Looking for Theophrastus: Travels in Search of a Lost Philosopher

by Laura Beatty

Standing on the deck of a ferry boat, Laura Beatty watches as the assembled port and buildings of mainland Greece disappear from view. Her destination is Lesbos, but she's not only travelling across the stretch of glittering blue sea - she's also travelling 2,000 years into the past, to a time when the world was a wild place of gods and warrior kings. It's here she needs to go to retrieve a forgotten philosopher, one who worked side-by-side with Aristotle to learn and to classify the world, to rely on his senses rather than myth to explain what governs the seasons and the soil, to put down on parchment the glorious multiplicity of character types he met on his travels across ancient Greece. That philosopher is Theophrastus, a gentle, peaceful, wondering man whose work took him from the academies of Athens to the reckless court of Philip of Macedonia, and in time would would inspire Linnaeus' system of classification and, quite possibly, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - and the modern form of the novel that the Tales, in turn inspired. But if one person achieved so much, why is his name so little recognised? In Looking for Theophrastus, Laura Beatty restores this important figure to collective consciousness, and in doing so travels in Theophrastus's own footsteps, exploring how we see, receive and relate to the world around us and questioning what we lose from the modern way of living when we forget those ancients who first taught us how to see.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Greece, Biography

352 pages, Hardcover

Published May 5, 2022

About the author

Laura Beatty is the author of Pollard, a novel that won the Authors' Club First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize. She has also written two biographies, the first about Lillie Langtry which contained the first publication of correspondence between Lillie and her lover Arthur Jones, and the second about Anne Boleyn.

(Source: https://atlantic-books.co.uk/contribu...)

Reviews

[Sarah Bacaller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is a fascinating creative-nonfiction, genre-bending narrative. With an ever-present, reflective authorial voice, Beatty leads us through her journey to discover more about the life of Theophrastus, student of Plato, colleague of Aristotle and 'father of botany'. Ancient Greek life and culture are brought to life as Beatty walks the streets of Lesbos and Athens, following in the footsteps of an ancient philosopher whose life she is seeking to trace. I've never been so engrossed in a work on Ancient Greece as with Beatty's book; it was easy to be carried along in the narrative of her journey, seamlessly interwoven as it was with (his)tory, fact, conjecture and primary sources. This is research that is so readable and relevant to a popular readership.

My struggle with this book was that, because of the lack of academic referencing or clear demarcation of 'fact' from 'fiction', I put it down not quite knowing where evidence ended and Beatty's reflective conjectures began. But then, perhaps that is precisely the point. Beatty is demonstrating the way in which history is always also myth, and a fact/fiction divide is never as simple as this dichotomous word-pairing might have us believe – especially when we are discussing a philosopher from over two millenia ago, who lived in an infinite world of ideas while his feet were firmly planted on the ground, in the garden.

While reading, I did also sometimes also feel that parts of the narrative were generated as 'filler'; that evidence ran out and Beatty was led into reflection and stream-of-consciousness wanderings that found her in interesting philosophical terrain that was, however, perhaps lateral to the purposes of the book.

I looked forward to reading this book each evening, and it has given me a new and much deeper appreciation for those figures from Ancient Greek philosophy whose names are so often encountered, but whose lives are still so mysterious. Beatty is incredibly clever and intentional in her methodology, 'performing' philosophical ideas in her writing and teaching history with that skilful trickery whereby the reader doesn't even realise how much they're learning.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in philosophy, the history of botany, Ancient Greece, creative non-fiction writing or effective teaching.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about the elusive nature of knowledge. Form and content are well met. It opens with a quote by Sebald and features photographs mysteriously interspersed with the text, as Sebald does. The book works best as an artifact - the placing to the text and images has been clearly thought out and contributes to the form. It presents itself like dappled water. This is a difficult act to pull off well and many have failed at it but Beatty balances everything wonderfully, so the whole thing is a true pleasure, full of insight and humanity.

[Swavik Dittmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

One star from me, another one to soften my apparent prejudice. It’s poetical prose applied to a biographical sketch draped onto a travelogue none of which is particularly appealing and the combination of which is a mess. In my opinion at least. What I’m writing here is a reflection of my experience of the book, not it’s intrinsic value.

[Jerald Pinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laura Beatty’s self-imposed search for Theophrastus is part travelogue, part history, part philosophical treatise all rolled into one captivating piece. The fragments of Theophrastus’ life unspool slowly throughout the course of Beatty’s fragmented inner monologue, in which she directly addresses the subjects of her work on a frequent basis. Many of the passages, for example, are addressed to Theophrastus, as Beatty wishes she could bridge the gap in time and correspond directly to the man for whom there are so few surviving historical accounts.

The whimsied structure makes the book an enjoyable read. She jumps from direct historical accounts of Theophrastus and Aristotle, from their time in Athens, to their researches and lectures at the Lyceum on Lesbos, to their sojourn in the caves of Mieza, where Aristotle tutored Alexander the Great. Beatty frequently oscillates between her musings on the man Theoprhastus must have been to descriptions of Macedonia, Athens, and the political intrigue that riled the Greek city states in the years leading up to Alexander’s imminent conquests. Beatty jumps from topic to topic seemingly at random as she follows the philosophers’ trail until she loses the scent and is left with only with the ability to conjecture.

It's possible Theophrastus wrote more than 200 books during his lifetime, but only a handful have survived the long span of time between his life and ours. Of these, two are on botany, and one is a small book on character analyses. Beatty is most interested in the latter. Coming across a copy of Theophrastus’ book of characters is what initially inspired her to write a book on his life and work, and she assiduously lays out the way this short character study influenced the course of western literature and philosophy, from the ancient Greeks to early Christians to Chaucer to Dickens.

If you’re looking for a detailed account of Theophrastus’ life and a granular assessment of his works and influence, you might be better off consulting other sources or using this book as a starting point. But if you’re looking for a multi-faceted inquiry into the life of a man who — for better or worse — will almost certainly forever remain obscured, this book offers a broad view that’s every bit as peripatetic as the material studied by its eponymous subject.

[David K. Glidden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfectly brilliant and well informed personal story of getting to know Theophrastus, that mostly forgotten colleague of Aristotle. A close observer of nature and human nature, Theophrastus was one of the very first truly data-collecting scientists, at a time when metaphysical theorizing held sway from Greco-Roman antiquity to the 17th century. Beatty writes in a mesmerizing almost magical prose, somewhat reminiscent of the late great W.G. Sebald who used photographic settings to place the reader within the author‘s narrative vision.

[Brian Hanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't really bring myself to do more than read a few opening pages then skim, but even so I think I've got the measure of this. One of the cover-blurbs calls the book "genre-defiant", but it seems to me to belong to a very definite, and highly fashionable, genre: that of the author's account of their "Search" for some partly-lost figure, with the gaps in the record filled in with autobiographical sketches and imaginative speculation. Not for me, though some clearly like it.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant attempt to understand a philosopher mostly known for his association with Aristotle, his studies of plants, and his collection of character sketches. While the focus is always on the shadowy figure of Theophrastus, there are some interesting detours ranging from Chaucer to Ed Ricketts.

What I loved most about the book was how the author captures the fascination with ancient Greece, which most of us who suffer from it first acquired when we were children.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somewhere in the crossroads between a letter of admiration, a biography of someone you've never met, a chronicle of memories and heresay, a dream so lucid and tangible that the lines between fantasy and reality turn arbitrary, lies this book.

History is a living thing, and we too, are living in it and in the wake of what was. This book really captures the magic of knowing where we came from and who the people before us were.

[Robert Lamb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this five stars because of the sense of wonder and appreciation that it conjures, at least for this reader. I found it thoroughly inspiring.
Knowing a little about philosophy and ancient Greece is probably helpful but not essential for the prospective reader.
I'm a huge fan of the History of Philosophy without any Gaps podcast, and this dovetailed nicely with several episodes of that.

[Lauren010 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know how to feel

Some parts were interesting. Some parts were dull. Some were just strange. I'm not sure I understand why she made the stylistic decision to write about Theophrastus as though he was a missing lover of hers. More importantly, she never convinced me to feel even a shadow of the affection towards him that she so clearly feels

[Catherine Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written for a lay person not a classical scholar this is a fascinating read that takes you back to Ancient Greece.

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank god I have finished it.

[Ron Kastner · Rating 4 out of 5]

a work of love; imaginatively conceived and executed.

[Alfonso Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un capricho lírico con la excusa de un poeta aristotélico.

[Annette Traicos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written. Loved it and also learnt so much