Monday, June 01, 2009
POETICS
Author: Aristotle.
Date: 335 BC
I will abstain from commenting this book, since I don't think I can add something relevant or original at the present moment to the already extensive body of literature concerning it.
Some minor remarks, though. This text is full of contradictions and, in the translations which I have read, of obscure passages. One of the most blatant contradictions is the fact that, at one point, Aristotle considers that an unhappy ending is the best way to end a tragedy; in a later passage, he claims that the best type of recognition is that in which the character perceives his error when he is about to commit the act, and refrains from doing it - which in my view prevents an unhappy ending.
Another curious fact is the statement that some forms of music, being mimetic, are considered as poetry.
Date: 335 BC
I will abstain from commenting this book, since I don't think I can add something relevant or original at the present moment to the already extensive body of literature concerning it.
Some minor remarks, though. This text is full of contradictions and, in the translations which I have read, of obscure passages. One of the most blatant contradictions is the fact that, at one point, Aristotle considers that an unhappy ending is the best way to end a tragedy; in a later passage, he claims that the best type of recognition is that in which the character perceives his error when he is about to commit the act, and refrains from doing it - which in my view prevents an unhappy ending.
Another curious fact is the statement that some forms of music, being mimetic, are considered as poetry.
