I am so glad I finally read this book in its full length. Earlier, I had read about it, in school, in several writing books, and pieces of it, here and there. I found it to be much better and relevant to our modern way of writing than I originally was given the impression of.

The only negative was that I didn’t know Greek or the Greek alphabet, and there are several sections in the book that deal with the intricacies of the Greek alphabet and Greek words. Plus, since in Aristotle’s day, fiction meant theater offered through poetry, Aristotle keeps referring to creating fiction as poems or poetry. One has to get used to his way of thinking.

Granted that Aristotle has some fixed and different assessments on character and plot, still the book offers valid ideas for even the writers of today.

The book begins by addressing the relationship of all arts in that they are imitations of life, as is “poetry” not as to what has happened but what would likely to happen. Accordingly, Epic Poem is different from Tragedy, with Comedy being of the lower sect for having developed from lampooning. As such, Aristotle definitely favors tragedy over comedy.

He says tragedy has six elements: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. The last two has to do with what's offered on stage. Then, he points to the importance of meter in poetry; in that, iambic is the meter that should mostly be used in comedy because it reflects the beat of the conversational language.

Aristotle also favors plot over all else; although, he doesn’t negate the importance of characterization. The plot, accordingly, should have a beginning, middle, and an end. He also highlights the significance of a powerful structure and the unity of theme, as well as having the elements of suffering, astonishment, reversal (peripeteia), and recognition. I think he has used the term recognition for the change in the character such as from happy to unhappy or especially from ignorance to knowledge. It is a long enough book and I can’t repeat everything he says as it would be another book here.

I think, in total, Aristotle was a good organizer and he categorized everything according to the way he assessed the art of fiction. He also gave examples from the famed authors of his day, most of whom were strangers to me like Thyestes, Polyidus, Tydeus, etc. Earlier, I had only read from and knew about Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Homer, and Aeschylus. Too bad that we are only taught so little in schools, and even though this book was a required reading in my time, I feel it wasn't given the importance in deserved, compared to other books that were given more time and attention.

Anyway, it is a book to read even if it takes, on the reader’s part, some daring and know-how about the time Aristotle lived in. This may be the most important non-fiction book I’ve read this year, and I am glad I tackled it.

seeing that even though things change over centuries, the essential stays the same.

the explanation of plotting.

is Aristotle or Aristotélēs, 384–322 BC). He was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). His writings cover many subjects – including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great starting from 343 BC.

I enjoyed reading it a lot whereas I had assumed I'd be bored.

Let's cheat a bit:
You could buy this book from Amazon or if you are a prime customer, you can borrow it for free.

Still,there are free versions on the net.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm

I liked MIT's version better, which comes in two parts.
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.1.1.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.2.2.html

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Created Jul 31, 2020 at 12:26pm • Submit your own review...