Special Session

Composition and Rhetoric / Genres and Audiences

Craig Svonkin (PAMLA and MSU Denver)
dire@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

Sarah Aubrey (Independent Scholar)
juni@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

"The Art and Joy of the Complaint: Criticism, Kvetching, and the 21st Century Jeremiad" is a roundtable designed for people who wish to analyze, comment on, or practice the arts of kvetching, complaining, criticizing, satirizing, and Jeremiad performance as these undervalued genres relate to the contemporary college or university, the Humanities, society, or the state of intellectual and scholarly pursuits or rhetoric in general.

This roundtable is founded on dual beliefs: first, that kvetching and complaining are rhetorical forms or genres that deserve to be honored, respected, and analyzed, at least when performed in an aesthetically or intellectually complex and beautiful manner. And second, that these forms are often rejected or disallowed by a culture obsessed with optimism and blinded by an aversion to depressing, negative, realistic, or pessimistic rhetorical or philosophical approaches. We therefore wish to create an ephemeral space to celebrate cynicism, pessimism, and outlier opinions, without entertaining racist, sexist, homophobic, or other stereotyped or stereotyping discourse. Pieces on a broad array of topics in these often disrespected or counter-cultural genres, or essays analyzing these genres, are welcome. We desire proposals for presentations that are entertaining, thought-provoking, and brief.