Textual criticism: The legacy of G. P. Mohrmann

During the last decade of his life, G. P. Mohrmann pursued a sophisticated approach to the textual study of rhetorical discourse. His final and unfinished essay on John C. Calhoun's “Speech on the Reception of the Abolition Petitions” illustrates the potential and the complexity involved of this project. This essay extends Mohrmann's working premises to indicate three principles: Textual criticism should eventuate in theoretical understanding of texts rather than generate or test autonomous theoretical postulates; the sequencing or timing of elements within texts offers the ground for critical judgment; and certain foundational conceptions, often expressed as root metaphors, frame the discourse and influence its temporal progression.