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A rhetoric of riddles: Riddle solving as an analogy for rhetorical invention
Abstract
Scattered throughout the rhetorical tradition are comparisons of writing with riddling; most such comparisons, however, are carefully qualified. This dissertation is an attempt to discover if, perhaps, these qualifications have not been made too hastily, if there is not more to riddles, besides puzzlement, which can be exploited in developing an analogy between riddle solving and rhetorical invention. I discover that, although qualifications are necessary, there are certain features, structures, and processes intrinsic to riddles and riddle solving which can be pedagogically valuable. The nature of the riddle question is examined with the aid of a survey of 382 students, who are asked to identify certain passages as riddles or not. The results reveal that riddles depend on the presuppositions of the riddlees for their success. Because of this feature of riddles, writers can be compared to both riddlees and riddlers, for writers must be their own audience. Furthermore, this feature makes riddles nearly identical to enthymemes as described by Aristotle in his Rhetoric. Certain elements in the process of understanding riddle answers can be exploited in a comparison with writing as well. Applying the tenets of the ostensive communication theory developed by Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson in Relevance: Communication and Cognition to riddles demonstrates that understanding riddle answers requires, as does writing, an examination of the context in which facts occur. The process of actually solving, or attempting to solve, riddles can also provide the basis for a further comparison of writing and riddles. An analysis of four protocols in which subjects attempt to solve a puzzle confirms that riddle solving is an authentic heuristic activity and requires the use of strategies similar to those employed in writing. Finally, imposing the paradigm of riddle solving on actual rhetorical works, particularly on Plato's Phaedrus, demonstrates that such a paradigm is consistent with the form and content of these compositions. Riddle solving employed as a heuristic strategy, therefore, can lead to epistemic, expressive, and self-rewarding writing.
Subject Area
Language arts|Language
Recommended Citation
Jasnowski, Antoni Tadeusz, "A rhetoric of riddles: Riddle solving as an analogy for rhetorical invention" (1991). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9200141.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9200141