Advisory Committee Chair
Christopher Minnix
Advisory Committee Members
Bruce McComiskey
Jill Clements
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2021
Degree Name by School
Master of Arts in Education (MAE) School of Education
Abstract
Scholarship on Quaker rhetoric has frequently neglected the subversive possibilities of Quaker pamphleteering, particularly in the period following the publication of Robert Barclay’s Apology. This article develops an epistemological framework based on the Apology and demonstrates that although Quaker pamphleteers during this “Quietist” period asserted the honesty and transparency of their use of language, the Apology works to license certain circumlocutionary moves which Quaker authors used to obscure potentially seditious or heretical ideas. It focuses on two classical rhetorical figures, paralipsis and aposiopesis. Through a close reading of pamphlets written before and after the publication of the Apology, it demonstrates that Quaker pamphleteers developed sophisticated techniques to embed subversive ideas in their work through the stylistic figures of paralipsis and aposiopesis, thus maintaining strict truthfulness without exposing themselves to persecution. Particular emphasis is given to the longstanding notion in Quaker rhetorical studies of speech and silence as cultural focuses, and the article builds on recent revisions which emphasize the metaphorical character of silence as a tool for concealing Quaker linguistic productions.
Recommended Citation
Phillips, Samuel, "“Pertinent And Plain”: Robert Barclay And The Transformation Of Quaker Silence" (2021). All ETDs from UAB. 889.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/889