In an article published in the Fall 1986 volume of Rhetoric Review, "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community," James Porter argues that the prevailing composition pedagogy romanticizes the writer and creates an illusion of the writer as "free, uninhibited spirit, as independent, creative genius" (34). In this article Porter offers another perspective on composition, arguing that the construction of texts is far more social than current composition pedagogy acknowledges, and that, in fact, writers are not autonomous, but rather "borrow and sew together [Text] to create new discourse" (34).
In addition, Porter argues that the threads writers borrow to create new discourse, from the repeatability of certain key texts, to explicit citations, to traditions, conventions, assumptions, and even unacknowledged sources, are shaped by the writer's discourse community, and, in turn, shape that community. Thus, the invention of new discourse--its topics, format, conventions, sources--are integrally linked to a discourse community.
This project focuses on the intertext of Porter's article in an attempt to help explicate the discourse community we are creating in Karen Burke Lefevre's Rhetorical Invention Seminar--a community which is shaped by and shapes Porter's text. What are the "traces" this community shares? What "textual fragments" are repeatable? Who is referenced and who influences the text? What are the acceptable conventions, topics and formats within the community? Is there a shared Text, and how tightly are the threads of this text woven into the new discourse of the community?