demic’s equivalent of the bankrupt’s twenty cents on the dollar by expressing
my affection and gratitude to the chief institutions and key people who have
so frequently given me more credit than I deserve. The Department of Eng-
lish and the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State granted me a sabbati-
cal in 2015–16 that enabled me to finish the book, and I am grateful to Debra
Moddelmog and Peter Hahn, the department chair and divisional dean, for
supporting my application. The International Society for the Study of Nar-
rative has provided a vibrant intellectual community that has often offered
what Porter Abbott, one of its active members, calls “friendly resistance”—and
thus productive engagement—with many of the arguments I advance here.
My colleagues in Project Narrative at Ohio State—Brian McHale, Robyn War-
hol, Frederick Aldama, Jared Gardner, Sean O’Sullivan, Angus Fletcher, Amy
Shuman, Julia Watson, and Katra Byram—extend not just “friendly affirma-
tion” but also the commitment to a shared enterprise that creates a wonder-
ful environment in which to work. Colleagues in the OSU Modernist Group
organized by Steven Kern offer additional valuable contributions to that envi-
ronment. I have benefited from exchanges with audiences at a range of confer-
ences and universities, and I am especially grateful to the generous colleagues
who have invited me to speak, especially Dan Shen, Jakob Lothe, Amy Elias,
Arnaud Schmitt, Philip Goldstein, Henrik Skov Nielsen, Stefan Iversen, and
John Simons. Genevieve Lively offered me a classicist’s reassurance that what I
have to say about Aristotle isn’t totally bonkers. Lisa Zunshine encouraged me
to think more about the relation between cognitive theory and rhetorical the-
ory. Jim Battersby once again gave me the benefit of his sympathetic ear and
his critical eye. Elizabeth Renker let me carry on about ideas in progress and
responded with trenchant questions. Yonina Hoffman carefully copyedited
the penultimate version of the whole manuscript and helped me both tighten
the prose and avoid some gaffes. Nick Potkalitsky provided similar eagle-eyed
work on the final manuscript and page proofs. Robyn Warhol, Peter Rabi-
nowitz, and an anonymous reader for the press offered valuable advice that
has improved the book. Peter’s “close encounters” with numerous passages of
my critical prose often led me to rethink both my ideas and my expression of
them. In that way, his reading was, for me at least, a happy continuation of a
conversation we’ve been having for over thirty years now. My greatest debt,
the one I can never come close to repaying, is to Betty Menaghan, whose
boundless love and support enriches every day of my life. Finally, I dedicate
this book to my four grandchildren, Abigail, Benjamin, May, and Fox: may
you all enjoy long and rich lives as storytellers and rhetorical readers.
PREFACE • xiii