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ARISTOTLE_POETICS

                                         July 30 - October 9, 2018

Reading through Aristotle's "The Poetics" in the
S.N. Butcher translation from 1911 (as I think          There's also extensive
most of us do)...                                       commentary by Butcher
                                                        in the Dover edition,
                                                        some of which I've
   http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/7/1974/                 also read.


 Just to state the obvious-- one of my
 specialties-- for Aristotle "poetry"
 embraces nearly every aspect of what we
 would call fiction: he's thinking of          The surviving work is
 the stage performances of greek comedy        entirely about Tragedy--
 and drama, which embraces plot, dialog,       he had a parallel work
 presentation ("spectacle"), and acting,       about Comedy that's been
 as well as the florid, mannered               lost.
 language we associate with "poetry".  
                                                    One might imagine a
                  ARISTOTLE_SPEAKS                  parallel universe
                                                    where comedians
 I get the sense that back when                     could make a bid for
 he was writing, these stage                        respectability by
 performances were the new,                         quoting Arisotle.
 happening art form-- so here,         
 Aristotle is the young turk           
 arguing against those old fart        
 champions of Homer.                   
                                       
 E.g. in Section XXVI, Aristotle talks 
 about how tragedy gets no respect from
 the oldsters: the stage tragedy was a 
 newer artform than epic poetry.       
                                       
 Aristotle suggests that tragedy does a
 better job and is thus a higher art...
                                       
 I think that's an attitude he         
 displays throughout "The Poetics":    
 tragedies are tighter, more unified.          This is much like Edgar Allen
                                               Poe's defense of the short
                                               story's tight focus compared
                                               to the novel.
                                       
                                               From Section VI (pink tab):
                                       
                                               "Tragedy, then, is an
                                               imitation of an action that
                                               is serious, complete, and of
                                               a certain magnitude ..."
                                       
                                               In the length of a play
                                               you can show only so much.
                                       
And so, here's a collection of some    
quotable (or questionable) quotes      
with commentary...

       DEJA_ARISTOTLE

       ARISTOTELIAN_METHOD
       ARISTOTELIAN_LINES
       ARISTOTLE_BEGINS
       ARISTOLE_ENDS
       ARISTOTLE_EPISODES
       ARISTOTLE_REVERSED
       ARISTOTLE_RECOGNIZED
       ARISTOTLE_DOUBLED
       ARISTOTLE_WART
       ARISTOTLE_CHARACTER
       ARISTOTLE_SENSES
       ARISTOTLE_ADVISES
       ARISTOTLE_TWOPART
       ARISTOTLE_FOURTYPES
       ARISTOTLE_CHORUS
       ARISTOTLE_EMOTES
       ARISTOTLE_SILENCES
       ARISTOTLE_SPEAKS
       ARISTOTLE_UNIFIES
       ARISTOTLE_FAKES
       ARISTOTLE_STANDARDS
       ARISTOTLE_SATIRE
       ARISTOTLE_POSSIBILITIES
       ARISTOTLE_IMITATED
       ARISTOTLE_EVOLUTION
       SPECTACULAR_ARISTOTLE
       ARISTOTLE_COMPOSED
       POETIX
       BUTCHERS_REPUBLIC
       KOREAN_POETICS
       THE_TWIST


       META4


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