialists. Cool Hand Luke I believe I can say. Captain.
Argument Is War. Johnson 1993. In other words. the relationship between the Conduit Metaphor and Language Is Power. sending. including the Conduit Metaphor. First. as if a metaphor amounts simply to a projection of one or more features from one discrete domain onto another. the standard objection fails to consider the Conduit Metaphor as anything other than a flat ontological assertion. are usually rhetorical. For example. Lakoff and Johnson 1999). in previous work. . the standard objection fails to consider metaphor systems and the rhetorical constitution of those systems. Since this kind of vacillation is associated with most important metaphors. I asked focus groups whether or not the conceptual metaphor Trade Is War is "true. discussants vacillated between does and should (or does not and should not) in discussing the accuracy of commercial war metaphors. Second. the Conduit Metaphor is part of an interrelated. and unpackaging pre-existent meanings. often combining the two fluidly. even insistently. Understanding Is A Journey. As George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have demonstrated well. But metaphors. Ideas Are Objects. Accordingly." Persistently. Lakoff 1996. a metaphor at least as prevalent as the Conduit Metaphor. and surely others. we have to consider both aspects of the Conduit Metaphor: the way it purports to tell us how communication really works and how it exhorts us to follow an ethical form of communication. I want to consider. in particular. therefore.Writing to "get ideas across" 143 Two main mistakes need to be corrected. the Conduit Metaphor is taken to assert that language or communication is essentially or always a process of packaging. gain important insight into a single metaphor without also considering the metaphors that support it and to which it responds. asserting both a description of the world and an ethical ideal. dynamic conceptual system that includes the metaphor/ metonymies Writing Is Speech. conceptual metaphors operate most commonly as part of larger conceptual systems (M. Most commentators carry on the Aristotelian habit of analyzing metaphors one at a time. We cannot. Truth Is Light. But metaphors do not work alone.
On the other hand. and fourth. That event shape entails other elements. he sees it as counterintuitive. an event shape that applies to all conveyances. Without these entailments. Conceptual metaphor theorists such as George Lakoff. containable. Reddy sees the Conduit Metaphor as built into English-speakers' way of thinking about language. putting thoughts into words. and movable. . But for the moment let me just note one irony: On the one hand. in order to speak about language in this way. He calls the idea that words can carry meanings – and. According to Reddy. therefore. the concrete expressions that reveal the Conduit Metaphor follow a defi nable logic.144 Writing to "get ideas across" The Conduit Metaphor and its critics More than two decades ago. people put meaning inside of words. But recent scholarship argues that everyday metaphors represent not bizarre assertions but fundamental cognition (Lakoff and Johnson 1980. In other words. and getting a lot out of a text. In sum. rather. Mark Johnson. Turner 1991. Michael Reddy alerted students of language to the Conduit Metaphor. the metaphoric conveyance is all but incomprehensible. the Conduit Metaphor is made up of an abstract or skeletal shape: Conveyance implies a source-path-goal image schema. people take meaning out of words at the end of the process (1993: 170). and in so doing he planted some early theoretical seeds of what is now called the "conceptual metaphor. I will offer some refi nements – in some respects. we have to assume four metaphorical things: First. second. it names the metaphoric assumptions that enable a range of common expressions such as getting the message across." Reddy points out that the Conduit Metaphor is not a specific expression. language conveys meaning from person to person. Gibbs 1994). words contain meaning in transit. Below. third. a challenge – to Reddy's description of the Conduit Metaphor. have insides and outsides – a "bizarre assertion" (168). 1999. meaning must be imagined as tangible. and Mark Turner would say that the logic accords with the metaphor's image schema and entailments. In order to convey meaning via language.
that is because Reddy and his adherents criticize the metaphor primarily on ontological grounds. in that respect. and certainty: what we need to know about writing. This work forgotten. the cognitivists' language-as-container metaphor ignores "the connection to social context afforded by recognition . we place all responsibility for successful communication on the originator (Reddy 1993: 185). regardless of how meaning exists before the pouring. I disagree with Reddy's practical conclusion. but something we must actively construct. The containers may not seem to be in convenient sizes at fi rst – we have to struggle with their "constraints" or "special demands" – but once we internalize these." Patricia Bizzell refutes cognitivism by accusing Linda Flower and John Hayes of grounding their theory on the Conduit Metaphor. Focusing on the metaphor's container entailment. (1982: 85) According to Bizzell. intact. Reddy's argument is complex and sometimes overly radical. written language as a factor in the process essentially disappears. but at bottom he only argues that meaning is not something that we passively receive. especially with respect to the constructedness of meaning. in her classic essay. we might have expected a growing recognition that language operates as it does in our culture largely because we use the Conduit Metaphor to structure our concept of it. Fancifully. we have seen an expansion of Reddy's critique. Bizzell argues: [Flower and Hayes] treat written English as a set of containers into which we pour meaning. not entirely foolish. "Cognition. In part. The critique is. Writing scholars' objections to the Conduit Metaphor are generally compatible with Reddy's. convention.The Conduit Metaphor and its critics 145 Given the direction that metaphor theory has taken. Instead. he imagines an "evil magician" who hypnotizes us so that we forget the work we do in constructing meaning from others' words. For example. but – if we take the Conduit Metaphor to be a sweeping ontological assertion – his root objection is solidly reasoned.
Urging a postmodern perspective. and has all along been characterized by a desire for bias-free language – a language through which sensory data can be communicated without linguistic distortion. arguing that even so-called objective scientific and technical writing does not constitute a clear window on reality but rather a "persuasive version of experience" that is constructed and endorsed by communities (616). consequently. Miller points out that the windowpane theory is part and parcel of scientific and logical positivism. impartially.146 Writing to "get ideas across" of the dialectical relationship between thought and language" (85). of course. she contends that "we can improve the teaching and study of technical writing by trading our covert acceptance of positivism for an overt consensualist perspective" – by casting off positivism's "intellectual tyranny" (616). And since a persuasive version of experience is the best writers can hope for. and efficiently. unemotionally." a theory that assumes the best scientific and technical writing is that which "most accurately and directly transmits reality" (1979: 610. Miller rejects the notion that language can ever be sufficient to represent "external" reality. As Miller recounts. Miller's criticism of the windowpane theory of communication has been remarkably influential. and multiplicity of language. the only meaningful statements are those which can be empirically verified" (612). continued into the twentieth century. It ignores language's "generative force" (85). Miller takes exception to standard textbook exhortations that technical communicators should write objectively. Similarly. accurately. emphasis added). a long-dominant epistemology based on "the conviction that sensory data are the only permissible basis for knowledge. positivism began in the Enlightenment. Elizabeth Overman Smith (1997) . Carolyn Miller objects to the "windowpane theory of communication. situatedness. positivism has been largely supplanted by postmodernism. Ultimately. In current writing studies. which emphasizes the "always already" constructedness of experience and the inherent instability.
In a culture based on dominant scientific knowledge. is not merely about the systematic recording and conveyance of facts. Longo observes: At the end of the 20th century. she tells us.The Conduit Metaphor and its critics 147 reports that Miller's critique was cited sixty-eight times between 1979 and 1995. In her cultural history of technical writing. but. The history of technical writing. homelessness. John Locke. to name but a few of the more apparent issues. many people in Western cultures are beginning to realize that positivist science – and its knowledge/power system – do not allow us to adequately address complex social issues that seem to defy remedy: environmental degradation. Technical language – the purported invisible conduit – has been the legitimated coin of that economy. the trouble is not just that positivism and its conduit metaphor are intellectually misguided. not counting mentions in textbooks. . more importantly. breakdown of family units. arms control. it continues to be influential: Google Scholar™ lists eighty-six citations of the article from 1997 to 2009. hate speech and actions. and any number of 20th-century technical writing textbook authors" (Longo 2000: 165. teenage unwed parents. it is always a social force that must be reckoned with. Of more recent times. T. but that the language and beliefs of positivism are inordinately powerful: Not only is language never neutral. the Royal Society. (2000: 165) In Longo's view. She points out that the "view of technical writing as an invisible conduit transmitting reality through clear language has a venerable history in the writing of [Francis] Bacon. Bernadette Longo cites Miller and attaches an even broader consequence to the conduit framework. about an economy of knowledge in which technical language is used as a means of social control. A. these social problems are seen as problems for science (just as all problems are seen as nails to the person who only has a hammer). Rickard. compare de Man 1979). Indeed.
in addition. a novice graduate student's task is essentially to make a cognitive journey to the center of a discipline. While Miller and many other writing scholars promote a consensualist or "discourse community" perspective in order to counter the Conduit Metaphor. sociohistoric theories point to a different conceptual ensemble. How else could we account for communication? It provides a powerful ground for structuralist theories such as Saussure's. Reddy (1993). In his study of writing and disciplinarity in graduate school. a view that assumes communities share knowledge so fully that the Conduit Metaphor is.148 Writing to "get ideas across" In my view. I want to mention. (1998: 19) He goes on to argue that communities and contexts are not discrete spaces but dynamic. school . it seems like common sense. to internalize the discipline's language. that its failure has negative implications for the teaching and practice of writing. Miller (1979). making many of their claims and entailments appear natural. and disembodied. asocial. and knowledge. one objection that differs in an important way. impersonal. interpenetrated. In this view. I am suggesting that activity is laminated. Paul Prior disputes what he terms a "structuralist" view of discourse communities. that multiple activities co-exist.. That image fits well with dominant cultural representations of academic work as rational. sufficient to explain successful communication. he contends: The conduit metaphor's account for how meanings are transmitted offers a very persuasive image of mutual understanding (intersubjectivity). then. Working from different communicative premises. and Longo (2000) are representative opponents of the Conduit Metaphor. rules. Bizzell (1982). however. are immanent.g. in any situation. by itself. Indeed. not just because they argue that the conduit fails as a metalinguistic concept but because they claim. Whereas one or more of these activity footings (e. and dialogic activities: In other words.
Moreover. "I wonder what he meant by that" (Pinker 1994: 230). This view leads to such glib refutations of the Conduit Metaphor as Stephen Pinker's joke: Two psychoanalysts meet on the street. pointing out that the "overt consensualist perspective" or the "structuralist" view of discourse communities can be taken too far.g. the Conduit Metaphor is still too simple ontologically. neighborhood. That is. it is radically complex. But his problematized view of communities gives us a basis for reevaluating the logic of the Conduit Metaphor. "Good morning. if not unknowable. and interpretation. work) do not disappear. activity is perspectival as well as laminated.The Conduit Metaphor and its critics 149 learning) may be relatively foregrounded at any one time. only knowable through considerable effort. Prior's view is neither radically subjective nor radically consensualist. Under these circumstances. unable to gain access to other spaces except by sending symbolic messages (language) through a central hub (1993: 171–76). (24) This revisionist view of how communities are constituted – although it is offered in support of a new objection to the Conduit Metaphor – should make us rethink standard objections to the Conduit Metaphor. Communities and contexts are not essentially separate but fundamentally and dynamically interwoven. guesswork. successful communication involves a laborious process of trial and error. . Prior de-emphasizes intersubjectivity in discourse communities." Reddy imagines that we are like a mythical people who live in similar but nonetheless discrete spaces. In Prior's view." And the other thinks. his "laminated and perspectival" view of communities is helpfully distinct from Reddy's "radical subjectivism. One says. At the same time. with co-participants holding differently configured activity footings … Viewing activity as laminated and perspectival makes it clear that neither situated activity nor systems of activity can occur in autonomous spaces. of home. Reddy's radical subjectivism suggests that others' meanings are.. the backgrounded activities (e.
is that knowledge. then. have also used Language Is Power for their book titles. we would have little basis for ethical objections to lying. and power are all deeply intertwined. And . Kaufer et al. failure to warn. Dorothy Winsor gives us a situated view of Writing Power. It is crucial that we recognize. in certain instances. Without it. a concept that has both evident ontological and ethical ramifications. it combines with Language Is Power. Our contemporary scholarly examinations of the relation between rhetoric and power have tended to move directly into questions of ethics. It is hard to imagine how any one of them might function without drawing upon and leading to the presence of the other two. (2004) claim to reveal The Power of Words.150 Writing to "get ideas across" Although the Conduit Metaphor may fail to describe all that transpires in typical writing situations. however. it does not impose an erroneously reductive structure upon complex activity but rather grows out of a complex of embodied activity. Peter Elbow (1981) promotes expressive writing in a book he titles Writing with Power. concealment. failure to be responsive. In a micro-rhetorical study of words strings. it is combined with other concepts whose implications support its credibility. situated experience. whose theoretical stances differ significantly from Elbow's. Language Is Power and its supporters In rhetoric and composition. It is a rhetorical metaphor that. in an ethnographic study of engineers' writing. asserts a description of communication or an ethical standard. She elaborates on the relationship between writing and power with substantial emphasis: What we see at Pacific Equipment. it is central to what most of us believe. that when the Conduit Metaphor is treated as credible. and rhetorical human relationships. Most saliently. texts. the status of Language Is Power could not be more different from the status of the Conduit Metaphor. Other important writing scholars. and so on. Seemingly. no matter what we believe. for example.
I share these concerns because it is obvious to me that writing "well" means writing powerfully. as distinct as metaphor and metonymy may be. indeed. to see power solely as dangerous and open to abuse. For example. we caution researchers to set limits on their own power over study participants. nothing uncommon at all about a metonymic motivation for metaphor. we have tended to be deeply suspicious of power. I know that I can use writing to generate a powerful position for myself in my own field. To analyze Language Is Power well. there is nothing uncommon about a single figure doubling as metaphor and metonymy – and. objecting to a book that favors the exclusive teaching of standard English. and I try to be careful to use that power well. we usually do not emphasize equally its metaphoric and metonymic dimensions. Instead. emphasis original). In Pierre Bourdieu's terms. Thus. Douglas Kibbee writes. for instance. we must begin by recognizing its simultaneous operation as metaphor and metonymy. and we worry that writing can be so effective that it can empower the writer to trample on the rights of others. This widespread and diverse acceptance of Language Is Power is possible because it is a complicated figure that operates in various forms and with various underlying assumptions. Kibbee does not mean that the conceptual domain of language is structured by the conceptual domain of power. As I have discussed in previous chapters. Language Is Power as metonymy Although Language Is Power is both metaphor and metonymy. and no one would deny it" (1998: 530. Kaufer.Language Is Power as metonymy 151 in those examinations of ethics. (2003: 155) I can hardly conceive of a stronger endorsement of a figure from more diverse perspectives than those of Elbow. and Winsor. "Language is power. he explains that "the status of standard English has everything to do with the power of the groups that come the closest to speaking it as a native .
it is commonplace to acknowledge the metonymy of language and power." including full human worth. Currently. and so on. native American and other children who disproportionately fail in school – mean less than other children. Not surprisingly. and social inequities. there is a growing body of evidence that the metonymy Language Is Power reveals political. They foreshorten our view of human nature. If language is a form of power. including many children. and thus to categorize language as a kind of power. James Paul Gee. economic power. Kibbee's use of Language Is Power is metonymic. to other humans. since many writing researchers are concerned with writers who are relatively powerless. privilege us who have mastered them and do significant harm to others. then we have to examine what we do with it. exhorts us that his work: provides good reason to believe that mainstream dominant Discourses in our society and. and this metonymy bears upon our categorization of language as power. The word "discourse. because standard English is proximate to those who exercise power. In other words. Power is a superordinate category that subsumes various kinds of power that are proximate to powerful social groups: linguistic power. legal power. This conceptualization has important consequences for the ethics of writing. one of the most emphatic. They involve us in foolish views about other human beings and their Discourses.152 Writing to "get ideas across" language" (530). They render us complicit with a denial of "goods. economic. In a book now nearly two decades old. They imply that some children – including many black. we can all agree there is such a thing as linguistic power. Some scholars insist that all discourses are fraught with ethical implications. has come to mean not language in particular but a fusion of language and institutional practices that establish or perpetuate power relations. you have . Thus." under the influence of Foucault and others. Chicano. if you … agree with me. school-based Discourses. human diversity and the capacities for human change and development. in particular.
another to conceptually structure the domain of language in terms of the domain of power. . Trimbur challenges. "I promise to keep an open mind. This uneasy relationship between standard and non-standard English "goes beyond the observation that English is the language of power" to a systematic depiction of non-English speakers as "outside the speech community of the school and other domains of power" (156). Or. That is the point at which the metonymy Language Is Power folds into the metaphor Language Is Power. "You are a very perceptive theorist." those words have the power to make me feel complimented. the importance of "love of English. if I say to you. in its metonymic dimension. John Trimbur's reassessment of composition studies' famous Dartmouth conference at which the question of standard English was a topic. gain meta-knowledge about these Discourses and Discourses in general. (1990: 191. for example. promised." which can amount to "a kind of loyalty oath" that speakers of non-standard English are coerced into taking (2008: 166). According to speech act theory. which proposes that linguistic utterances in various ways change circumstances in the world: Speech acts have an effect or exert a force.Language Is Power as metaphor 153 contracted a moral obligation to reflect on. Language Is Power makes it imperative that we examine the material effects of language use. emphasis original) One does not have to accept Gee's view of policy in order to accept that Language Is Power is something more than a decorative way of talking about language. Consider. by the power of those words. That metonymy remains an important part of commentary on composition today." I have. Language Is Power as metaphor It is one thing to see that powerful people are proximate to certain varieties of language. The metaphoric dimension of Language Is Power has been most prominently discussed in speech act theory. as one of the Dartmouth speakers did. if you say to me. Indeed.
The speech act metaphor recruits Language Is Power. In order to understand the alignments of the Conduit–Power Combination. we must do two things: First. we must recognize the systematic relationship between the Conduit Metaphor and .154 Writing to "get ideas across" No doubt. The Conduit–Power Combination Language Is Power and the Conduit Metaphor are linked in numerous ways. That we can easily comprehend the metaphor underlying speech act theory is not mysterious. In a more general way. but more often they suggest that under certain conditions language can cause metaphorical fi res or wars. we often call language forceful. This linkage may seem at first to be paradoxical. Moreover. ontologically or ethically. Similarly. to change one's mind. as it has been described by many academics. alter circumstances outside of themselves. or effective. These expressions can mean that certain kinds of language resemble fi re or war. speech accomplishes what they say it accomplishes. powerful. we often call language incendiary or bellicose. characterizes communication as inert. Thus the phrase speech act is itself metaphorical. say. But their description of that process is metaphorical for a couple of reasons. All of these expressions adhere to the entailments of Language Is Power. Especially as a metonymy. even though a speech act may be seen as a type of act. For example. To chop wood is more typical of an act than. Seductive language has the metaphorical sexual power to change someone's responsive emotions and actions. speech act theorists mean to describe literal phenomena. a conceptual metaphor that we express in everyday writing and talk. But the truth is the metaphors do not contradict one another. Language Is Power often characterizes communication as politically and socially invested. acts and their effects are typically physical. in various ways. Language Is Power says that words can. and neither functions without the other. which I discuss in detail below. we call language seductive. Words such as force suggest a structuring of the domain of language in terms of the domain of power. The Conduit Metaphor.
if a target domain has the image schema of a linear path with a distinct beginning and end. Indeed. In other words. but fundamental to thought. as Todd Oakley (1999) points out. Second. another. we do not project onto it an image schema of circularity or infi nity. and to comprehend others' symbolic imaginings as well." which states that for successful metaphors we map as much of a source domain's image schema as is compatible with the target domain's image schema (Turner 1992. they necessarily respond to other metaphors. Metaphoric mapping and systematic combination is but one example of this capacity. . both supporting and competing. Conceptual metaphors are not rhetorically neutral. For example. it is called "generic similarity" (Turner 2001. The systematicity of the Conduit–Power Combination Metaphors combine systematically largely through image-schematic compatibility – commonalities among abstract shapes of physical entities and events. we need to recognize the rhetorical environment that helps to constitute the two metaphors. to imagine various perspectives of those simulations.The systematicity of the Conduit–Power Combination 155 Language Is Power. Lakoff 1993). This constraint has been expressed in "the invariance principle. Just as conceptual metaphors have certain internal entailments. the operation of image schemas is seen by conceptual metaphor theorists as crucial evidence that metaphors are not mere decoration. yet it is not trivial. it is basic to the "human rhetorical potential" that we are able to perform mental simulations out of place and time. In blending theory. even entail. the entailments of complementary conceptual metaphors can align and overlap. one metaphor can imply. Fauconnier and Turner 2002). We cannot evaluate the significance of the Conduit Metaphor or Language Is Power until we consider the rhetorical give and take in which it takes part. Moreover. Image-schematic systematicity is easy enough to comprehend. Because they align with political and philosophical interests.
and language . and word-containers travel along a path from origin to destination. words are containers. "I have to struggle to get any meaning at all out of the sentence" (189–94). forty-four – more than half – suggest that the Conduit Metaphor is problematic or that it only describes a certain kind of successful communication. beginning with the Conduit Metaphor. First. But this still leaves out much that is important. This source-path-goal image schema has at least three entailments. Sometimes we lose things in translation. and that the receiver takes the meaning out of the words. So far. Meaning is a physical entity of some sort. We worry about capturing meanings. Of those seventy-nine. so good. language often fails. that the words convey the meaning from originator to receiver. but they are empty of either meaning or feeling". "Your thoughts here don't quite make it across". however. "Don't force your meaning into the wrong words". Second. "His lines may rhyme. We can see this best when we consider Reddy's examples. Far from indicating that English incorporates an unduly simplified concept of communication. these expressions reveal an ordinary awareness that. The image schema and entailments of the Conduit Metaphor In Reddy's description. what he calls "the major framework" (1993: 189–94). as a conduit. That awareness suggests some further entailments of the Conduit Metaphor. then.156 Writing to "get ideas across" Let us consider. Here are just a few: "You'll have to get your ideas across to her better". Reddy provides us with an impressive seventy-nine examples of expressions that recruit the main logic of the Conduit Metaphor. the logic of the Conduit Metaphor says that an originator puts meaning into words. the image schemas and entailments of the two metaphors. there is a gap or space between originator and receiver that can impede communication. the meaning we put "into" words is not easily contained and does not exhibit an obvious one-to-one relationship with words. "You cannot simply stuff ideas into a sentence any old way".
The image schema of the Conduit Metaphor 157
moves through that space in various patterns that can hinder our ability to receive meanings. When words fail to convey meaning, it is often lost or goes over our heads or wanders. Reddy mentions instances in which words or ideas float around rather than reaching their destination, but he sees this as part of a minor model of the Conduit Metaphor. I suggest, though, it is an entailed constraint of the major model: Without open space, there would be no need for a conduit. (See Vanparys [1995] for a discussion of the Conduit Metaphor and gaps; see Rudzka-Ostyn [1988] for a discussion of metalinguistic expressions and spatial motion.) Third, our sensorimotor capacities are entailed. When language fails, we cannot grab onto or catch meaning as we would an object. We cannot see the meaning as we would an object or a representation of an object. Of course, the conditions of failure imply the conditions of success – the fl ipside of the entailments I've just enumerated. First, success requires that we work – exercise our volition – to fi nd a good fit between meaning and words. Successful words are well chosen. Likewise, if our words are well chosen, other people will have no trouble – will be able to exercise their volition – in receiving our meaning. Our language is accessible. Second, well-chosen words and accessible language cross the space between originator and receiver in an optimal way. Successful communication is direct, straightforward, and pointed. Third, successful communication is clear. We can see the meaning – accurate representations of things we can grip, weigh, toss around. Most obviously, we picture concrete things and activities referred to by prototypical nouns and verbs, and we picture them in the relations that are indicated by other words and by word order. Less obviously, we often – some would say always – make abstract meaning visible through metaphor and metonymy. These additional entailments – the need for volition, the need for directness through space, and the need for tactile or visual understanding – support various metaphors that are related to the Conduit Metaphor by what Wittgenstein calls "family resemblance." For example, although the windowpane theory of communication does
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not obviously involve putting meaning into a container, it depends upon our ability to access meaning through direct sight lines, which are made possible by the volitional choices of a successful communicator. Similarly, our everyday language speaks of words as representations: Successful language reflects reality or paints an accurate picture. These representations depict images of things we can touch or otherwise experience through senses other than sight. The more we elaborate upon the entailments of the Conduit Metaphor, the more we must recognize it as beholden to the objectivist model of meaning that many language scholars fi nd in error. As I noted earlier, that is a major reason for objections to the Conduit Metaphor. But the standard objection does not take into account either how basic the metaphor is or how limited its application is. The Conduit Metaphor combines what Joseph Grady (1998) calls "primary" metaphors: deeply entrenched metaphors that index sensorimotor, perceptual, and social experience. That is, the Conduit Metaphor is a composite of basic touching, giving, and seeing experience applied to communication. For example, it incorporates the primary metaphor Knowing Is Seeing, which allows us to see another's point, to look at problems carefully, and to take a different view of things (compare Grady 1997). It stands to reason that so basic a concept would help us to defi ne success in communication. Yet a reliance on basic experience need not make us naïve: We apply basic concepts in limited ways. We do not imagine that the Knowing Is Seeing component of the Conduit Metaphor unproblematically describes every act of communication. In fact, we are forever reading between the lines, getting lost in conversations and texts, observing that people say one thing and mean another, and getting the message even when it is not delivered in so many words.
The image schema and entailments of Language Is Power
One of the ways we limit our application of the Conduit Metaphor is to combine it systematically with Language Is Power, whose image
The image schema of Language Is Power 159
schema overlaps with the conduit image schema. Like the Conduit Metaphor, Language Is Power is a complex metaphor that incorporates several primary metaphors. Important among these is A Cause Is A Force (Lakoff and Johnson 1999: 170–234). We typically metaphorize things that bring about change as physical powers. Thus language brings about change through manipulation, magnetism, invigoration, and so on. Moreover, causality – and thus power – has numerous models (compare Turner 1987: 139–83; Talmy 1988; Lakoff and Johnson 1999: 170–234). Language Is Power uses two models. The first is the Direct Force Model in which power impels specific movement in another object. In this model, power is invisible, linear, and is usually mediated by an object, as in the well-known billiard ball analogy. Direct Force thus produces a localized effect. The second is the General Conditions Model in which power restrains or moves any object in its field. In this model, power is invisible, dispersed, and does not need a mediating object to produce an effect. When an object is in the power's environment, either the power acts directly upon the object or it animates the object itself. For example, just as an object pulled downward by gravity seems to be dropping, people who use powerful language seem themselves to be powerful. In both models, power can potentially be regulated or resisted. Language Is Power and the Conduit Metaphor align in different ways, depending on the power model recruited. When we recruit the Direct Force Model, we align mediating and directness entailments. Just as words convey power from originator to receiver in order to achieve responsive action, words convey meaning in a direct line from originator to receiver in order to achieve communication. When we recruit the General Conditions Model, we align diffuse force or animation. That is, we are not concerned with the containable meaning of words, sentences, or texts but rather with the invisible suffusing of communicative space with biasing energy. Perhaps the most obvious instance of the Direct Force Model of Language Is Power would be any English sentence in the imperative
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voice. If I say to you, Jump!, I say it in order to change something – namely, your position in relation to whatever is under your feet. Whether that imperative utterance turns out to be effective may depend upon my social power and our relationship, but when such an utterance works, it works according to the Direct Force Model. I convey my desire to you via mediating language in order to produce a predictable, localized effect. Of course, there may be less direct ways of expressing my desire. I might say, "It would be nice for you to propel yourself upward by means of the muscles in your legs." I might use the word jump metaphorically, another form of indirection. But if certain pragmatic conditions are present, and it is important and ethically justified for me to cause you to jump, optimal directness matters. If you are standing on the edge of a burning roof, with flames licking your heels, and the only way for you to escape is to leap beyond the flames, the command Jump! is an ethical thing for me to say. Other circumlocutions probably are not. And the word "circumlocution" comports with the metaphoric reason why not: We use the Conduit Metaphor, combined with Language Is Power, as an ontological and ethical measure of what makes desirable communication. The General Conditions Model of Language Is Power applies well to condemnations of sexist language. Sexist language, we reason, creates an atmosphere in which all women are harmed. Its pejorative force is as invisible – and thus as insidious – as it is diffuse. Sexist language may have local effects, but it nonetheless operates generally: One apple may fall to the ground, but gravity is still everywhere. The General Conditions Model of Language Is Power does not recruit the conduit itself as part of an ethical imperative but rather emphasizes the Conduit Metaphor's space-betweenpeople entailment. It assumes that although a conduit may be able to contain and convey some meaning, other meaning – and thus power – disperses. Diffuse linguistic power constrains action and beliefs.
then. must operate. ahistorical logic. Rhetorical inferences Philosophers have spent much effort in trying to apprehend disembodied. we depend on social. and (3) rhetorical responsiveness. (2) ideologically motivated mappings. but most of our reasoning. I realize. Such a discussion. culturally and historically contingent reasoning we apply to concrete situations. As Edwin Hutchins has shown so elegantly.The rhetoric of the Conduit–Power Combination 161 The rhetorical constitution of the Conduit–Power Combination So far. he notes the inference that leads people to combine metaphors. We might formulate that inference in a standard logical form: Families usually regulate people's moral lives. the configuring of metaphors in accordance with cultural and ideological assumptions. perhaps all of it. Conceptual metaphors are not only systematically related but are also rhetorically constituted. then. It follows. we typically . including the Conduit–Power Combination. may seem mechanistic – a matter of aligning the square source with the square target. when Lakoff (1996) points out the systematic relationship between the Nation As Family and Moral Accounting metaphors. I have discussed only the image schemas and entailments of the Conduit–Power Combination. that when we reason in more probabilistic arenas.or shape-matching. on the larger discursive environment in which conceptual metaphors. it would nonetheless be mistaken to view conceptual metaphors as simply exercises in feature. This rhetorical constitution takes three forms: (1) rhetorical inferences. cultural knowledge to guide our inferences. Cartesian reasoning – is filtered through representations that are at once culturally pervasive and largely invisible to us. Let me touch briefly. For example. politically and philosophically motivated patterns of response among conceptual metaphors. But while image-schematic compatibility is important. even maritime navigation – which would seem to apply universal. is biased by social and cultural knowledge.
That is. we know that most people in our culture believe that good ends should be pursued by means that work well and that are. implications. and morality. It is.162 Writing to "get ideas across" metaphorize morality as accounting. nations. If we accept Language Is Power. If language is to bring about good ends. when we metaphorize a nation as a family. probabilistic. But this logic makes no sense without our knowledge of cultural regularities – what we know of families. but they do not. Only in extreme or special circumstances do people say that good ends justify bad means. therefore. in and of themselves. In sum. we often suspect the Conduit Metaphor has been subverted. When language creates good general conditions. if the power of language causes specific bad ends. The Conduit Metaphor and Language Is Power are likewise related by rhetorical inferences. ethical. In turn. It also promises truth-telling in its most basic experiential form. thus ethical acceptability. When people lie. thus efficiency. the rhetorical logic applying to conduit and power metaphors is partly as follows: Language Is Power (Direct Force Model) tells us that language brings about specific ends. commerce. therefore. On the other hand. we assume an efficiency and ethical acceptability of diffuse energy in the linguistic space entailed by the Conduit Metaphor. the Conduit–Power Combination cannot operate without appeal to rhetorical logic. The Conduit Metaphor promises linguistic accuracy and directness. we also want the means to be efficient and ethical. we imply that the nation-family regulates moral accounting. We know that most people in our culture consider certain ends good – notably personal well-being and maintenance of property rights (compare Markel 1997). Accordingly. we . and atmospherics – whatever is not containable in words – do not support bad ends. as well as what we know of the values that attach to cultural institutions and activities. good or bad. It is rhetorical logic. we assume that connotations. A similar rhetorical logic applies to Language Is Power (General Conditions Model). they pretend to convey representations of reality.
But the mapping nonetheless depends on challengeable assumptions and is thus rhetorically constituted.. for instance. the complications of addressing audiences notwithstanding (e. if we accept the logic of the Conduit Metaphor. the instruction manual. accurately. But that uncontroversial view of the instruction manual situation is deeply ideological and thus open to rhetorical dispute. When ethical and legal disputes arise. we cannot ignore the socially generated ethical imperatives of Language Is Power. It is hardly controversial to say that the instruction manual prompts action for which the author is ethically responsible. Consider perhaps the most obvious application of the Conduit–Power Combination. Barabas [Abbott] 1993. It assumes. . that a unified corporate voice is more important than the personal voices of the individual writers who actually compose the language of the manual. straightforwardly. and that shared framework permits an unproblematic mapping of the Conduit–Power Combination onto the rhetorical situation. a member of that audience has a responsibility to take it. Winsor 1999). all sides typically work within this culturally specific. Conversely.g. It assumes that the needs of a secondary audience do not determine fundamental ethical questions. ideologically imagined framework. It assumes that once an imaginatively unified corporate voice has made its meaning adequately accessible to an imaginatively unified primary audience. It is equally uncontroversial to say that a manual writer has an ethical duty to try to communicate unambiguously.The rhetoric of the Conduit–Power Combination 163 create a socially generated ethical need for the Conduit Metaphor. and so on. but the ideological construction of those situations precedes the mapping and is then reinforced by it. Ideologically motivated mappings The Conduit–Power Combination does indeed map neatly onto certain communicative situations. It assumes that the protection of the consumer is more important than the protection of the corporation.
But we would seldom have said. and social commitments. and these commitments have rhetorical consequences. Trade Is Friendship. Moreover. The United States wants to occupy foreign markets like a conquering army. While dialogue among metaphors is in some ways systematic – for instance. In the United States.164 Writing to "get ideas across" Rhetorical responsiveness Conceptual metaphors are made up of concrete utterances. economic. ascribe to other people metaphors whose commitments we reject. Since conceptual metaphors are responsive in nature. many of us utter it in ascribed. and Trade Is Peace. Trade Is A Journey. To manage these consequences. philosophical. the Conduit–Power Combination is always part of an ongoing conversation among English metalinguistic concepts. they are both enabled by standard patterns of response and potentially in tension with these patterns. war and game metaphors have significantly overlapping entailments – it is also deeply ideological. To utter any instance of a conceptual metaphor is inevitably to engage in an ongoing conversation that is culturally informed. and thus they are always sociohistorically situated. We cannot concretely instantiate Trade Is War without responding to and anticipating responses from relevant concepts such as Trade Is A Game. For example. Japanese corporations are engaged in a relentless battle to conquer our markets. especially in the early 1990s. sometimes intensified. and invent attenuated or intensified concrete expressions that align with our rhetorical interests. we cannot proceed far into a discussion . Similarly. We cannot describe some language as direct and forceful without inviting the already existent response that other language is indirect and weak. Since Trade Is War is a controversial metaphor in the United States. we might have said. we deploy conceptual metaphors in particular ways: We claim metaphors whose commitments are agreeable to us. I have previously found that the metaphor Trade Is War is implicated in a complex of responsive metaphors and concepts (Eubanks 2000). forms. That is. professional. important metaphors involve political. Markets Are Containers.
might well employ a claimed. for example. The conversation among metalinguistic metaphors is rhetorical. repugnance.Ethical use of the Conduit–Power Combination 165 of direct. few of us would proudly claim (that is. instance of conduit and power metaphors. forceful language without engaging metaphors of aggression. On the other hand. At the same time. ready at hand. We cannot utter an instance of the Conduit Metaphor or Language Is Power without involving ourselves in questions of value that. even intensified. in turn. Complex as it may be. acceptability. philosophy. economics. the Conduit–Power Combination is nonetheless constituted by a rhetorical dialogue that is informed by widely held ethical values. If we happen at a given moment not to raise a given concept explicitly. one or more metalinguistic metaphors will become salient. Rather. ethical values. playfulness. This involvement is apparent in the particular ways we employ the Conduit–Power Combination. mapped in ways that do not emphasize directness or force: She has a way of getting her point across without hitting you in the face with it. attraction. Ethical use of the Conduit–Power Combination I speculate that the Conduit Metaphor is sometimes regarded with suspicion because of the very prevalence of metaphor studies itself. depending on cultural. For example. and the like. it merely slips into an accessible background. has little effect on readers. that does not mean the concept has disappeared or is irrelevant. apply to ourselves) an intensified instance of the Conduit–Power Combination such as this one: The language in my work wanders widely and. inadequacy. A description of conversational tact. . therefore. tastefulness. and so on. At various moments. as any conversation about a subject so fundamentally human as language must be. the rhetorical operation of the Conduit–Power Combination is highly nuanced. the Conduit–Power Combination is rhetorically constituted precisely because the potential for disagreement is always there. raise issues of politics.
ontological and ethical. is fundamentally flawed. More than one commentator has criticized the Conduit Metaphor for its containment entailment and.166 Writing to "get ideas across" In chorus. as used in ordinary English and in writing pedagogy. As Chaim Perelman (1982) observes. one aspect or another can be emphasized in order to make a point. of course. Both in its ordinary and pedagogical use the Conduit Metaphor combined with Language Is Power supports rhetorical claims. insightfully. These criticisms rely on a hyper-literal interpretation of the metaphor. Bowden 1993). Most importantly. A measure of skepticism when it comes to our entrenched metaphors is. metaphor researchers have admonished us that metaphor is not mere decoration but the very essence of much human cognition. the limitations of language communication. If we think with metaphors. then we had better be careful what metaphors we think with. Critics of the Conduit Metaphor have done just that: They have emphasized the metaphor's containment and conveyance entailments as a means of describing a naïve or false ontology of language. accordingly. as the next chapter will further show. and. I cannot deny that commentators have used critiques of the Conduit Metaphor to point out.g. about what is possible in language communication. recommended against phrases such as putting ideas in words (e. the logic goes. that it treats language in a flatly mistaken way. with sufficient care. But they also make an additional and problematic claim: that the Conduit Metaphor. One effect of this refrain has been to transform time-honored suspicions of metaphor as decorative obfuscation into fresh suspicions of metaphor as thought. The Conduit Metaphor is a complicated figure that functions as part of a capacious and figurative rhetoric. sensible.. the Conduit Metaphor provides a basis for ethical objectives such as . as if in means literally inside of. The trouble with that skepticism arises not because we are more than ever aware of our metaphors. metaphors are flexible. Reddy 1993. people use the conduit framework far more flexibly than that. perhaps. but because we are not aware enough of the way metaphors function in concrete discourse. But.
such as a strategic holding back of explanation or a judicious use of implicature. For example. science is "a preparation for action" (1969: 42). The Conduit–Power Combination is malleable and. Just as often. no situation. fits and is fitting for a variety of discourses and situations. We should be cautious. the Conduit–Power Combination is applied differently in different situations. and accessibility from time to time. and no text is fully homogeneous. rather. since we typically apply the Language Is Power (Direct Force Model) to the operator's manual. The importance of these objectives shifts depending on social or communicative context. to avoid over-generalizing about any discourse or text type. therefore. direct. stories that are rhetorically constructed and can be associated with contradictory claims.Ethical use of the Conduit–Power Combination 167 clarity. No discourse type. to help us imagine how indirectness has its effect. literary or non-literary. in combination with Language Is Power (General Conditions Model). but it does require some measure of these qualities because. even . however. Although its clarity and directness entailments are not ethically paramount in that case. genre is closely tied to stories of writing. and accessibility as procedural discourse. of course. We still have to imagine clarity. scientific discourse may not require the same degree of clarity. We also need to be especially cautious when we consider specific texts and situations. the Conduit Metaphor is not denied. As I have already suggested. But the obvious example of procedural discourse does not fully illuminate the way the Conduit–Power Combination is or should be applied. directness. directness. In general. the more applicable Language Is Power (Direct Force Model). thus. literariness is associated with indirectness. we also want the manual to be clear. directness. depending on the text's relation to ultimate action or desired reaction. the more ethically important the Conduit Metaphor's compatible entailments. As we have seen in earlier chapters. Even literary genres may call for clarity. as Kenneth Burke has observed. and accessible. directness. and accessibility in order to avoid an excess of them. We also call upon the Conduit Metaphor's space-between-people entailment. all acts of communication. and accessibility.
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if we can perceive them as unified wholes, function concretely as heterogeneous compilations of practices, interests, and tactics. Thus we cannot ethically apply the Conduit–Power Combination without analyzing closely the particulars of text and context. Consider, for example, Steven Katz's example of abhorrent technical language: a memo detailing "technical improvements to the vans being used in the early Nazi program of exterminating the Jews and other 'undesirables'" (1992: 256). Obviously, any document that furthers genocide is ethically indefensible, no matter what its specific characteristics. But Katz objects to the memo not just on the grounds of its heinous aim but also because its writing style attests to an ethic of expediency that makes it "by any formal criteria in technical communication … an almost perfect document" (256). No doubt, we are repelled by the memo's consistent focus on concrete, technical objectives:
The van's normal load is usually nine per square yard. In Saurer vehicles, which are very spacious, maximum use of space is impossible, not because of a possible overload, but because loading to full capacity would affect the vehicle's stability. So a reduction of the load space seems necessary.
Such writing, in Katz's view, should be seen as part of a larger phenomenon, a tendency, all too evident in the twentieth century, to view science, technology, and its functional language as things worthy in and of themselves, whether or not their consequences may fi nally be destructive to humanity. Katz is right that the memo's style is typical of much technical writing. But its depravity does not easily escape our attention either – in part, because we can apply the Conduit–Power Combination. First, where the memo is direct, that directness implies the Direct Force Model, making us face squarely the memo's heinous aim. Yet the memo is not always direct. For example, it speaks of transporting a "load" of "merchandise" (255). The Nazi writer saw no need
Summary 169
for clarity, directness, and accessibility when it came to using words such as people. The memo's moments of indirectness – such as the nominalized "screaming always occurs when the doors are closed" (255) – can only be seen as a refusal to be direct when direct language would be most self-implicating. The memo is abhorrent not just because its aim is evil but also because its style is, at crucial moments, equivocal. Direct language would not make the memo acceptable; nothing could. But the Conduit–Power Combination provides a basis for determining why its indirect style is so extraordinarily craven. The Nazi memo brings into relief two important points: First, we cannot apply the Conduit Metaphor simply or without appeal to other ethical values. Second, we cannot easily, or ethically, dispense with it. As should be clear by now, I agree with the Conduit Metaphor's critics that it matters what metaphors we use to describe language. But the Conduit Metaphor supports more claims about writing than just the discredited Enlightenment canard that using language in a careful and scientific way can promote pure objectivity – an expression of unadulterated truth. Indeed, in the figurative rhetoric of writing, the Conduit Metaphor is the basis of a wide range of ethical claims and a full complement of imaginings of the writing situation.
The Conduit Metaphor has been persistently condemned by language scholars, including scholars in writing studies, but it is a key part of the figurative rhetoric of writing. Rather than simply asserting a mistaken view of linguistic communication, the Conduit Metaphor combines with the metaphor Language Is Power to form an ethical measure of discourses, genres, and texts.
8 Codes and conversations
The other Conduit Metaphor
In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come; And take thy way where yet thou art not known, If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus'd her thus to send thee out of door. Anne Bradstreet, "The author to her book"
I argued in the previous chapter that we cannot make sense of the Conduit Metaphor unless we consider the metaphors that are closely related to it, most evidently Language Is Power. But that is only the beginning. We also need to ask: What stories license the Conduit Metaphor? And – just as important – what imaginative achievements would we sacrifice if we did not have the Conduit Metaphor? The Conduit Metaphor has been denounced by scholars, in large part, because it has been associated with a story of writing and communication that certainly deserves to be criticized. It is a story of "good writing" in its narrowest conception: writing that flows in one direction only, from writer to readership, and is associated predominantly with values such as factual and grammatical correctness, precision, detachment, and objectivity. That narrow good-writer story ignores what makes many of us value most about writing: the possibility that writing can engage a reader – intellectually, emotionally, spiritually. In short, it is a story of impersonal skill rather than of rhetorical sensitivity. If the narrow story were the only one to license the Conduit Metaphor, it would be an impoverished metaphor indeed. But the Conduit Metaphor is not so limited. Depending on the rhetorical accent the user gives to it, the Conduit Metaphor is also licensed by more appealing stories: in particular, good-writer stories that 170
Conduit stories and good technical writing 171
emphasize empathy with readers and author-writer stories that emphasize emotional and spiritual connection. Indeed, the Conduit Metaphor can be the sort of metaphor that Aristotle praised most highly. He tells us that the best metaphors are those that "bring before the eyes" (1991: 247–48). The Conduit Metaphor helps us to generate vivid and expansive scenarios that tell us what successful writing should do. It is well suited for that imaginative work because it calls into play the main elements of any writing situation – writers, texts, and readers. In that sense, it helps us to make concrete sense of what is often banal writing advice: "consider your audience" – a phrase that too often leaves writers wondering how precisely one does that (Porter 1992). Conduit-inspired scenarios help us to grapple with that advice, but seldom straightforwardly. As often as not, what I want to call the other Conduit Metaphor operates paradoxically, at once embracing and denying the implications of the Conduit's logic.
Conduit stories and good technical writing
The stories that license the Conduit Metaphor are at least as important, perhaps more so, than the particulars of the metaphor itself. In his seminal article, Michael Reddy insists that the entailments of the Conduit Metaphor themselves are at the root of its problems. Reddy worries that people unconsciously take to heart the notion that ideas can be packed into containers and transported unaltered to a reader (who opens the package to fi nd – voilà! – ideas).1 He is much happier with an alternative version of the Conduit Metaphor – the Transmission Model – which emphasizes encoding and decoding.
Joseph Grady questions whether or not the Conduit Metaphor functions as a unified figure that entails both packing and unpacking ideas. In his analysis, the "unpacking" of meaning may operate independently. That is, readers may get something out of texts that writers did not put into them.
The set of alternatives and a code relating these alternatives to physical signals are established. is chosen for communication to the other end." a prerequisite for achieving any communication whatsoever. a sequence of the alternatives. (1993: 181) Reddy sees the Transmission Model as distinct from the Conduit Metaphor. which is the transfer of this ability from one place to another. when they arrive at the receiving end. is envisioned as occurring in the following manner. it is because of "noise" that occurs in this telegraphic system of communication. the signals. When writing does fail. In Shannon and Weaver's model. If readers have the right code book. for describing the workings of linguistic communication so well. words or sentences containing a desired meaning rather than corresponding to it. At the transmitting end. So he takes Shannon and Weaver to task for using conduit expressions such as "conveying" a message – rather than stating that a signal is conveyed from which a message can be reconstructed. which has. they can figure out what writers mean.172 Codes and conversations In fact. in his account. This act creates what is known as an "a priori shared context. and a copy of each is placed at both the sending and receiving ends of the system. so to speak. Here is the story Reddy uses to license Shannon and Weaver's transmission model in more technical terms: Information is defined as the ability to make nonrandom selections from some set of alternatives. writers encode a message – as if they were using Morse Code. to the signals … If all goes well. are used to duplicate the original selection process and recreate the message. Rather. the chosen alternatives are related systematically by the code to some form of energy patterns which can travel quickly and retain their shape while they do travel – that is. authors of the Transmission Model of technical communication. Well-encoded writing succeeds. called the message. . Communication. he praises Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver. But this sequence of alternatives is not sent.
They see the Transmission Model as merely another version of the Conduit Metaphor that assumes that readers are merely passive recipients of information. Miller. Communication fails when these responses diverge. along with a host of writing scholars. tell a story that casts encoding as an exercise of power over the reader. for example. The difference is in the story that they attach to the metaphor. Reddy considers decoding to be active participation in the communication process. the communicator must locate and correct the source of the failure in the process of encoding or in the noise of the transmission. Slack et al. (1993: 164) There is no particular disagreement between Reddy and Slack et al. Power is simply that which is exercised when the communication is successful. meaning is a fi xed entity. believe that communication is enhanced when we recognize that readers play an active role.. That is because they tell a different story about it. Communication is successful when the meaning intended by the sender is received accurately. tell this story – which is as much about Language Is Power as it is about conveyance – in condemnation of Shannon and Weaver's Transmission Model: In the transmission view of communication. where accuracy is measured by comparing the desired response to the message with the actual response. and Doak. Slack. But the stories they tell are quite different. is something that can be processed and measured. Power. it moves in space "whole cloth" from origin to destination. about the entailments of the Transmission Model. whose role in communication is merely rote . The sender has power when the receiver behaves in the intended manner. like meaning. yet they do not join him in praising the Transmission Model. In the case of failure. most scholars agree with Reddy's denunciation of the Conduit Metaphor. its measure is to be found in the response of the receiver.Conduit stories and good technical writing 173 Ironically. Nor is there any disagreement about what makes for good communication: Both Reddy and Slack et al.
We have to give Kant and the modern philosopher a common language (such as English). yet easily done. ideas. a story that is a product of an elaborate conceptual blend: the Imagined Conversation. and place them in a contemporary setting that Kant never experienced. We do it all the time when we imagine that good writers join a conversation with knowledgeable people – either previous writers or contemporary readers. Bushneil [1999]. Cooper [1996]. Readers would not have to interpret what they read because there would be no interpretive work to do. We have to blend what we know of Kant's personality. the passive-reader transmission story appeared only rarely. is licensed by other stories also – stories that acknowledge readers' crucial role. we envision a modern writer arguing a point with Kant.174 Codes and conversations and thus insignificant (compare Coney [1992]. We can even imagine their emotional responses to what the other says. Johnson-Eilola and Selber [2001]). The only way we can do that is to pile blend upon blend. and by extension the Transmission Model. If the story of passive reception were the only way to license the Transmission Model. . Thus the imagined Kant addresses questions that the "actual" Kant (that is. writers would not have to be concerned about readers' knowledge or attitudes. If readers were merely passive recipients. in the examples of writing discourse that I examined. Henry [1994]. More common was a story of inventive empathy. Fauconnier and Turner provide a good example of the Imagined Conversation: a debate between a contemporary philosopher and Immanuel Kant. All of this is enormously complicated. In this blend. the one we construct from what little we know) would never have been called on to address. In fact. We have to place Kant and the modern philosopher in the same space so that they can respond to each other's assertions. which of course requires that we bring together scenes that are separated by distance and time. But the Conduit Metaphor. there would be good reason for us to wish the metaphor would vanish. and historical setting.
in particular. stepping into the user's shoes requires a complex blend that elaborates significantly on the main elements of the Conduit Metaphor: sender. how would you do this?" Of course. being clear and direct. "The grammar was a little loose. In our focus-group study. meaning. and so on. that the writer blend his or her own identity with a likely reader's identity. Christine Abbott and I (Abbott and Eubanks 2005) found that the major metaphors that technical writers and teachers associated with good technical writing were clarity. but it wasn't a nice tight feel. ability to read. Working technical writers. But to see a text the way a reader would see . and linearity (such as leading readers through the text)." Another said. they described scenes more akin to the imagined conversation with Kant than to scenes of one-directional communication. "I put a minus because there were just a few ideas that were running together that should have been broken out and maybe tighten up the language a little bit so that it is not as wordy – so that it speaks to the point. The technical writer who wanted the text to "speak to the point" thought the best way to create a better text would be to "step into the user's shoes. getting a point across." to imagine: "When you are trying to use this [tape recorder] for the first time. The generic similarities between writer-asreader and user-as-reader are obvious enough – knowledge of English.Conduit stories and good technical writing 175 The Imagined Conversation may seem quite different from what is ordinarily associated with the Conduit Metaphor. But even as the technical writers relied on the Conduit Metaphor. directness. efficiency (such as rejecting wordiness and promoting tight phrasing). It requires. text. it is associated closely with the very language that Michael Reddy and others condemn: phrases such as putting thought into words. for instance. It's not bad writing. and you have never seen it before. One technical writer said of a set of instructions. and receiver." Gardenvariety conduit language. used expressions that would make Reddy cringe. But. in fact.
I think it would be extremely useful in trying to get that point of remembering what it was like when you tried to do this. preferences." "tight feel. In this example. The following story came from the focus-group discussion of "loose grammar. or whatever. that inexperienced technical writer in "a different time" (when he or she tried to assemble an item). goals. and frustrations with his or her own. the expert technical writer as imagined speaking to "new writers" (who are. consideration of readers' perspectives is deep and wide." The technical . Only then can the differences between the actual writer and an imagined writer-as-reader become noticeable.176 Codes and conversations it. These elaborate imaginings contrast sharply with impoverished conduit stories in which writers ignore readers' perspectives. and the person whose shoes the expert technical writer and the new technical writer must imagine they fi ll. composites of new technical writers the expert writer has actually known). whether it's assembling a crib or using a blender. the expert writer recalling himself as an inexperienced technical writer in the recalled class. One technical writer praised a writing exercise that called for an extensively detailed blend: One of the exercises we did when I was in school was … to think back to your own personal experiences when you opened something out of the box and how you felt about the instructions that you saw. If you try to get [new writers] not just to think about putting themselves in somebody else's shoes but in their own shoes at a different time. what didn't you like? You know. the writer must contrast the user's knowledge. The elements include the expert technical writer speaking in the focus group." and "to the point. All of these people and scenes are blended so that each person and perspective has a say. The blend of scenes and perspectives is almost too complex to tease out. What did you like. of course.
in the blend. That is where formatting comes into play for me – being able to thumb through something and fi nd it quickly. I don't want to have to think when I look for information. This isn't an operations manual in the sense that I'm going to be using it every day. the writer's identity is so fully elided with that of the imagined user that she switches back and forth with ease from "the user perspective" to "my perspective as a user" to "who your audience is. I don't want paragraphs … I'm looking at it from my perspective as a user as opposed to my perspective as a writer. the introductory "congratulations" [is a problem] – once I saw "congratulations.Conduit stories and good technical writing 177 writer is commenting on what she considers a rather wordy and illarranged introduction to a set of instructions: In all probability. 3. 2. 5." Then I would go and look at the next section and say. and I want bullets. and intends. I have been doing it for a long time. coming from the user perspective. I know how to put batteries in something. not that by the time I get to 5 it's telling me to go store my batteries … Trying to look at it from the perspective of not just who your audience is but under what circumstances they are going to use the document is a big part of [good technical writing] I think. I don't want to have to wonder if I see a series of steps 1." If I'm 15 or 35. "Okay. Indeed. So I want numbers." Even . feels. What I would expect to see out of that paragraph is basically "follow the instructions so you don't hurt yourself or the machine. but only if the writer can imagine what the user knows. I know how to put batteries in. I want to know that getting from 1 to 5 will get the job done. this imagined scene evinces confidence that the text will convey what is needed. 4. and that's what I want. I'm not going to sit down when I open the box and look through the manual unless I'm looking for a specific feature I've never seen on something else before." I wouldn't read the rest of the paragraph. To know the user is to know herself. Far different from impoverished transmission stories.
But they also richly imagine the misunderstandings that are inherent in writing. These imagined conversations do not remove one theoretical weakness that is inherent in the Conduit Metaphor – the notion that we can choose words carefully enough that misunderstanding can be eliminated. They do not see it as a communicative ideal in the way that Shannon and Weaver would have it. for author writers. but the model is not a simple transmission in which meanings are unproblematically conveyed.178 Codes and conversations her user's perspective is multiple. at age 15 or age 35. Indeed. The Conduit Metaphor is often used less insightfully than we have seen above. that if an uncomprehending reader would just read more carefully all would be well – because it's all right there on the page. writers put themselves in readers' shoes so that they can guess what the reader knows – so that we can hypothesize about a reader's ability to make sense of a text. What is at play here is a radically intersubjective interpretation of the Conduit Metaphor. As I've noted. the Conduit Metaphor describes a constraint that writers must inevitably overcome: Writing may be a matter of encoding. but the message is only worthwhile if the writer can sufficiently imagine how the reader will understand or fail to understand it. The text still sends a message. We all know poor writers who insist. But what critics have not noted is that it's-all-right-there-on-the-page does not represent the whole of the Conduit Metaphor. the conduit logic raises questions about the nearly unfathomable operation of written communication. The Conduit Metaphor as licensed by the author-writer story Author writers also find the Conduit Metaphor credible – but paradoxically so. Instead. When the Conduit Metaphor is licensed by the Imagined Conversation. Far from it. the metaphor is used as an admonition as often as not: Poor writers fail to get their point across because they have . against all evidence. Rather. it's-all-right-there-on-the-page is the mapping of the Conduit Metaphor to which Reddy and others have correctly objected.
on the one hand. though. Between them – whether above . the message-bearer. the imperatives of the Conduit Metaphor are not met by carefully "keeping the audience in mind" but rather by. although conveyance remains a key entailment of the metaphor. the Conduit Metaphor exhibits these three qualities: First. To the contrary. ignoring the audience altogether. The writer and the reader are at the two lateral corners. a triangle. Margaret Atwood tells a story that outlines the basic elements of the Transmission Model of communication from an authorial perspective. Therefore. and she could hardly be more explicit about it: I would like to begin by talking about messengers. Picture. When licensed in that way. the author-writer configuration of the metaphor tells us not just that denotative meaning is conveyed (though it may be) but also that emotional content or ineffable qualities are what writing aims to transmit to readers. constructing possible audiences and. it embraces the same conduit expressions as other evocations of the metaphor. successful writing is not a matter of conscientiously or mechanistically matching thoughts and words. on the other. the conduit logic is sometimes expressly spelled out. Second. Finally. but there's no line joining them. the event is inexplicable – nearly magical – and cannot be brought about merely by choosing words carefully or even by imagining a conversation with a reader. There is a reflection of feeling. in the author-writer configuration. Messengers always exist in a triangular situation – the one who sends the message. and the one who receives the message. whether human or inorganic. successful writing is sometimes only possible when the writer is not conversing with anyone – when thoughts of possible audiences are partly or entirely suppressed. In fact.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 179 not put their thoughts into the right words. but not a complete triangle: something more like an upsidedown V. they ought to keep their readers in mind. When writing overcomes the impediment of the conduit nature of written communication. For author writers. therefore.
or the text. It's all you've got. "Respect the page. or whatever you would like to call it. much as one of John le Carré's dead spies has left a waterlogged shoe with a small packet in it for George Smiley" (125–26). Indeed. If decoding text is so precarious an operation. metonymic stand-ins for readers. concrete readers. Atwood makes clear that what she has in mind is not that words contain meaning but rather a subtle version of the Transmission Model. imaginary idealized . must inevitably fail. or the poem. The writer both imagines a likely audience and imagines that the audience does not exist.180 Codes and conversations or below – is a third point. the model that has to do with encoding and decoding: "what goes on between you. "Once I had begun to publish books. Atwood ticks off a number of possibilities for doing this. She remarks humorously. where an invisible hand has previously left some marks for you to decipher. The third point is the only point of contact between the other two. and to see them reviewed. or the book. a few sentences later. [I found that] several people I didn't much recognize were running around out there with my name on them" (138–39). As they choose. which is the written word. As I used to say to my writing students in the distant days when I had some. They make of the text and the writer what their own experience and inclinations suggest. But." (2002: 125) In this passage. the writer and the reader are highly unlikely to be working from the same code book. writers can have in mind themselves as the reader. and the page you're reading. how then is the writer supposed to take audience into consideration? Atwood's paradoxical answer is similar to that of other author writers. Atwood seems to be contributing to Reddy's nightmare that the English language has built into it the notion that meaning is conveyed by the text and the text alone – that meaning resides in the words. Atwood has in mind decoders – readers – who must crack the code of the text without help from the writer and. the reader. thus. or the letter.
She accepts the conduit framework – especially its limitations – and marvels at how uncertain decoding must be. Although conjuring up a multitude of possible readers is enormously complex. likely failure. is something like a musical score that is simultaneously listened to and played by readers – each reader "interpreting" the score his or her own way. The text. she says. An illusion of voice over which the author has no control once the text is sent into the world. What does it convey? Atwood's account of conveyance has none of the mechanistic implications that scholars claim are always attached to the Conduit Metaphor – that is.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 181 readers. There is also the question of what happens when writing succeeds. and even when success is achieved. with simplistic writing situations or with preserving meaning in a text. For her. But in Atwood's and similar views. By which Atwood means. imprecision. risk of failure. Of course. Thus Atwood sums up the other Conduit Metaphor – a figure that has little or nothing to do. as texts are passed across space and time. taking the idea from Isak Dinesen. Though artfully . inevitable misunderstanding. It is a reflection – though not a precise duplication – of the ineffable quality embodied in a text. The stories that license the other Conduit Metaphor are about struggle. the illusion of voice. the public at large – and one more – a reader so abstract that He or She can hardly be said to be a reader at all: God. The text. all that survives is the voice – or. But it is not. the invention of a fertile writerly mind. the impetus for such feats of imagination – and the chief constraint upon them – is the Conduit Metaphor. better. that encoders convey intact packages of meaning to decoders. Atwood's version of the Conduit Metaphor might seem idiosyncratic. is like a "megaphone" that amplifies the "voice. the Conduit Metaphor does not align with particularly straightforward ideas about written communication. it seems. 151). the great higher being who demands that writers write (129–33." while "obliterating the human individual who gives rise to it" (52). Once the text is placed in the hands of decoders. then.
readers mirror the writer's feelings – mirror it in one of two senses. In the stronger sense. and intimate.182 Codes and conversations put. For author writers – writers who have discovered their voice – reflection of feeling is not a remote possibility but an aspiration. emphasis original). mordantly funny. That is. then at least notably persistent. "None of Mary's feelings came through to me with any clarity" (1993: 166. For instance. Here are a few metalinguistic adjectives taken from a page of book reviews and book ads in the New York Times: wry. But. Reflection of feeling Although writers may not all accept the autonomy of the text as wholeheartedly as Atwood does. she writes with a lot of emotion. so that a literal argument is accurately transmitted or instructions are clear. for author writers. It would be odd. a requirement of successful writing. we expect the writer's and reader's emotional response to be coordinated – otherwise the writing has failed. it was a really sad book. he provides the example. In an everyday situation. the touching . sharp. if not mundane. indeed. few author writers would be satisfied just with accurate. readers should feel the way the writer felt during the composition process. if the writer of wry. readers should at least evaluate the emotional content of the writing in the same way that the writer does. the authorwriter story tells us that when writing is good. and so on. sharp. Michael Reddy acknowledges this aspect of the metaphor. but places little emphasis on it. In the weaker sense. rueful. We have many ordinary expressions that draw on that part of the Conduit Metaphor: the feeling I get from reading this. Good writers may aim for readers to comprehend texts in an objective sense. denotative decoding of their words. mordantly funny. it is ordinary. Common metalinguistic adjectives rely at least on the weaker sense. The humorous book was not funny. rueful or intimate prose did not fi nd it so. It is part of the everyday discourse of writing – which encompasses many ideas that are. a desire for reflection of feeling is often quite strong.
either. and for the words to prompt specified feelings in her readers. "The artist seeks to create a spell … his central impulse is to create a spell equivalent to the spell a primitive felt when he passed a great oak and knew something deeper than his normal comprehension was reaching him" (2004: 148–49). He says. His is a magical version of the Conduit Metaphor. Norman Mailer uses the conduit logic with the same goal in mind. the thriller was dull. But without the Conduit Metaphor. To put it another way. (Romano 2004: 58) The conduit logic is not explicitly stated here – that is. for those words to be conveyed to readers. the reader will surely not be passionate about it. when I have not taken the stand. that writers and readers share emotional responses to words and texts – that they work from the same code book. in other words. her comment would not make any sense. . This spell-making is done via an invisible conduit: "telepathy rather than telephony" (149). to be sure. she does not say. Meg McKinnon is not mouthing a naïve undergraduate wish. But it is the Conduit Metaphor just the same. The stronger version of reflection-of-feeling involves not just shared responses to a text but also a mirroring of the way the writer felt when composing the text. Consider this comment from a college junior.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 183 essay fell flat. who is striving to discover her writing voice: What do I mean when I want my writing to be effective? I want the reader to feel what I feel as I write. We assume. She wants somehow to imbue her words with feeling. She expects that her language will act as a conveyance so that readers will feel what she feels. Writing was so formal and rigid that it was hard to develop emotions towards it … when the writer is not passionate about his or her writing. readers reproduce the writer's emotional state. Meg McKinnon. This was often the case in high school. The problem arises when I am not sure how I feel. I want to put my feeling into words.
But it is the crucial step to casting the telepathic spell. but rejects mechanistic notions of writing. Indeed. I usually have worked on it through the full spectrum of my consciousness. as the teacher put it. writer and teacher Ralph Fletcher is direct about the conduit logic. it is in that slow war. why. you wouldn't get on a bus without knowing its . (105) That struggle to stay in "this peculiar kind of shape" may not seem to be an example of the conduit logic at all. the craft will take care of itself. Writing is surely not a simple matching of meaning to words. Similarly. He ridicules a writing teacher who insisted during one of Fletcher's classroom visits that all students write from outlines because. whether your integrity is turning soft or fi rming itself. for Mailer. In particular. the frame of mind is more important than choosing words – what Mailer dismisses as "craft. but it does aim to transmit something via language – to achieve a reflection of feeling that happens when a writer can successfully "communicate a vision of experience" (105). By the time I'm done with writing I care about." He describes his composing process as a struggle to achieve the right emotional state – a wide oscillation of emotion that ultimately affects what he puts on the page: I edit on a spectrum which runs from the high. fi nally. If you keep yourself in this peculiar kind of shape. he rejects the idea that "writing … [is] merely a matter of transcribing onto paper what already exists in the mind" (1993: 20). then. that you stay in shape as a writer and have a consciousness. Craft is very little. But if you're continually worrying about whether you're growing or deteriorating as a man. that slow rearguard battle you fight against diminishing talent.184 Codes and conversations Being able to cast this spell is. clear manic impressions of a drunk that has made one electrically alert all the way down to the soberest reaches of a low mood where I can hardly bear my words. a matter of achieving the right frame of mind.
But Fletcher uses both Writing Is A Journey and the Conduit Metaphor in service of a concept he believes deserves to be capitalized: "art is the transmission of discovery" (21). about ourselves" (25). stories. Such journeying metaphors may seem to reject the conduit logic. still alive. ideas. in Paris. lifeless. And he counters with an extended instance of Writing Is A Journey: "Many times in Dublin. stories. still squirming. (161) The writer struggles to make startling discoveries. writing that way. hopefully not. like the writer. places. 26). startled by a new discovery. Fletcher makes the underlying conduit logic implicitly clear: The writer goes out into the world (or descends into the inner world) and returns with both fists clutching a mass of words. still alive" – before a reader who is. ideas." indeed "stillborn" (23." as opposed to writing that is "stiff. But it is worth it because it allows readers to take part in the writer's gratification in his or her discovery: "this is the fine print in the reader–writer agreement: when we read. . places. A slice of the city was what I hungered for – that was the only there I was after" (21–22). insights. still squirming. Discovery. as opposed to "writing logic." is for Fletcher the key to writing that has "power. before the startled reader. I boarded buses without knowing their exact destination.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 185 destination. with "real honesty. "discovery" triggers the emotions that should imbue successful writing. characters. creates an amalgam of "words. insights." and conveys them – "waves them. Getting that feeling of discovery requires that writers must risk "never knowing exactly what's going to turn up on the page" (24). through the writer. it is the act and the elation he would hope for readers to see reflected in a writer's words. and waves them. or in the Caribbean." requires "tremendous courage" (25). I simply rode around until I found a neighborhood that struck my fancy. possibly poisonous. we expect to learn about the writer and. characters.
books are as important as almost anything else on earth. not quite pulling it off. "you hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself stay at the desk" (1994: 7).186 Codes and conversations Anne Lamott describes the same difficult but gratifying process of discovery and couples it with the Conduit Metaphor. until fi nally he fi nds out what it is. each time fi nding out what his painting isn't. They show us what community and friendship mean. all of this is worth it because both writers and readers share in the same process of discovery – the text transmits the writer's discovery to the reader via a textual conduit. To write. And quality attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of the day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. and more: Because for some of us. What a miracle it is that out of these small. worlds that sing to you. (15. (9) Just as Fletcher tells us. covering it over with white paint. to put it more succinctly. makes you pay attention. beginning with one corner of the canvas. excitement. emphasis added) Or. painting what he thinks should be there. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. writers make readers see what they see and feel what they feel. and this is a great gift. and trying again. They're full of all the things that you don't get in real life – wonderful. I'm grateful for it the way I'm grateful for the ocean. for instance right off the bat. they show us how to live and die. Notice in this passage the way Lamott attributes to books the ability to contain and to transmit emotions such as comfort. My gratitude for good writing is unbounded. An author makes you notice. comfort and quiet or excite you. quietude. rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world. . But when you begin to write you are like a fi ne painter attempting to capture an inner vision. lyrical language. flat.
including ignoring audience altogether. That knowledge can become a distraction during composing. that readers will decipher the code of the text without the help of the writer. But the opposite seems to be true. then. That hardly seems logical. I have said the Conduit Metaphor is especially well suited for complex imaginings of writing because it entails the main elements of writing situations: writer. attitudes. How much author writers simultaneously imagine and erase audience surely varies. Rather than vividly imagining a conversation with a reader or an audience. the more it becomes a conduit between writer and audience.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 187 Imagining and erasing the audience This other Conduit Metaphor – the one that is less about words and clarity than about discovery and feeling – has a paradoxical effect on author writers' view of audience. so it can sometimes seem essential for author writers to put the audience – or an audience – out of their mind. in the author-writer story. In fact. and reader. author writers work with a variety of methods. Writers know. as Atwood points out. It might seem. that ignoring audience would run counter to the conduit logic. The columnist Eric Zorn often has some kind of audience in mind as he composes: . and preferences of likely readers. They wish fervently to move an audience. But some degree of ambivalence about audience seems to be widespread. For instance. But not all aspects of inscribing and good writing are carried over intact to the author-writer story. text. it might make more sense for author writers to have the greatest sensitivity of all to the audience – to be at least as capable as good writers are of considering the knowledge. The more emphasis there is on the role of the text. Of course. being able to set logic aside is an important aspect of writing effectively – contrary to what is expected of good writers. because the author-writer ideal nests within it most aspects of the literate-inscriber and goodwriter stories. A similar paradox is at work with respect to audience. But in order to do so. they must make the audience go away.
but that self is a role that he plays when writing. a role . But he also willfully blocks out other audiences that he thinks may harm his writing: "But too often I've got the news room cynics in my mind. then. imagining audience is a matter of conjuring up a readership that is often in actuality distant from him and simultaneously blocking out an audience that is well known to him. more attitude. but his image of them can only be a typification – a blend. more originality. who are looking for more edge. Zorn's readers do exist. Although Sean O'Leary referred to what his trade-magazine readership has come to expect from him. he writes for himself. In those moments. by more than coincidence." For Zorn. resembles Zorn himself: "My imagined audience [is] someone in my demographic group. follow the news. Is the sentence itself tracking? Is the thought tracking? Am I explaining what needs to be explained? Am I assuming too much about what people know? In fact." Other author writers also expressed a version of writing-to-myself. a husband and a wife with a couple kids and a middle-class lifestyle. I try to invoke that person. when I'm writing. according to Zorn. who would take the Tribune. This conscious sorting-out of audiences may sound more literal or concrete than it is. somewhere in Chicago. Zorn clearly knows colleagues in the news room well. he described the actual composition process – when it goes well – as a matter of physical exhilaration. that internal editor. taking it much further than Eric Zorn. and enjoy being provoked in some way. a high that does not permit him to think about audience. but when writing he can only imagine what they might say about the column at hand. Zorn craves a concrete sense of audience and works to cultivate that sense by corresponding with readers by e-mail and through electronic chats that he promotes in his online column.188 Codes and conversations There is that sense of a reader over your shoulder. he imagines them as a demographic abstraction that. I imagine someone reading it on a bus or at a breakfast table. when I've got a sentence – actually at the molecular level – a sentence or a word. In fact.
writing is not an activity in which audience consideration should be foremost – especially not the audience composed of people he writes about: "I could sit and write hagiography about you. It can be sort of a spiritual experience when it's really going well. To me you're trying to get that sort of momentum where you have something. and you have a certain point where you push them together. "Once I get into that high." Even more imaginatively complex. When I'm on that roll.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 189 that overrides considerations of audience. and it slides down. it's – I don't say it's physical. At the same time. and there would be something that you wouldn't like. I asked Neil Steinberg if he thought about readers as he composed. has to do with being able to tell the truth." The necessity of ignoring audience. and the ball bearing would start to roll forward. as it is for other author writers. for Steinberg. and he responded with a description that echoed O'Leary's physical– spiritual state of composing: No. I'm not writing to anyone. There used to be a game called Moon Mission where you had two long sticks and a big ball bearing and you'd have to open the metal rods. I'm in character. and you get nowhere. and you had to get to that little point where the ball would be pushed forward. . For Steinberg. and you would go up this slope and try to get it in one of the many holes. You might feel betrayed no matter what I do. Sometimes you open it up. no absolutely not. I don't think about who I'm writing to because I'm only writing to myself then. But I'm in character. That's sort of what writing is. and you kind of get into it." This ability to erase the audience (and even the self. sometimes that mode of composing is so exhilarating that "I'm not writing to myself any more. Steinberg in other parts of the interview referred to possible audiences for his work frequently. It's very odd because when I write. That description is not just an avoidance or an irrelevance. at times) is a tool that many author writers consider essential. and the ball bearing would be projected up.
It sounds wrong to me. I think it's easier for me to imagine that potential audience because I have gotten responses." who were people in Albert Lea who [she imagined] would say things like. writing is like talking. though. but I don't know why it sounds wrong to me. and she said that imagining audience is. It's more like music than anything else. I asked her who." Or. and I don't think writers think about writing when they're writing. You've told my story. she imagines she is addressing when she writes a book. Yet he described an optimal writing process that included no mention of audience: For most writers. When she was working on the book. . she struggled with what she called "the censors. if anyone. unimpeded way that has nothing to do with considering what an audience might want to be told: "Sometimes you do get an article or a piece that just kind of flows – for whatever reason. both a burden and source of inspiration: Now that I've had some books out. I mean for whatever reason. they come pretty naturally. and the responses that empower me – I get back to power as a writer – are the ones from people who say." At the same time. When the writing goes well – Sharoff is not alone in noting that it sometimes does not – it comes to him in an automatic. I refer to them as articles that are given to you. she told a remarkable story of her process of writing Packinghouse Daughter. "What do you know? You don't even live here any more. for her. I hear if the word is wrong like a musician hears that a note is wrong." Cheri Register discussed the same ambivalence and a similar strategy for dealing with it. I mean you don't think about talking when you're talking. Robert Sharoff commented that readership is important in his work and also acknowledged that editors can be quite helpful. "This is my story.190 Codes and conversations Similarly.
that that's the gathering place for Minnesota's crows … So I thought what I would do is just take the time out. the "content" and "emotional content" of her work. So I did that. She even described herself as a "conduit" for moving experiences – observing that things she's written have the power to move others. and then in little cartoon bubbles write in all the things that these people – these anonymous people in Albert Lea – were saying to me to stop my writing. and they seemed to be more than mere expressions of convenience. Such an elaborate narrative blend underscores dramatically the importance of erasing the audience – at least the portions of it that impede writing. unable to enter her head. regardless of her own ability as a writer. Then she transforms the crows into drawings of crows. Next. but the crows always get there first. transformed into crows. She spoke of what she hoped readers would "get out of" her writing. complete with cartoon-bubble comments. It was one day as they were just talking to me too much. I remembered that I had read a little filler item in the newspaper about crows flocking to Albert Lea in the winter. who are metaphorical people. Not actual people." Or. and more. and they didn't bother me again.The Conduit Metaphor and the author-writer story 191 "That's not what happened. "What makes you think you're so special?" For that group. Register imagines an audience of generic censors in Albert Lea who say discouraging things to her and interfere with her writing. confi ned to the wall of her study. The conceptual blend here is striking. sit down and sketch out a whole flock of crows. But such a silencing of audience is selective and does not negate the influence of the Conduit Metaphor. and I hung it up on a wall in my study. I saw this flock of crows outside because my neighbor puts out her old moldy bread for the squirrels. she imagines them not in her head but on the grass. Just generic. Register used many conduit expressions. or even herself. . First. to say the least. I fi nally latched onto a way to just set them aside and just let them wait there while I wrote. the difficulty of "putting into words" the experiences of her life.
So when Register referred to "the power on the page – once you get it down and it works. to have to alter their values even after they've heard about it. Language Is Power subsumes and entails the conduit framework. Language scholars . It is. a deeply entrenched everyday explanation for the way linguistic communication functions. It was not in the design of my interviews to ask questions that would lead writers to talk specifically about the Conduit Metaphor. Sean O'Leary did ask me. That may not sound like the Conduit Metaphor to many because it is not licensed by an impoverished story of clear and direct communication. as many have observed.192 Codes and conversations Indeed. to have to think about. It is fair to wonder whether or not all of the writers who display ambivalence about the role of audience have in mind the Conduit Metaphor. to be provoked by it. to sympathize with it. whether mapped as the Transmission Model or any other way. and I explained that I was interested in metaphors for writing and language use. that's right. Yes. I described the Conduit Metaphor and its mappings to him." she indirectly invoked the Conduit Metaphor. When I said that most language scholars today believe that the Conduit Metaphor is quite mistaken. So that's another aspect of power that I want to have that effect. And her interest in the power of writing had much to do with her wish for reflection of feeling. But it is the Conduit Metaphor nonetheless – explicitly invoked at times. what it was I was studying. but at work in any case. I want people to understand this experience. The Conduit Metaphor does seem to make intuitive sense. She spoke about "experiences that I share with some smaller group of people" and said: What I want to do is testify to those and make people feel. she referred frequently to the powerful way that writing can affect readers. How could language work any other way? he wondered. entailed by other metaphors at times. That's how language works. and he said. once the tape recorder was turned off. he was puzzled. As we saw in the previous chapter.
However. nothing I found in researching this book removes those doubts. in particular stories of the Imagined Conversation and reflection of feeling. But when we take into account the various ways that it works together with other metaphors. the Conduit Metaphor can. especially written communication. Summary The Conduit Metaphor has been criticized by numerous scholars largely because it has been associated with a particularly impoverished story of good writing. Certainly. we have good reason to take a broader view of the Conduit Metaphor – to see it in light of the many rhetorical contingencies that run throughout the figurative rhetoric of writing. the Conduit Metaphor often forms the basis of well-elaborated conceptual blends that explain and attempt to address the difficult problem of "considering your audience." . the Conduit Metaphor is licensed by other stories that depict a richer and more problematic process of communication. however. It is true. that the Conduit Metaphor has a single set of implications that obtain no matter what the rhetorical context. Scholars have all too often made such a blanket assumption. in some contexts. and the various stories that license it. who conveys prepackaged or carefully encoded messages to disempowered readers.Summary 193 of many kinds have given us good reason to doubt that the conduit framework is sufficient to explain how linguistic communication really works. When licensed in that way. We should doubt. a story that places all responsibility for communication on the writer. align with too narrow a view of communication.
as is its corollary. What kind of writer do I want to be? What kind of text should I write? Is 194 . Indeed. The metaphor of Flow is just as common. Eight ways to conjure your writing genie. of making sense of the countless metaphors and metonymies we use to describe writers and writing. Maximizing Meaning in Your Text (web tutorial) What I have offered in the preceding chapters is not an exhaustive account of all of the figures we use to talk about and think about writing. We often encounter metaphors of cooking. Or take on a fictional persona and write through that mask. Metaphors We Live By. It is a framework for debate. writing is about asking questions that are difficult to answer. and a lot of people write. many more. But my objective has not been to catalog all of the everyday figures that populate the discourse of writing. chewing. as much as any activity I can think of. I hope to have described the conversation that shapes our ordinary figurative discourse about writing. and swallowing. we stand a good chance. Metaphors of birth and nurturing abound. when we write arguments. Other figures come easily to mind. The conversational pattern is not rigid or unchanging. Writer's Block. So do many. but few people dare to call themselves "writers.9 Metaphor and choice Everyone communicates. All of the figures we use in order to think about writing operate in relation to that conversation. take a deep breath and remind yourself of your unique purpose and how important it is. we are sure to encounter Argument Is War – a metaphor brought to our attention by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their ground-breaking book. I believe. For instance." If you feel like an impostor. Once we understand the patterned way that conversation proceeds. Instead. tasting.
The developmental psychologist Jean Mandler (2004) illustrates this unconscious thinking by asking her students to describe how they type. if we have learned anything in the past few decades about conceptual figures. It is true that we don't pause to think about our choice of metaphors each time we speak and think about writing.Metaphor and choice 195 this draft any good? Am I fi nished? Who will read this? Will anyone read this? All of these questions are reflected in the figurative rhetoric of writing. But everyday figures for writing are at least as much a product of conscious deliberation as they are about entrenched. Thus the figurative rhetoric of writing is constituted by an interplay of unconscious and conscious thought. And they are answered. unconscious ideas. by the figures we select. But figures in writing discourse persistently belie that characterization. Turner 2000). We live by them largely because we do not think about them." Striking keys and choosing letters is conscious thinking. But they are not aware. Writing invites reflection. Of course. Naturally. that we ordinarily don't notice them at all. raising the fourth fi nger in anticipation of striking the next key is unconscious thinking. to the degree that they can be answered. assumptions such as those associated with the Conduit Metaphor and Writing Is Speech. We often choose our metaphors carefully. We think about writing in similarly unconscious ways: We make figurative assumptions so deeply ingrained in us. it is that they operate unconsciously. that when typing the "h" in "horse" they raise their ring finger in anticipation of hitting the "o. We may not recognize it as thinking at all. and in the discourse of writing. Even the most automatic assumptions about writing . for example. they are aware of hitting keys and stringing letters together. Yet unconscious assumptions do not govern autocratically. The unconscious portion is what cognitive theorists Mark Turner and Gilles Fauconnier call "backstage" cognition: the part of our thinking that takes place so quickly and so routinely that we are usually not aware of it (Fauconnier 2000.
The writing instruction I received there was often informal. taught me – at 8 o'clock in the morning – how to introduce a quotation and document a source. I wouldn't doubt it a bit if my academic writing has been shaped as much by those writing experiences as by my training in school and in academe. but they also consciously place a value on it." and "reading and interpreting obscure and allusive texts. My own experience may serve as a good illustration. It does not escape my attention that this book is an instance of what I have called "good writing. for them. marshalling evidence. for better or worse. where Luanne Kruse. going back to my fi rst book report. I recall playing a new tune for one of the publishers. Clarity is. a good-natured stickler barely older than I was. I had the idea that I could be a songwriter in Nashville. for example." In a way." But that is only part of the story. crafting sentences. Nashville's equivalent of Tin Pan Alley." When I protested that the words might be a little weak but the melody . I can trace a fi rm connection from the writing I do today to my classroom training as a freshman at Millikin University. sometimes picturesque. I have been preparing to write it since the early grades. therefore. That ambition. They talk about the ethical obligation to be clear. and how writers can miss the mark. Technical writers. Some choices are forever in the making because writing situations are not always well defi ned and writers have not always reached fi rm conclusions. was encouraged by a couple of song publishers on 16th Avenue South. "That stinks. only to hear him say. and occasionally brutal." I have done other kinds of writing also. Early in life. even when they think they have been clear.196 Metaphor and choice are saturated with values and are. how clarity is best achieved. given careful consideration. Although I have a long history with "good writing. and for precious little monetary gain. may unconsciously use the metaphor of clarity. a well-considered metaphor. I learned from her the same things Jasper Neel learned in his freshman writing class: the basics of "formulating a thesis. and I have benefited from other kinds of mentoring.
Failure. It is a quandary that permeates the discourse of writing. "Love. what figures should guide you? It makes a difference.Metaphor and choice 197 was good. ." I think of a moment I had with a songwriter who had many impressive songwriting credits to his name. it's the good half of a bad song. Are different kinds of writing fundamentally distinct from each other? Or is all writing. pronouncing a word for each ball. "a country song." It seems to me that all of what I learned from my "teachers" on Music Row – indeed. Put them all together" – he gathered up all the invisible balls and pressed them together between his palms – "and there you have it. When you write. waiting for something or someone. "It's a funny thing about songwriting. at root. It all has to be good. and he said. into my academic writing. Dreams. the same? Does an "author writer" who composes in a "goodwriter" genre use a separate faculty? Or is all writing part of the same general ability? Eventually." hands spread. from every writing experience I have ever had – fi nds its way. he countered without a moment's hesitation: "Yeah. God. it comes to a choice of figures. Should I seek only to be clear or conversational? Should I seek – as Peter Elbow has urged all writers – to be voiceful? Or powerful? Or seek – as a songwriter would – to write something that will blow you away? That is the predicament. We were sitting in a studio control booth. Whiskey." He started juggling some invisible balls. Heartache. somehow." The same publisher taught me a great deal about the order in which information should be revealed in a commercial country tune and the difference between "talking about ideas" and "making it personal.
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112. 22. 157 Ceccarelli. 49. 113–14. 41. Leah. 171. 33–34. Jeff. 141. 192 metaphor systems. Deborah S. 78–79. 30. 42 Aitchison. See also Conduit Metaphor. Carol. 15 Bakhtin. 11. Larry. See claiming and ascribing. See also Imagined Conversation complex blends. 158–59 conceptual metaphors. 51. 142. 116. 10. 163. 178–93. Christine. 91. 44 prototypes. 133–34. See Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) essay Collins. 150 categories basic level. 190 Axley. 56. 28–29. 164. 187 audience. 167 Bushneil. licensing automatic writing. Darsie. 10. 112. 66 Burke. 43 bidding upward. 58. Transmission Model. 121. 74–92. 142 Baake. 127 simplex blends. Sunita Anne. See conceptual metaphor theory conceptual metaphor theory. 55. 111 Bowden. 166 Brandt. 118. 42–43. 178. 159 Abbott. of metaphors. 34–40. 58–59. 174 Butler. 42. 171 ascribing. 155 invariance principle. 144. 53. 44. 42. 44. 164 Atwood. Margaret. 52. 34. and Windowpane Theory. 34. 17 Code Model. See also stories. 116 Bizzell. 7–8. Veronica. 130 conceptual metaphor theorists. 94 Barcelona. 122. Deborah. 104. 148 Bohlin. 51. 143. 40. 111 argument as aikido. 138. Antonio. 1. 161. 17. 57. 17 composition studies. 57. 123. 179–82. 29–30. 17. 132. 155. 96. 142. Stephen R. 53. 155 mapping.. 175 Abraham. of metaphors. 21. 84. 12. 163. 42. 155. 110. 71–72. 133 Bosley. 125 Berkenkotter. 51 classical or folk theory. 88.Index A Cause Is A Force. 17. 99 Bartholomae. 105. 142. Ken. 22. 197. 187–92. 165 Clark. See conceptual blending theory conceptual blending theory. 28. 82. 17. 57 claiming and ascribing. Gregory. 48. 164 210 . 55. Brian. 171. 94. 115–17. 58 compression. 141 compression. 180. Jean. 163. 96. 62–63. 5. 73. 32. College Board. 15 Chambers. 63. 107–08. 137–38. 9. 62. rhetoricity of. 161 primary metaphors. 30 Allen. 16. 145–46. 79. 15. of metaphors. David. 179. Kenneth.. 27 Aristotle. 126–27. Peter. See voice figure author writers. 114. Samuel. 72 Beckett. 35.. Jack. See also readers authentic voice. See composition studies compositionists. 34. Mikhail M. Patricia. 177. 52–53. of metaphors attenuating and intensifying. 161. 120. 88. 123–26. 128–30. 32. 14. 55. 122 Bazerman. 67. 150 composition and geographies. 122 Beason. Nancy. Charles. 150 composition theory and theorists.
45–46 Gee. conceptual and traditional accounts conceptual systems. 164. Peter. 79. 10. 144. licensing Conduit–Power Combination Direct Force Model. 42. 174 homonymy. 182. 192 Evans. 101 de Man. 42–43. 148. 131. 78. 21. Peter T. 2. 186 flow. 144 Goldberg. 17. 123. 31 Hayes. Lester. 194 Fillmore. 30. 20. 160. 122. See voice figure Cowley. 57. 111. 160 Coney. 105. Paul. 149 discourse of writing. 104. Patricia L. 120. 174. See metonymy.. Edwin. 197. 26–27.. See also stories. Stephen. 55. 159–60. Joseph E. 192–93. 187. 172–74. 44. 31–33. 148. 58. 2. 174 corporate voice. 133 Freisinger. 1. 69 Hutchins.. 11. 140 good writers.M. 96. 193. 42 identification. 179. 100 Fletcher. 157 Fass. 160–61. 173–74 Dunmire. 136 identity. 155. 178. 166–67. 171. 141. 154–55. See also figurative rhetoric of writing discovered voice. 181–82. 112. 145–46 Hayes. 72 Elbow. 87. 91. 112. 161 Imagined Conversation. 103. Jeffrey. 5. 39. 142–46. 173.. 182. 167. Natalie. 122. See also self and Writing Is Identity image schemas. 100. 158 Graff. 10. 185–87. Randall R. 164–65. 17. 10. 122–23. Marilyn. John R. 77. 195 figurative rhetoric of writing. 152–53 general-ability and specific-expertise views. 95–96 Friend. 63. 83 Danielewicz. 145–46 focus groups.. 60–61. René. 174–75. 99 Fauconnier. See conceptual metaphor theory . 34. 126–28. 123–25. 183. 16. 127. rhetoric as a. 48 Henry. 99 discourse community. 128. 100. 87. 91–92. Mary. 100. Amy J. 147 design art. 51–52. 9. 77. 3. 197. Ann. 76. 197 genre. Gerald. 116. 95. 33. 131. 178–79. 41–59. 96.. 142 Croft. Ralph. Jane. 51. 107–08.. 30 Csikszentmihalyi. 165. 40. 43. 166–67. 194 Flower. 194. 178. licensing Goossens. 130. Thomas N. 83. 167.. 187. See voice figure invariance principle. 24. 6. 6. 17. 174 Cooper. Jim. 117. See voice figure Doak. 168 General Conditions Model. 170–71. 22–23. 116. 25. Linda. Robert. 132–33. 34. 43 Hulbert. 156–58. John. 102–03 Grady. 39. 42 Dirven. 116–17. 122 family resemblance. 11. 23. 123. 27. 25. 145. 17 Devitt. 120.. 41. 143. 136. 162. 127. 16. See also conduit stories and scenarios inner voice. 195. 80. 83.. 154–55. 2. 81. 174. Patricia A. 197 entailments. 150–51. 14. 177. 86. James Paul. 65. 98–99. Louis. 3. 169. 16 Faigley. 156. 91. 125–26. 11. William D. Mihaly. Alan. 57. 30. Kathryn. Russell. 63. 11–12. 175. 156–59. 64 de Beaugrande. 134. Raymond. 143 Conduit Metaphor. 161 Hyland. 46. 147–50. 137. 132 Gardner. the. 4. 159. 142. 53. 17. Charles. D. See also stories. Ken. 104. 175–78 framing. 113. 15. 40. 62–63. Jeanne. 137. 174. 195 conduit stories and scenarios. 34 Huckin. 58. 19. 4. 34. 107. 30 Cruse. 42 Dunn. L. 67–78. 144. Gilles. 94–95. 17–24. Dan. 142 Fahnestock. 169.Index 211 conceptual metonymy. 116. 197 Gibbs. 190. 159. 21. 175. 130 Daniels. 14–15. 170–71. 159. 162–63.
165. Paul. Jasper. 101. Tomasz. 144. 102 orality. 142. 142. 190–92 research methods. 151 Keillor. 148 Miller. Suguru. 162. 53–54. See discourse of writing Quindlen. 95. 139–40 personal voice. See also Conduit– Power Combination and Language Is Power Prior. 22. 110. 76 Kruse. 20. 188–89 Ong. William Kent. 171 power figure. 173. Steve. 182 reflection of feeling. 62–67. 7. 83. 187. See conceptual metaphor theory Marcus. 96. 196 Krzeszowski. 115. 183–84 Mandler. Cheri. 174–76. 195 mapping. 3. 99 Porter. Carolyn R. Mark. Betsy. 131–32. 143. 178. 186. 179–83. 21. 175. 48–49. Ben.. 27. François. 89–91. 105. 117–18 Johnson. 180. Sean. 148–49 public rhetoric of writing. 71. 100. 185. 103. 100. 53. 104. Mike. 122 Johnson. 149 polysemy. 140. 196 Newkirk. 98. 140–41. Roz. 162 McWhorter. Heather. 193. 86. 10. 150. 186 Language Is Power. Johndan. 17. 5. 142. Michael. 84–85. 21. 24. 88–89. 5. 118–19 metaphor systems. 133. 19. 75. 56. 166 persona. 8. 84 Kibbee. 144. 94. 144–45. Chaim. Nigel. 119. 17. See also stories. 72 literacy. 146–47. 85–86. Todd. 91–92.. 142 Lakoff. 155 O'Conner. Walter. 19. 29. 147–48 Love.. 20. 148. 28. 151–52 Kleinedler. 107–08. 3. 80–81. 190. David James. 84. 14 . 142 Lyotard. Günter. 194 Lamott. 120. figures. 26. 156–57. 143. 97–103. 101. Bernadette. 7 Lindblom. 79–80. 134–35 Radden. Stephen. 78. 122 Lewis. 56–57 Markel. 24. Klaus-Uwe. 133 MacDonald. 5.212 Index Ishizaki. licensing. 143 metonymy. 4–9. 155. Zoltán. Anna. 4 Oakley. 115 Miller. 17 Krueger. Steven B. 101 readers. 17. 59. 191–92. 100. 194 Johnson-Eilola. Debra. 82. 99 pedagogy. 68. Norman. 58. 174 Journet. Kenneth. Patricia. Dirk. 17. James E. 20. 193 Register. 79. See also audience Reddy. 159. 182–86. 138–39. Garrison. 18. 166. 126. 112–13 Menand. Jean. 11. 149. 190. 193. 45 O'Leary. 173–74 music metaphors. 114–15. 18–19. 72 Mailer. See voice figure Pinker. 34 Pörings. 54. 168–69 Kaufer. 36 Knowing Is Seeing. 118. Douglas. 166. David. Luanne. 19. 74. 62. 190 narratives. David. 137–38. 181. Barry. 50–51. 173. conceptual and traditional accounts. 73. licensing National Institute for Literacy. 142. 20. 82. 107. 5. 20. Karen. 15 journeying metaphor. See teaching of writing Perelman. 65 Neel. 105. 116. 77. 103 Panther. 27. 158 Kövecses. 11 LeFevre. 83. Ralf. 192. 122 Norman. See stories. 65. 87. licensing Longo. George. John. 42. 94. 87. 178. Thomas. 109 Life Is A Journey. 101 Kroll. 1. 65–67. 179. Anne. 99. 159. 150 Ivanič. 71. Donald. 147. 61 Maaks. reading. 105–06 literate inscribers. Louis. 104. 24 Katz.
139. Candace.. 2. 146. 26 Windowpane Theory. 121. 114. Neil. the. 23. 11. Tom. 178 Sharoff. 159. 157 Varghese. 141 complex self or multiple selves. 116–17. E. 17. 104. 16 trade metaphors. 68–70. 171. Diana. 112. 23–24. 123. 178. 106 Understanding Is A Journey. 41. 143. 157 Russell.Index 213 Reynolds. Catherine. 103. 5. 157. 174. C. 11. 178 Wegner. 42 Sweetser. 49. 94. 50. 131. Geoffrey. 101. 117. 155. 134 remembered self. 12. 181. 141 authentic voice. John. 59. 123. licensing. 99 to write. 95–96. 64. Leonard. 17. 172–73. 3. 120 Writing Is Speech. 151. 185. 122. 140. Mark. 104. 130. 107. 108–14. Linda L.. 107. 49. 58. 172–73. 164 Transmission Model. 128–30 Steinberg. 162. 183 romantic individual. 103. 83. 8–9. Summer. categorizing and defi ning. core.. 11. Warren. Christine M. 17 rhetoric and composition. 115–16. 86. 193. and conduit stories and scenarios structure metaphor. 50. 42 teaching of writing. 148. 108. See general-ability and specific-expertise views Spigelman. 115. 26 Swales. 25. 173–74 Smith. 143 Vanparys. 120. 140.. 133 Rudzka-Ostyn. 179–81. 18. 131. 174. 190 Shepherd. 111. William. 192. 128. 114–20 inner voice. 140–41 personal voice. Robert. 139 self-effacement. 65 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) essay. 75 Schryer. 83. 123. 11. See also Code Model. Conduit Metaphor. 104–08. 50. 2. Barbara. and Transmission Model Trimbur. 171–74. 71. Elizabeth Overman. 60–61. See also author writers. 42 voice figure. Dawn. See conceptual blending theory Slack. 42. 80. 86. 64–65. 142. 190. See also rhetorical space specific-expertise view. 93. 138. 140 Semino. 21. 30. 142. 146 Smith. 192. 136–37. 15. 42 spatial metaphors. 96. Carolyn D. Conduit Metaphor. 189 stories. 163 discovered voice. 11. 104 Tomlinson.. 97. 10. 95. 142. Claude E. 93–94. 167. 17. Sushella Abraham. 141 personal self. 195 Twain. 34–40. 107. 120 Writing As Transcription.B. 44. 27. 97. 114. 116–17 corporate voice. 126. 115 writing self. 5. 19–22. 2. 93–97. 42 White. Elena. 3. Mark. 3. 1. 120. 146. writer's commitment to. 192 Selber. 121–22 Sprague. 42 Sean O'Leary. 7 Talmy.. 49. 177. 72. 195 Weaver. 46. 124–25. and Windowpane Theory . 138. Brygida. 16. 43. 139–40. 174 self. Johan. 54–55. 77. 184–85 Thornburg. 11. 71. 17. 188–89 authentic. See spatial metaphors Strunk. 127. See also spatial metaphors Romano. 95. 11. Jennifer Daryl. 117. or singular self. Joseph. 122 Sampson. 144. 163 Writing As Talk. literate inscribers. 5. 103 Shannon. good writers. 93 Rude. See also Code Model. 114. 27. David R. Eve. 42 simplex blends. 3. 11. 122. 85. 189 Turner.. 177. 122. 7. 143. 56. 11. 104. Stuart. 111. 55. See composition studies rhetorical space. 91. Nedra. 159 Tardy. 55–57. 11. John M. 157–58. 132. 79. 104. 115. 103. 153 truth.
81–82. 35. 68. 101 writing scholars and scholarship. 43–44. 132 writer. 11. 77. 71. 78. 67. 15. 1. 25.214 Index Winsor. 145. 78 Worobec. as a term or title. 79–81. 9. 133. See voice figure Writing As Transcription. 40. William. 48–59. 187–89 . 146. 102. See voice figure writing as travel. 63. 148. 150–51 Wittgenstein. 185 Writing Is Identity. 174 Zinsser. 17 Writing Is A Journey. 63. 42. 77. 64. 53. 76. Ludwig. 46. 39. 116. 121. 150. 123. 122. 61–62. 83. See also author writers writer's block. 24. 74. 41. 55. 74. 107. 101. 49–50. 141. 65. 86. 101. 114. 1. See voice figure Writing Is Thought. 17. 87–88. See writing studies writing studies. 111. 94. 194 Writing As Talk. Eric. 67. 35. 54. 5. 169. See also identity and self Writing Is Speech. Christine. 128. 26–27. 45. 84. Dorothy. 37. 31–34. 120. 6. 46 Zorn.