Classical Literary Criticism

by D.A. Russell (Editor), Michael Winterbottom (Editor), Aristotle

European literary criticism was pioneered in the ancient world, and this edition provides the principal Greek and Latin texts in translation, giving the reader a fair and intelligible view of ancient literary criticism and its development. Each passage is supplemented by a brief contextual introduction and a lucid general introduction provides an overview of classical thought on tragedy, comedy, poetry, and epic, as well as of the ideas of mimesis, the moral effect of poetry, emotion, and rhetoric.

Genres: Classics, Philosophy, Criticism, Nonfiction, Classical Studies, Literary Criticism, Roman

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 381

Reviews

[شمس]

This volume contains:

• Plato - Ion
• Plato - Republic 2-3
• Plato - Republic 10
• Aristotle - Poetics
• Horace - A Letter to Augustus
• Horace - The Art of Poetry
• Tacitus - Dialogue on Orators
• 'Longinus' - On Sublimity
• Dio of Prusa - Philoctetes in the Tragedians
• Plutarch - On the study of Poetry

This is probably a better choice than Penguin's volume of the same name which does not contain the works by Tacitus, Dio, and Plutarch, which are included in this volume.
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The editors are most grateful to Dr Catherine Whistler for suggesting the attractive cover illustration.

[John Devlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, so I had to read this.

Old arguments best served in a late night bull session in college: what is art, is art truth, what’s acceptable art?

Plato’s a curmudgeon who sees art as weakening moral fiber and simply false.
Aristotle’s the hip 60s prof who thinks arts beautiful and speaks to the soul.

In between we have manufactured talks where Socrates disassembles a fictitious person argument and others where poetry, a la rock n roll, a la hip hop, is seen as dangerous to Roman youth.

I’ve become the curmudgeonly Plato who inveighs against the moral destruction caused by art.
It took a few thousand years but when today entertainers wear almost nothing and simulate sex acts or when a performer rips off his clothes and plays the piano with his penis to the cheers of the crowd we’ve finally gotten to the place Plato feared.

[Mehmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good collection that does a great job of bringing together the core texts of literary criticism in the ancient world. I greatly enjoyed Tacitus’s Dialogue (read it after Cicero’s Brutus), and Longinus is a very interesting text. Plato’s Ion, the excerpts from the Republic, and Aristotle’s Poetics can be found elsewhere, but still are crucial to the coherency of this collection as fundamental and excellent works. The texts from Horace are brilliant as ever, while I wish there were more from Dio and Plutarch (the selection from plutarch is actually only half the original text) I understand why they were excludes from a paperback edition. Similar is the issue with the critical apparatus, which is lacking for such heavy works, but that is mitigated by the excellent (and very expensive) commentary and companion also from the OUP.

[annabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for an exam and so I’m counting it towards my goodreads reading goal bc I READ IT FRONT TO BACK!!!!!

I find it really funny that ancient philosophers like invented conversations with people to prove themselves right. It’s like thinking of a comeback or planning an argument in the shower.

[Josie Rousseau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only because I had to read it for a class and this is not my thing, so basically the biggest waste of time ever

Plato and Aristotle basically be two men asking themselves the most leading questions ever to get the answer they want to prove a nonsensical argument that has a million other holes

[Zachary Waltz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I acquired this in order to read Longinus' On the Sublime. Upon revisiting it for a third time, I came way unpersuaded and unsatisfied by the arguments and insights. Only the comments on Sappho (10.3) and Homer (10.6) moved me.

"Homer, on the other hand, does not banish the cause of fear at a stroke; he gives a vivid picture of men, one might almost say, facing death many times with every wave that comes. Notice also the forced combination of naturally uncompoundable prepositions: hupek, 'from under'. Homer has. tortured the words to correspond with the emotion of the moment, and expressed the emotion magnificently by thus crushing words together. He has in effect stamped the special character of the danger on the diction: 'they are carried away from under death'."

[Michael Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a very jovial read, but a useful book to own and consult. That's what it is really for, I guess: a reference book.

[Helena · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. ein skulle trudd at ein 39 sider lang tekst skriven av Aristoteles ikkje skulle teke så lang tid å lese, men der tek ein feil
2. det tok betydeleg mindre tid denne gongen