Poetics (Aristotle - Oxford ed.)

Author: Aristotle

Translator: Anthony Kenny

ISBN: 9780199608362

Binding: paperback

Section: Philosophy

"What is poetry, how many kinds of it are there, and what are their specific effects?"

Aristotle's Poetics is the most influential book on poetry ever written. A founding text of European aesthetics and literary criticism, it has shaped much of our modern understanding of the creation and impact of imaginative writing, including poetry, drama, and fiction. This brief volume brims with Aristotle's timeless insights into such topics as the nature of tragedy and plot -- a veritable gold mine for writers and anyone with a serious interest in literature. Moreover, this volume boasts a marvelous new translation by our greatest living historian of philosophy, Anthony Kenny, who sheds light on the philosophical underpinnings of Aristotle's literary criticism and illuminates the ideas about poetry, drama, and tragedy that have influenced writers and dramatists ever since.