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

Contact Information
Department of Communication
The University of Maryland, College Park
2130 Skinner Building
College Park, MD 20742
Email: gaines@umd.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 (ca. 330 BCE) to the fama of Nicetes in Rome (mid-70s CE)—a period in which many 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, a new interest in linguistic pragmatics has led me to realize the significance of propaganda as it relates to "shchool rhetoric." In this connection, I am working toward a critique and revision of propaganda theory that redefines propaganda, reconceives its typology, reconsiders its venues of application, and reconceptualizes its differences from rhetoric as the preceptive theory of persuasive discourse composition and presentation.

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

Representative Publications

Gaines, Robert N. 2019. "Distinguishing Rhetoric from Propaganda: An Approach from Pragmatics." 7th Rhetoric in Society Conference, Rhetoric Society of Europe, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium [13 September].

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. Ed. 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.