by Paul Butler ’79

In “Out of Style,” Butler applauds the emerging interest in the study of style among compositionists, arguing that the loss of stylistics from composition in recent decades left it alive only in the popular imagination as a set of grammar conventions. His goal is to articulate style as a vital and productive source of invention. “Style in Rhetoric and Composition” is a collection of essays that trace the evolution of the study of style and illustrates the debates that continue to shape the field of rhetoric and composition. Selections range from works by classical rhetoricians to modern compositionists addressing a variety of issues.

Out of Style: ISBN-13: 978-0-874-21679-0. Published by Utah State University Press; 2008.
Style in Rhetoric and Composition: ISBN-13: 978-0-312-54733-2. Published by Bedford/St. Martins; 2009.