ABSTRACT
During the past thirty years, the concepts of orality and literacy have become powerful critical lenses for historians of rhetoric. Following the work of pioneers like Havelock and Ong, scholars have begun to question the “literary” assumptions of traditional rhetorical principles and have thus yielded a better understanding of rhetoric’s oral, performative aspects. No longer can we view rhetoric as a timeless compendium of statements on the art of speaking well; instead, we are urged to appreciate the web of technological and cultural forces that give rise to rhetorical practices and theories.
