Poetics: With the Tractatus Coislinianus, Reconstruction of Poetics II, and the Fragments of the On Poets

A nicely produced edition with extensive introductory material and commentary of one of the landmarks of philosophical reflection on art and literature. I'm glad this text was available, as Aristotle's Poetics on its own is immediately engaging, but this book helps teachers and student work with this canonical text. Recommended for anyone who wants to grapple with, or publicly site, Aristotles' poetics.

This text is the first book of literary criticism in the western literary tradition--and the most influential. It is also a how-to-write-a-successful-story text, based on Aristotle's inductive study of Greek literature. Richard Janko's rendering is the best English translation I have read. His commentary on catharsis is profound, resolving what has often been a stumbling block for many critics and theorists. His interpretation is well in line with the rest of Aristotle's philosophy and makes Aristotle's analysis even more useful for both students of literature and contemporary writers. Janko's reconstruction of Aristotle's lost book on comedy is splendid, a contribution to the history of ideas and comic theory.

This translation is invaluable for its detailed annotations of Book One of the Poetics - much more thorough than the other popular choices available here on Amazon, but the fascinating reconstruction of the lost Book Two on comedy raises it to a whole new level.

I read this to become a better public speaker. Either it was too dense or I was too thick.

This is a fluent and eminently readable translation of what can appear a rather fragmentary work. The things that make the edition indispensable are the additional 'fragments' and the superb introduction which positions the Poetics as a response to Plato's challenge to poetry and offers a very persuasive interpretation of catharsis. The notes are also very illuminating.

Exactly as described!