Aristotle's much-translated On Poetics is the earliest and arguably
the best treatment that we possess of tragedy as a literary form. Seth
Benardete and Michael Davis have translated it anew with a view to
rendering Aristotle's text into English as precisely as possible. A
literal translation has long been needed, for in order to excavate the
argument of On Poetics one has to attend not simply to what is said on
the surface but also to the various puzzles, questions, and
peculiarities that emerge only on the level of how Aristotle says what
he says and thereby leads one to revise and deepen one's initial
understanding of the intent of the argument. As On Poetics is about
how tragedy ought to be composed, it should not be surprising that it
turns out to be a rather artful piece of literature in its own right.
Benardete and Davis supplement their edition of On Poetics with
extensive notes and appendices. They explain nuances of the original
that elude translation, and they provide translations of passages found
elsewhere in Aristotle's works as well as in those of other ancient
authors that prove useful in thinking through the argument of On
Poetics both in terms of its treatment of tragedy and in terms of its
broader concerns. By following the connections Aristotle plots between
On Poetics and his other works, readers will be in a position to
appreciate the centrality of this little book for his thought on the
whole.
In an introduction that sketches the overall interpretation of On
Poetics presented in his The Poetry of Philosophy (St. Augustine's
Press, 1999), Davis argues that, while On Poetics is certainly about
tragedy, it has a further concern extending beyond poetry to the very
structure of the human soul in its relation to what is, and that
Aristotle reveals in the form of his argument the true character of
human action.
