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Kenneth Burke
Kenneth Duva Burke (1897-1993) was an American literary theorist, poet, essayist, and novelist, who wrote on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary the...view moreKenneth Duva Burke (1897-1993) was an American literary theorist, poet, essayist, and novelist, who wrote on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary theorist, Burke was best known for his analyses based on the nature of knowledge. One of the first individuals to stray away from more traditional rhetoric and view literature as “symbolic action,” Burke was unorthodox, concerning himself not only with literary texts, but with the elements of the text that interacted with the audience: social, historical, political background, author biography.
Born on May 5, 1897 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kenneth Burke graduated from Peabody High School and attended Ohio State University to pursue courses in French, German, Greek, and Latin. He later dropped out to move closer to New York City, where he enrolled at Columbia University, but did not receive his diploma. In Greenwich Village, he kept company with avant-garde writers such as Hart Crane, Malcolm Cowley, Gorham Munson, and later Allen Tate.
Burke served as the editor of the modernist literary magazine The Dial in 1923, and as its music critic from 1927-1929. Kenneth himself was an avid player of the piano. He received the Dial Award in 1928 for distinguished service to American literature. He was the music critic of The Nation from 1934-1936, and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935. Burke taught and lectured at various colleges, including Bennington College, while continuing his literary work.
He died of heart failure at his home in Andover, New Jersey on November 19, 1993, aged 96.view less
Books by Kenneth Burke
Essays Toward a Symbolic of Motives, 1950–1955 Kenneth Burke on Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEquipment for Living: The Literary Reviews of Kenneth Burke Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPermanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters from Kenneth Burke to William H. Rueckert, 1959-1987 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHumanistic Critique of Education: Teaching and Learning as Symbolic Action Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings