theory as a very helpful Robin to my rhetorical Batman. I have done so not
because I think cognitive theory must always be the junior partner in any col-
laboration with rhetorical theory but because the issues and problems I iden-
tified in “Recitatif ” seemed to respond best to such a relationship. I have no
doubt that my identification of those issues and problems was influenced by
my rhetorical commitment. But this recognition also leads me to expect that
cognitive theorists—or rhetorical theorists!—will identify issues and problems
in narrative texts that respond best to relationships in which cognitive theory
plays the role of Batman and rhetorical theory the role of Robin.^9 And as rhe-
torical and cognitive theorists continue to engage with each other’s work, I
expect that on some occasions they will form a social mind whose separate
parts cannot be so easily distinguished.
- See Rabinowitz, “Toward a Theory of Cognitive Flavor” for an example.
TONI MORRISON’S DETERMINATE AMBIgUITY • 167