Theorists at Work in Chapter Four: Performing Drama

Kenneth Burke

Burke's conception of language as symbolic action is a staple for communication theory, rhetorical theory, and performance theory.The KB Journal, on-line since 2004, is one home for scholars reading, writing, and thinking about Burke's life works and projects. To get a sense of the depth and reach of his work, this bibliography of Burke's works contains more than 500 publications.

The Kenneth Burke Society is a group of scholars who have long made Burke the centerpiece for their studies. Professor Emeritus of Communication at Purdue University, Don Burks writes an elegant obituary upon Burke's death in November 19, 1993. Burke's caretaker, Ginny Brand provides details on his last day, including that his fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant read: "To affect the quality of the day is no small achievement."

The Virtual Parlor takes its name from Burke's famous claim about "the unending conversation"--how history and knowledge are produced. Here's the quotation from The Philosophy of Literary Form:

Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.

A number of Communication Departments across the country have webpages dedicated to Burke:

Ed Lamoureaux's Lecture notes on Burke include key definitions of Burkean terms. Lamoureaux is Associate Professor, Multimedia Program and Department of Communication Co-Director, New Media Center at Bradley University.

Students at Colorado State University Department of Communication compiled this page on Burke.

Martin Ryder, University of Colorado at Denver, provides useful Kenneth Burke links.

The Department of Communication Studies at the University of Minnesota provides these Resources on Kenneth Burke.

Margaret D. Zulick, Communication Professor at Wake Forest University, provides A Roadmap to Kenneth Burke.

Victor Turner

Here's the Encarta Encyclopedia's entry on Turner. For a short biography of Victor Turner, see the entry at the E-Museum, Minnesota State University-Mankato. For an even shorter one, see NNDB's profile on Turner.

From Yale University, here's a bibliography of works by Victor and Edith Turner. Turner's definition of communitas is available at the AnthroBase Dictionary of Anthropology.

David Boje, Professor of Management at New Mexico State University, offers this essay on Turner's social drama and its implications for organizational theory. Here's a brief encyclopedia entry on Ritual, Performance, and Rites of Passage as envisioned by Turner.