The meaning of 修辞.

[yohosuff]

I came across this word,

修辞

in one of the texts I was studying. What's the meaning?

The dictionary held one lonely entry,

1. rhetoric

After a quick check on Wikipedia, I found this:

Rhetoric is the art of harnessing reason, emotions and authority, through language, with a view to persuade an audience and, by persuading, to convince this audience to act, to pass judgment or to identify with given values. According to Plato, rhetoric is the “art of enchanting the soul.”

Is this an accurate definition of 修辞?

[tianjinpete]

Shakespeare has Cordelia call it "that glib and oily art" ... Recommend you start here:

Rhetoric in Ancient China, Fifth to Third Century B.C.E.

A Comparison with Classical Greek Rhetoric USC Press, 1998

by Xing Lu

...and work backwards to the Chinese sources ...

[yohosuff]

Thanks tianjinpete, but where exactly can I find this book?

[tianjinpete]

yohosuff,

you can see a limited preview at google books:

http://books.google.com/

...just key in the book's title ... I guess you are, as I am, here in China without a library or bookstore you can run to ... as you might imagine, rhetoric, whether we are talking about the Western or Eastern variety, is a big topic, so I thought I'd point you to a source where the crossroads meet ...

[yohosuff]

Thanks for the tip!

How "big" of a topic are we talking about here?

What kind of person would consider rhetoric a "big" topic?

[tianjinpete]

Bigger than a dictionary entry that says, simply, "rhetoric"?

[yohosuff]

啊, 有道理, 有道理.