The power of stories and the practice of rhetoric

With the rise of the internet and social media, the performance of storytelling and the arts of oratory have returned to centre stage. In this talk ahead of World Book Day, Marina Warner argues that in an era of public disinformation, the study of the uses of rhetoric, as deployed in many forms of literature, is urgently needed. Rhetoric used to be a pillar of literary education, and understanding its processes remains vital to sharpening epistemic vigilance and developing countermeasures to the damaging falsehoods and rumours in circulation. Literature and imagination, action and reality interact through narratives and how convincingly they are told matters. Between stories that open minds and stories that close them, rhetoric – the modes and voices of storytelling – plays a crucial role.

Her memoir, Inventory of a Life Mislaid: An Unreliable Memoir is published on 4 March 2021.

Speaker: Professor Dame Marina Warner FBA, FRSL, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Birkbeck, University of London; Distinguished Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford; Professorial Research Fellow, SOAS; and President of the Royal Society of Literature

Image: Professor Dame Marina Warner FBA. Photograph by Edward Park

Transcript: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/podcasts/10-minute-talks-power-stories-practice-rhetoric/