The Rhetorical Singularity

Abstract

Democracy is often described in terms of the aesthetics of multiplicity in uniformity, which celebrates the feeling of community of individuals coming together in difference. However, a more reliable mark of a healthy democratic society is the periodic presence of rhetorical singularities that challenge shared conventions and risk rhetorical failure for the sake of inspiring excellence in character. Like the prose of Emerson and Nietzsche, rhetorical singularities employ tragic ideals to expose the comic limitations of culture in order to transvaluate values and dare creative individuals to strive past limits and so advance society beyond the bounds of convention.

Notes

¹I thank John Poulakos for pointing the way on this essay, and RR peer reviewers Ken Zagacki and Andrew King for helping me find the path.