May 25, 2003

Praktisk retorik

Socrates: The fact is, as we said at the beginning of our discussion, that the aspiring speaker needs no knowledge of the truth about what is right or good... In courts of justice no attention is paid whatever to the truth about such topics; all that matters is plausibility... There are even some occasions when both prosecution and defence should positively suppress the facts in favor of probability, if the facts are improbable. Never mind the truth -- pursue probability through thick and thin in every kind of speech; the whole secret of the art of speaking lies in consistent adherence to this principle.

Title: Praktisk retorik
Author: Göran Hägg
Publisher: Wahlström & Widstrand
ISBN: 91-46-18243-8

For millenia leaders, scholars, lawyers and politicians have tried to master the art of talking to a crowd in such a way as to win their hearts. In this book Göran Hägg teaches that art using a number of interesting and funny examples from various historical occassions.

Reading this book was pure joy. Well written, amusing and so interesting that you just can't stop turning the pages. As an introduction to rhetoric, there probably is no better read.

Throughout the book Göran Hägg mentions a number of famous speeches and acclaimed books on the subject. Some of these I really should check out:

To mention a few.

Good thing to remember is the anatomy of a speech:

  • Exordium (opening phrases)
  • Narratio (background, set up)
  • Probatio (present your opinion on the matter)
  • Refutatio (counter the counter arguments...)
  • Peroratio (ending, this is where you leave the audience silent with admiration)

Anyhow, really good book. I must read it again some time.

Posted by manne at May 25, 2003 12:23 AM | TrackBack

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