Mainstream Soliloquies: Erving Goffman and the Sociology of Self-Talk

The chapter focuses on the rhetoric paradigms ruling self-talk in the public sphere, with particular reference to the new forms of “public” soliloquy. To the fore is the rhetoric analysis carried out by Erving Goffman in Forms of Talk (1981), focusing on the conversational frames in which social actors develop their communicative actions: “with self-talk, then, one might want to say that a sort of impersonation is occurring”. Self-talk is not only a dramatic genre or religious practice but also a public conversational habit, as digital speeches or sermons confirm. According to Goffman, self-talk can be intended as “the stage-acting of a version of the delivery, albeit only vaguely a version of its reception” (Goffman, Forms of Talk, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, p. 83). Thus, it is possible to investigate the rhetoric patterns of self-talk conceived as a conversational medium, practised not only in the theatre or in the church but also on the Internet and television. The purpose is to understand what kinds of self-talks are most commonly diffused in the public sphere, assuming that “here is a crucial feature of human communication” (Goffman, Forms of Talk, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, p. 84). Specifically, the methodology concerns Goffman’s frame analysis of self-talk, in reference to the rhetoric processes of “exaggeration, stereotyping, standardization of intensity” (Goffman, Forms of Talk, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, p. 84) of public speeches. This theoretic approach allows an emphasis on the convergence between sociology, communication and rhetoric in the analysis of self-talk, which can be paradoxically considered as a communicative strategy both in public and in private. Thanks to Goffman’s analysis, soliloquy and public sermons can be considered relevant forms of contemporary self-talk, inspired by meaningful rhetorical patterns.