Story-telling As Means Of Persuasion:The Rhetorical Dimension Of Narrative

To tell a story is to do many things all at once.Whereas contemporary studies of narrative have done much to address the expressive and textual functions a story performs,less than sufficient attention has so far been paid to its rhetorical function,that is,its use as a means of persuasion.This paper directs attention to this aspect,casting some new lights within an intercultural context on the crucial role stories play in changing the audience's perception,attitude and behavior.On the basis of a review of contemporary narratological studies both in and outside of China's,the paper introduces the relatively neglected rhetorical approaches to this field and applies the insights these approaches provide to an examination of how thinkers of China's classical age used story-telling as their primary means for persuading their audience.To show that using stories as a means to the end of winning over the audience has been part of China's time-honored rhetorical tradition,the case of President Xi Jinping's way of telling stories is also presented as a most recent exemplar of what could be accomplished by skillfully deployment of carefully selected and organized stories.The paper is divided into six chapters.Chapter One"Introduction"offers both the general framework for the paper and a literature review that reveals the lack of attention,especially in China,to a rhetorical perspective on story-telling by scholars of narratology.This is followed by C.hapter Two"Theoretical Framework"about western rhetoric and rhetoric narratology.Chapter Three"Story-telling as a Means of Persuasion"explores the rhetorical approaches that have been adopted in western business and medical arena,and sums up stories'unique persuasive impact on the audience.Chapter Four,"From The Works of Mencius/?? to Chan-Kuo Ts'e/???:Stories as a Key Element of Classical Chinese Discourse,"establishes rhetorically oriented story-telling as a prominent traditional feature of Chinese communication.A review of President Xi Jinping's brilliant use of stories in his key publications is the subject of Chapter Five"President Xi as a master story-teller"The paper ends with Chapter Six"Conclusion,"which summarizes the paper's findings,reiterates the crucial rhetorical function that story-telling performs,and discusses both the innovation of this thesis and what remains left to be desired.