Welcome to the Pluralistic World of Wayne Booth

“There is pleasure from learning the simple truth, and there is a pleasure from learning that the truth is not simple.” 
― Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction

Wayne Clayson Booth (1921 - 2005) is one of the most consistently interesting, but also one of the most consistently underestimated, critics of the latter 20th C. A rhetor and rhetorician, a philosopher, pluralist, literary critic, editor, and English professor, his driving theme was the rhetorical resources that encourage, obstruct, or refine agreement: and, therefore, belief, knowledge, and action.

In this site we overview a range of his books, engage his issues, and seek agreement about the value of his critical pluralism, not only for understanding texts, but also for understanding each other.

  1. June 29, 2016Wayne Booth's Obituaries

    While this is not "news" per se, this is a good place to post Booth's obituary from the University of Chicago, where he taught for his entire career, a rather in-depth overview of his life in The Guardian, and a link to his Wikipedia page.

    University of Chicago obit

    The Guardian obit

    Wayne C. Booth Wikipedia page

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