Articles

Babel and Babble in Benjamin and Burke

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Abstract

Drawing on the works of Walter Benjamin and Kenneth Burke, this essay argues that the philosophical conditions and conclusions of rhetoric and translation are the same: both trace their origins to the primal fall of language, whether after the Fall from Eden or the curse of Babel, and both find their horizons in an ultimate linguistic motive that, oddly enough, typifies ordinary language use.

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Keywords: Rhetoric, translation, babble, Babel, pure language, pure persuasion, chatter, Burke, Benjamin, Kierkegaard

How to Cite:

McCormick, S. & Peters, J. D., (2021) “Babel and Babble in Benjamin and Burke”, communication +1 8(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/56ne-4x64