Paperback: Clockwork Rhetoric The Language and Style of Steampunk

Clockwork Rhetoric

The Language and Style of Steampunk

Edited by Barry Brummett

University Press of Mississippi

ISBN 978-1-4968-0975-9, paper, $30

For Immediate Release

A unique look at how the language of the imaginatively styled movement attracts followers to steampunk aesthetic

“Steampunk” is a style grounded in the Victorian era, in clothing and accoutrements modeled on a heightened and hyperextended age of steam. In addition to its modeling of attire and other symbolic trappings, what is most distinctive is its adherents' use of a machined aesthetic based on steam engines and early electrical machinery—gears, pistons, shafts, wheels, induction motors, clockwork, and so forth. Clockwork Rhetoric: The Language and Style of Steampunk (University Press of Mississippi) is a unique book that explores how the aesthetic and cultural movement of steampunk persuades audiences through rhetoric.

Precursors to steampunk can be found in the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. The imagery of the American West contributed to the aesthetic—revolvers, locomotives, and rifles of the late nineteenth century. Among young people, steampunk has found common cause with Goth style. Examples from literature and popular culture include William Gibson's fiction, China Miéville's novels, the classic film Metropolis, and the BBC series Doctor Who. Clockwork Rhetoric recognizes that steampunk, a unique popular culture phenomenon, presents a prime opportunity for rhetorical criticism.

Steampunk’s art, style, and narratives convey complex social and political meanings. These chapters explore topics ranging widely from jewelry to Japanese anime to contemporary imperialism to fashion. Mainly, the book addresses how consumers of steampunk are influenced to have certain social, political attitudes and commitments.

Essays by David E. Beard, Elizabeth Birmingham, Joshua Gunn, Mirko M. Hall, Lisa Horton, Andrew Mara, John M. McKenzie, Kristin Stimpson, Mary Anne Taylor, John R. Thompson, and Jaime Lane Wright

BARRY BRUMMETT is Charles Sapp Centennial Professor in Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of A Rhetoric of Style and Rhetorical Homologies: Form, Culture, Experience.

For more information contact Clint Kimberling, Publicist, ckimberling@mississippi.edu

Read more about Clockwork Rhetoric: The Language and Style of Steampunk at http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1710