Editors' Essay

Discuss the "Editors' Essay: "Toward the Next Phase" by Clarke Rountree and Mark Huglen

Huglen and Rountree: Toward the Next Phase

I think Mark and Clarke's inaugural, introductory essay is superb. They've touched most, if not all, the important bases. (With Burke, I guess, you can never say anybody's touched ALL the bases, but let's not get picky.) The "benchmark" motif from the 1990 New Harmony conference sounds just the right opening note, along with, of course, the parlor conversation metaphor. This scholarly enterprise will begin with Burke, draw on his thoughts and inspiration, ripple out, we hope, in more applied and theoretical dimensions than we can now imagine, then double back for a "reality check" (loosely speaking) with the master. Interpersonal communication is one domain the authors cite that's been relatively fallow from a dramatistic standpoint. There are others.

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