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Ann Berthoff Annotated Bibliography Books

Books

This is the only book-length literary analysis written by Berthoff, but not her only work dealing with Marvell. In it she concentrates her focus on the “thematic unity” and the problem with defining “the limits” of metaphorical interpretations of Marvell’s poetry (x). The title of her book stems from the analysis of Marvell’s hero as the “resolved soul.” She explores the “voice of the allegory” as it reveals the poems’ thematic unity and Marvell’s “allegorical imagination” (3). Her emphasis on the imagination is the closest to her later work on composition theory and pedagogy since she explores how “Metaphorical seeing is itself a conceptual act; the imagination working on radical, received metaphors is allegorical” (14). It may be a challenging read for undergraduate English majors, but there are valuable literary analyses of the allegory and metaphor in Marvell’s popular poems that are often anthologized.

This is the first edition of Berthoff’s beginning composition text that emphasizes a process approach to writing instruction centered around the multiple, yet harmonious, activities she separates by slashes to emphasize their mutual connectedness. Part one of the book emphasizes the beginning stage of prewriting, specifically through observing, journaling, considering relationships, and discovering forms. She stresses how we see relationships as we are thinking and composing. Part two is the heart of the book since it moves into a philosophy of composition, a defense of the role of chaos and dialectic, specific writing activities and examples. She also devotes one chapter in this section to address the importance of revision, deemphasizing simple correction of surface errors in writing as part of editing. Part three stresses her idea that reading and writing work together and that students should become more aware of what they are doing while engaged in any part of the writing process. Throughout the text Berthoff uses “assisted invitations” to connect her theory of composition to the student practice, ultimately eliciting that awareness on the part of students of exactly what they are doing as they compose. It is difficult to see how this textbook could be used in today’s college classrooms since Berthoff went out of her way to refrain from creating a formulaic manual or guide.

This is the second edition of Berthoff’s original text published ten years earlier. In the preface she acknowledges the shortcomings of the original and makes a conscious effort to tailor the second edition with clearer and friendlier explanations. The “assisted invitations” are again specific and demonstrated through student samples that Berthoff offers as inspiration. One key concept she introduces is the “dialectical notebook” that serves as a way for students to record their observations and thoughts as well as to “develop the habit of looking and looking again” (27). In addition, she includes samples of students’ dialectical notebooks along with her own commentary about the advantages of seeing relationships and constructing meaning. Her original idea that the forming, thinking, and writing activities are correlated simultaneously remains intact. This edition is much easier to read compared to the first. Seven additional sections are added to this edition that make some of her theory more accessible through refined explanations.

The book is comprised of talks and articles centered on the challenge of teaching writing. The strongest point Berthoff makes is the power of the “imagination” and the importance of reclaiming it as we compose through conscious effort to understand what happens as we do it. She offers a unique metaphor of composing as forming represented “by the gathering hand”(5). She emphasizes that writing be taught as “a process of making meaning” (v). Much of her focus is given to the “great teachers” like Vygotsky, Maria Montessori, Paulo Freire, I. A. Richards, and Northrop Frye, to name a few. Paramount to Berthoff is the importance of using language to explain language within the composing process. Equally important is the dialectical relationship between thought and meaning that we are constantly part of in the world we live and work in.

Berthoff herself calls this book a sequel to The Making of Meaning. In it she continues to explore making meaning by interpreting signs. She borrows from the C. S. Peirce idea of “the sense of learning” for her title. There are three pivotal questions that give the book its structure: Is teaching still possible? Is Learning Still Possible? Is Reading Still Possible? Berthoff answers “yes” to all three questions, but does not offer solutions to concerns about education. Instead, she asks readers to consider what it means to teach writing and reading as “meaning-making” activities within their dialectical relationship. She avoids the tendency of others to see the use of language as a code or formula to be mastered through diligent instruction. As an alternative, she embraces the suggestion that when we teach we should “be giving our students back their language so that they can reclaim it as an instrument for controlling their becoming” (26). Berthoff challenges us to accept that students are born to interpret with a discussion about the mental process of “allatoneness” so that we “stop isolating creative and critical thinking from each other (80). Finally, she asserts that reading and writing are inseparable when meaning is being formed, especially when we “move toward what Paulo Freire calls a ‘pedagogy of knowing’ ” (106).

In this book, Berthoff uses semiotics to argue that the relationship of language and thought in meaning is triadic, not dyadic. She starts with Ogden and Richards’ notion of triadicity represented in “a triangle with a dotted base line . . .” that emphasizes that the meaningful relationship between a symbol and a reference can only be “constructed . . . by an interpreter who shares that meaning(49). This idea separates the referent from the reference when forming meaning, yet they are interdependent. Berthoff argues that it is language that bridges the separation. As a result, we make meaning through logical conditions.

This is Berthoff’s only non-fiction work. It is a bio/autobiography of her grandfather Franklin Pierce Anderson (1856–1932). She extracts his character and personality through the many letters her uncle wrote to her as well as other family members’ correspondences.

Edited Works

In this collection of essays from artists, scientists, philosophers, historians, and others, Berthoff offers a philosophical framework for thinking about the composing process.

Organized in four parts—Practical Criticism, The Philosophy of Rhetoric, The Meaning of Meaning, and Design for Escape, Berthoff

Chapter Contributions

This is Berthoff’s defense for the use of the dialectical notebook as it serves to help students develop habits of “looking and looking again”, fostering fluency, tolerating ambiguity, and coming to terms with “allatonceness.”

This brief article argues that the imagination must be reclaimed from the positivists who seek to “designate both linguistic operation and brain function” in the study of language within composition theory. Berthoff advances her idea of “forming” meaning out of abstraction.

Berthoff provides a noteworthy reading of I.A. Richards’ rhetorical theory and a thorough assessment of his influence on traditions of writing instruction and research.

In this brief introduction to the chapter, Berthoff explains the importance of developing of critical consciousness within the context of political and spiritual discourse, drawing attention to Paulo Freire’s concept of “spiritual sites”.