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Does the genre dictate the format of the Text or does the format dictate the genre? For example, does the fact that you are texting dictate that your Text is a text? (hope that's not too confusing with all the "texts") I guess this gets down to how important the format is in determining its genre. Does hypertext really open up brand new genres? And if so, do other genres die? Does this mean that the way we write dictates the writing produced? Is all this technology fundamentally changing rhetoric?
I'd love to hear some opinions on this. I think it's important to our conversation about hypertext and what it means for rhetoric now and in the future.
Interesting question Matt and one that I don't think has a clear cut answer. I had to resort to Wikipedia to wrap my mind around the issue. Wikipedia defines genre as "the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment, e.g. music, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions." What stands out for me in this definition is change over time. It seems that inevitably as technology changes and evolves so too will our genres. Does it change our rhetoric? I guess I would be inclined to believe that the art of rhetoric may evolve and change but the purpose would remain the same. Rhetoric by definition is the art of discourse whose aim is to influence, inform or motivate a particular audience. Whether a hypertext or an alphabetic text, the purpose would still be the same.
ReplyDeleteRight, so I think I'm getting a clearer picture Stephanie. So genres morph into other things. They don't necessarily die and new ones aren't "created." They are more likely to be very close to what they look like now and they simply evolve slowly into something new. I agree, it's probably not changing rhetoric, but it still may be changing how we engage in it.
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