What better way to pass a Wednesday evening than in the company of the Three Musketeers, Ethos, Pathos and Logos? The Idler Academy presents an Evening of Rhetoric with journalist and author, Sam Leith.
Drawing from his book, “You Talkin’ To Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama” Sam will take you on an entertaining (and persuasive) journey into the art of Persuasion, from its Attic origins to its twenty-first century apotheosis. He will tell you the stories of its heroes and villains – from Hitler and George W Bush to Gyles Brandreth and Homer Simpson.
Sam will also explain how the nuts and bolts of rhetoric work in speeches from Cicero to Richard Nixon, and the excellence of “Buy it, get it, Argos it!” After this evening, you’ll know how to use chiasmus with confidence, occultatio without thinking about it, and zeugma with the ease of late period Flanders and Swann.
Sam Leith is a former Literary Editor of the Daily Telegraph and
contributes regularly to the Evening Standard, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Spectator and Prospect. He’s the author of two non-fiction books, Dead Pets and Sod’s Law and a novel, The Coincidence Engine.
“Reading this book is the equivalent of lounging in a leather club armchair, wreathed in cigar smoke and a couple of whiskies down, alongside a companion who’s being funny and clever about Homer and Hello! magazine by turns” Charlotte Higgins, Guardian
‘Witty and revealing’ James McConnachie, Sunday Times
“Erudite loopiness of the highest order” George Pendle, FT
“sprightly, erudite…also an exceptionally astute examination of how politics
works. I relished every page of it” Christopher Hart, Literary Review
“elegant, concise and frequently very funny” John Preston, Spectator
Date: Wednesday 22 February 2012
Time: 6.30pm for 7pm. Ends 8.30 pm
Place: The Idler Academy, 81 Westbourne Park Road, London W2 5QH. Tel 0207 221 5908
Cost: £20/15. BOOK HERE Free wine and irresistible tid-bits.
