On "On Invention" -1

Reflections on Invention and Method: Two Rhetoricial Treatises form the Hermogenic Corpus, Kennedy 2005

1. In the very first chapter, after having laid out his very first illustration of what to say in your prooemium (preamble) if you have ascertained that the audience (judges) are happy with what has happened, the author writes:

Don't worry about the simplicity of the style, for as a teacher does I have tried to bring out the technique dispensing with the force of language and putting the bare thoughts so that they will be clearer. (p 7, Kennedy)

This metacomment glossing his own practice brings out nicely the separate treatment of inventio from style. The wording of the arguments will be basic and bare. This seems to me to be an excellent principle for teaching argument.

2. Examining the prooemia it becomes clear that there is a significant existential difference between a prooemia in an Athenian court and an introduction to an academic essay. Creating 'attention, receptivity and goodwill on the part of the audience' is much more critical in a court case. However when an academic paper is presented or 'read' at a conference, then they align. Both involve acknowledging and aligning the fore-structures, the prejudices of the audience, by framing the speech you are about to embark on. This is done by showing your own good will and fellow feeling, your sense of community with the audience.

[Sue Hood has studied how this prooemium is necessary at the presentation of an academic paper at a conference. That is, quite separate from the Introduction within the paper itself, the very performance of the paper itself must be justified and accounted for - especially if the paper/speech is going to disagree with the audience's stance.

Notice that this is usually done by addressing the audience directly, ie not reading. Often the speaker positions themselves away from the speaking position for the actual paper. That is, it is done in a different, more personal and disingenuous voice or persona. One that includes social relationships and personal biography, not just disciplinary relationships. ]

The equivalent in a book for the prooemium of a speech is the Preface. It is in the preface, as opposed to the introduction, that the author adduces their sincerity and sense of community with the reader, by presenting themselves as reflectively looking back on their completed text and describing its intentions and hopes etc as an intervention/event.

So, we could say that the prooemium and preface focus on the risks of the speech act itself as an action/event. They address questions such as: Why are you standing up to say something? Who are you? Are you trying to be helpful or malicious? So, this is the place where the rhetor tries to demonstrate their 'good will'.