The Use of Abuse : The Polemics of the Dreyfus Affair and Its Aftermath, 1st Edition – FULL INSTANT DOWNLOAD | PDF DOCX EPUB

Name: The Use of Abuse : The Polemics of the Dreyfus Affair and Its Aftermath
Edition: 1st Edition
ISBN-13: 9780854966264
ISBN-10: 0854966269
Addition ISBN: 9781003135012, 9780367717186, 9781000324907, 9781000321425, 1000323110, 9781000323115
Author(s): Richard Griffiths, Publisher: Routledge, Copyright: 1992
In this book, which closely examines the techniques used by the polemists of the Dreyfus Affair, much is learned not only about the Mair itself, but also about the polemic of the age in which it was situated, and the interaction between writers and their public. The discourse within which people’s thoughts were imprisoned is seen not merely to have reflected events, but to have created them, in an increasingly vicious circle whereby the language of popular abuse, incorporated into the written polemic of the Press, produced simple but distorted ideas which in turn were fed back into the people. The age’s complete lack of concern for the libel laws led to particularly vivid examples of the art. We are shown how authors’ shifts in vocabulary, and in stylistic techniques, unconsciously signal to us fundamental changes in their aims; and how, in the give-and-take of battle, words and concepts subtly changed their meaning, with certain abstract notions such as Truth and Justice becoming completely devalued.