Breathing Pauses in Ancient Rhetoric, Virginia Woolf and Robert Musil (Symposium, IAS Durham, 6 June 2016)

Research Summary: Breathing Pauses in Rhetoric and Modernist Prose

Topic: Literary and Rhetorical Studies Symposium

Primary Subject Matter: Rhythm and breathing pauses in ancient rhetoric, Virginia Woolf, and Robert Musil's prose composition

Speaker: Dr Stefanie Heine, University of Toronto

Institution: Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham

Date & Time: Monday, June 6, 2016, 5pm–7pm

Key Focus: How intervals and full stops structure prose rhythm through breathing in both verbal delivery and textual composition.

Admission: Free to attend; refreshments provided; no registration required

Academic Context: Comparative analysis bridging classical rhetorical theory with early 20th-century modernist literary practice.

Join Dr Stefanie Heine (University of Toronto) in Durham at the Institute of Advanced Studies to explore how breathing pauses convey rhythm in both the spoken and written word by comparing and contrasting ancient rhetoric with the work of early 20th Century modernist writers Robert Musil and Virginia Woolf. The prose rhythm demanded by the ancient rhetoricians is structured by intervals, where the most crucial interval, the full stop, should be marked by a breathing pause. While the rhetoricians discuss breathing in the context of verbal delivery, Woolf and Musil use especially careful composition to highlight intervals for breath in the body of their texts.

This symposium takes place on Monday June 6th from 5pm – 7pm. It is free to attend and refreshments will be provided. All welcome, no need to register.