A Grammar of Motives (Masterplots II: Nonfiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Kenneth Burke
- First Published: 1945
- Type of Work: Literary criticism
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction
- Subjects: Language or languages, Literature, Education or educators, Communication, Writing, Grammar, Motivation
Form and Content
Kenneth Burke presents the theory of dramatism, which drives the approximately five hundred pages of A Grammar of Motives, in a brief introduction. He begins with a question: “What is involved, when we say what people are doing and why they are doing it?” Burke observes that any complete statement about motives will offer some kind of answer to the questions “what was done (act), when or where it was done (scene), who did it (agent), how he did it (agency), and why (purpose).” Burke states at the outset that he is seeking “not terms that avoid...
[The entire page is 2103 words long]
