Robert N. Gaines
Visiting Professor of Rhetoric, Sewanee: The University of the South
Professor Emeritus of Communication, University of Maryland, College Park
Curriculum vitae et studiorum

Contact Information
Department of Rhetoric
The University of the South
735 University Avenue
Sewanee, TN 37383
Phone 931.598.1350
Email rngaines@sewanee.edu

Research

I am chiefly concerned with the history of rhetoric, especially ways in which dispute between philosophy and rhetoric shaped the development of rhetorical theory during ancient times. Consistent with this concern I am currently working on two initiatives. One is a new Greek text and English translation of Περὶ ῥητορικη̂ς Δ (On Rhetoric 4) by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher of the first century BCE. This initiative is part of the NEH-funded Philodemus Translation Project. The other initiative is a "census" of notable sophists from the exilium of Aeschines at Rhodes (330 BCE) to the fama of Nicetes in Rome (mid-70s CE)—a period in which most commentators say there were no significant sophists. The growing list of sophists I have identified in this period directly challenges standard views on the nature and development of ancient sophistic. Lately, my pedagogical interests have led me to realize the significance of propaganda and its relation to rhetoric. In this connection, I am working toward a critique and revision of propaganda theory that redefines propaganda, reconceives its typology, and reconsiders it venues of application.

My research has appeared in Cronache Ercolanesi, Hermes, Philosophy and Rhetoric, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Rhetorica, Transactions of the American Philological Association, and elsewhere. During 2002–2011, I served as editor of Advances in the History of Rhetoric. I now serve as the Editor-in-Chief of Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric.

Representative Publications

Gaines, Robert. 2017. "Latin Rhetoric." In Oxford Bibliographies in Classics. Ed. Dee L. Clayman. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gaines, Robert N. 2017. "Theodorus Byzantius on the Parts of a Speech." In Logos without Rhetoric: The Arts of Language before Plato. Studies in Rhetoric/Composition. Ed. Robin Reames, 19–29, 149–150, 152–154. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.

Gaines, Robert N. 2017. "Rhetorical Theory." In The SAGE Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods. Edited by Mike Allen, 1507–1511. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Gaines, Robert N. 2017. "Rhetorical Arts in the Epicurean School." In Ab omni parte beatus: Classical Essays in Honor of James M. May. Ed. Anne Groton, 51–74. Mundelein, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci.