Genre and the Invention of the Writer: Reconsidering the Place of Invention in Composition

In a focused and compelling discussion, Anis Bawarshi looks to genre theory for what it can contribute to a refined understanding of invention. In describing what he calls the genre function, he explores what is at stake for the study and teaching of writing to imagine invention as a way that writers locate themselves, via genres, within various positions and activities. He argues, in fact, that invention is a process in which writers are acted upon by genres as much as they act themselves. Such an approach naturally requires the composition scholar to re-place invention from the writer to the sites of action, the genres, in which the writer participates. This move calls for a thoroughly rhetorical view of invention, roughly in the tradition of Richard Young, Janice Lauer, and those who have followed them. Bawarshi is also keenly interested in the writing classroom. Instead of mastering notions of good writing, Bawarshi feels that students gain more from learning how to adapt socially and rhetorically as they move from one genred site of action to the next. He explores the major genres of the classroom (the syllabus, the writing prompt) as a way to introduce such an approach. He argues strongly and concretely for making the rhetorical art of adaptation central to first-year writing instruction, empowering students to navigate disciplinary and professional boundaries that await them beyond the writing classroom.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1140/thumbnail.jp

Marking out the pitch: a historiography and taxonomy of football fiction

Football, or soccer as it is more commonly referred to in Australia and the US, is arguably the world’s most popular sport. It generates a proportionate volume of related writing. Within this landscape, works of novel-length fiction are seemingly rare. This paper establishes and maps a substantial body of football fiction works, explores elements and qualities exhibited individually and collectively. In bringing together current, limited surveys of the field, it presents the first rigorous definition of football fiction and captures the first historiography of the corpus. Drawing on distant reading methods developed in conjunction with closer textual analyses, the historiography and subsequent taxonomy represent the first articulation of relationships across the body of work, identify growth areas and establish a number of movements and trends. In advancing the understanding of football fiction as a collective body, the paper lays foundations for further research and consideration of the works in generic terms