The Birth of the Orator. A Situational Approach to “The Moment’s Glory”
Abstract
Following recent research devoted to “rhetoric’s sensorium” and “rhetorical situation”, the essay aims at relating the birth of the orator to his “moment of glory”. The analysis departs from the similarities of Mihail Kogălniceanu’s and B.P. Hasdeu’s discontinuous careers, both of them eminent Romanian personalities of the 19th century who gave up literature on account its inherent uncertainty, afterward pursuing success as political orators. Nonetheless, even if both of them discover that sensuality can be converted into brilliant oratory, it is the aspiring orators’ education (both education of senses and institutional education) that makes the difference between the former’s glory and the latter’s failure. A series of examples extracted from early literature and grouped according to the frequency of favored rhetorical effects prove that each one understands “glory” in a different manner, which makes the former a typical persuader (a mediator of experience) and the latter a manipulator (a seeker of the Absolute). Each orator’s manner (persuader vs. manipulator) becomes apparent in the way autobiography is functionalized within political speeches: while Kogălniceanu formalizes autobiography so that it becomes a trope enabling the orator to reinvent himself in any new rhetorical situation may occur, Hasdeu attaches autobiography to a sense of exceptionalism. Hence, the relationship between the birth of the orator and his moment of glory is discernible not only in his awakening of senses but also in the orator’s (aptitude for) rebirth in new situations.References
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