Aristotle's Poetics

This paper revisits Plato's and Aristotle's views on mimesis with a special emphasis on mythos as an integral part of it. I argue that the Republic's notorious " mirror argument " is in fact ad hominem: first, Plato likely has in mind Agathon's mirror in Aristophanes' Thesmoforiazusae, where tragedy is construed as mimesis; second, the tongue-in-cheek claim that mirrors can reproduce invisible Hades, when read in combination with the following eschatological myth, suggests that Plato was not committed to a mirror-like view of art; third, the very omission of mythos shows that the argument is a self-consciously one-sided one, designed to caricature the artists' own pretensions of mirror-like realism. These points reinforce Stephen Halliwell's claim that Western aesthetics has been haunted by a «ghostly misapprehension» of Plato's mirror. Further evidence comes from Aristotle's " literary " (as opposed to Plato's " sociological ") discussion: rather than to the " mirror argument " , the beginning of the Poetics points to the Phaedo as the best source of information about Plato's views on poetry.

There is a long way between the usual modern understandings of catharsis and the original meaning Aristotle gave to the term in his ‘Poetics’. According to Aristotle, the catharsis produced by tragedy is linked to the emotions of pity and fear. Although pity and fear are two opposite affects depending on the position of the subject relatively to an event, the spectator of the tragedy is bound to experience both of them simultaneously because of the ethical similarity the playwright must keep between him and the tragic hero. But pity and fear are also two opposite affects on the physiological level: pity is a warm affect, fear a cold one. Catharsis is then a physiological balancing of pity by fear, of warmth by cold, and reciprocally, and this continuous suppression of excesses of temperature through the tragic imitation, while bringing a feeling of relief and pleasure, rids the spectator of all excessive affects. This physiological process of catharsis, as Aristotle understood it, shows an interesting example of pre-Kantian aesthetics. It gives to the body an importance that has been mostly lost in modern times. However, the interaction between language, emotions and body recently made a come-back in some parts of current literary theory, and with Freud's psychoanalysis.

L’article revient sur le fameux passage du livre 6 concernant la katharsis - « purgation » des passions pour une grande partie de la tradition, « épuration » des émotions dans et par leur représentation pour R. Dupont-Roc et J. Lallot - pour s’intéresser au texte même du passage. Depuis la parution de La Poétique au Seuil, plusieurs voix se sont élevées pour mettre en doute l’authenticité du texte transmis. L’article revient sur les raisons invoquées par les partisans d’une suppression ou d’une correction du terme « katharsis » et sur les débats que leurs propositions ont suscités. Il se clôt sur une suggestion nouvelle : c’est « mimèsis » qu’il faudrait lire, en lieu et place de « katharsis ».

The power of the aulos and its therapeutic effects on the soul are so emblematic for the Greeks that, on the one hand, they made this instrument and its sounds into a metaphor of persuasion and, on the other, they emphasized its upsetting effects, as happens for instance in some tragedies. The aulos sometimes contributes to the development of a drama, and may play a role in the development of tragic catharsis by reminding the audience of the cathartic Dionysiac rites. In this way, tragedy seems to have performed a meaningful 'therapeutic' effect on the emotions of the theatre audience.

"Este artículo reflexiona sobre la noción de bondad y su contrario, referida a los personajes de un mundo de ficción. El estudio se hace desde una perspectiva humanista y tiene en cuenta la propuesta poética de Juan José García-Noblejas (1982) y Paul Ricoeur (1987). Se propone que un personaje es bueno en la medida en que sirve al mundo de ficción en el que está, mientras que el mundo de ficción lo es en tanto que es capaz de "hacer justicia" a la vida humana que representa.

This article reflects on the notion of good and bad characters in a fictional world. The study is done from a humanistic perspective and considers the poetic proposal of Juan José García-Noblejas (1982) and Paul Ricoeur (1987). The paper suggests that a character is good as long as it serves the world of fiction in which it is, whereas the world of fiction is good - in the sense of complete - insofar as it is able to "do justice" to the part of human life it represents. "

Between 2007 and 2012 more than 100 new books on screenwriting have been accessioned to the United States Library of Congress. The present work reviews 68 of these books and another 27 manuals on screenwriting published since 1979, the year of publication of The Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field’s seminal work on this discipline. This article seeks to explore the range of Aristotle’s influence on these manuals and to suggest that there should be a second reading of Poetics, that considers not only its didactic and technical dimension, but also that pertaining to philosophy and wisdom, and thus the professional interest for writers and viewers.

φαντασία is employed in postaristotelian poetics and rhetorics in relation to the author’s capacity to shape a mental image of those things he or she is speaking about. Although φαντασία is not attested in Aristotle’s Poetics, this concept can be traced in several passages of the work. This contribution proposes that Aristotle is aware of the importance of this notion; the reasons why he does not develop this theme are explained.

This paper reexamines some neglected implications of the famous and highly influential conception of poetic unity set out in Chapters 7-8 of the Poetics. My argument addresses the paradox that while Aristotle describes tragedy in Chapter 6 as 'mimesis of life', in Chapter 8 he sharply contrasts the conditions of unity required of a (tragic) plot-structure with the supposedly inescapable disunity of any individual's life. How can tragedy (or any other mimetic art) be a representation of 'life' and yet differ so sharply from life in what I call its 'narrative conditions'? Poetic form, on Aristotle's view, depends on the causal intelligibility of life yet involves a kind of coherence which life itself lacks. I argue that this tension in the Poetics' relationship between 'art' and 'life' cannot be wholly resolved: in an important sense, the meaning of 'life' is changed by its organisation into 'plot'. I also explore the further question of why Aristotle imposes the most stringent demands of poetic unity on a genre which is centrally concerned with the dislocation and destruction of life: I consider whether this is a symptom of Aristotelian resistance to tragic pessimism. Finally, I illustrate the different kinds of criticism to which Aristotle's paradigm of poetic unity has been subjected since the Romantic era, employing some of the views of Milan Kundera to show that this paradigm remains a resilient presence in the dialectic of modern aesthetics.

Nessuno più di Aristotele ha studiato la democrazia ateniese. Di quella che è stata la forma storica più rilevante dell’idea democratica Aristotele ha voluto comprendere l’evoluzione, la storia: perciò ha pensato il confronto, in prospettiva diacronica, delle manifestazioni dell’idea democratica che giudicava le più significative e intellegibili della storia ateniese. A guidare la ricerca aristotelica sulla democrazia ateniese è un assunto rilevante del suo pensiero politico: ogni costituzione (politeia, nel suo linguaggio) è conoscibile attraverso la concezione che esprime riguardo a «ciò che è giusto». È l’idea (eidos) della giustizia, anzi della giustizia come uguaglianza, a definire il carattere di un regime politico. Aristotele ha cercato l’idea democratica prioritariamente nella forma di volta in volta assunta dal dispositivo della cittadinanza. Nel caso della democrazia ateniese, l’evoluzione viene seguita dalla fase dell’emergenza dell’idea di cittadinanza democratica, agli inizi del VI secolo, fino a quando le regole stabilite rispetto alla definizione del gruppo dei cittadini e delle loro spettanze hanno ricevuto una forma stabile. Un ciclo compiutosi nel corso del secolo e mezzo che separa i provvedimenti adottati in materia di cittadinanza da Solone e da Pericle.

Explores a philosophy of Greek tragedy.  Challenges the dominant sociological view that Greek tragedy affirms the community of Athens.  That view, while often associated with political activism (I do not object to), derives from Hegel and other Christian-tinged theories (Burkert, Girard) of a salvific sacrifice.  Also questions Aristotle and presents a vaguely Nietzschean view ("perhaps every interpretation of Nietzsche is a paraphrase") of art as teaching the tragedy of life.

[email protected] § Il potere dell'aulos e i suoi effetti sull'animo erano così emblematici per i Greci da far loro trasformare lo strumento e le sue sonorità in una metafora di persuasione, come si riscontra in alcuni dialoghi di Platone. Da un altro punto di vista, però, l'aulos fu anche uno strumento 'perturbante', come appare ad esempio in tragedia. In tale contesto esso sembra operare sulle paure (phobos) e le insicurezze dei personaggi tragici, e talora addirittura condurre agli sviluppi conclusivi della performance teatrale. Per quel che riguarda invece l'uditorio in teatro, l'aulos può aver giocato un ruolo nello sviluppo della catarsi, in quanto gli spettatori potevano essere in grado di collegare i suoni da esso prodotti con le proprie esperienze di vita quotidiana, specie quelle dei riti catartici dionisiaci. Per mezzo della catarsi e grazie alle sue implicazioni etiche, la tragedia -in virtù del suo contesto e del suo ruolo interamente pubblicipare quindi aver avuto un effetto più significativamente 'politico' sulle ansietà del vastissimo uditorio teatrale. § The power of the aulos and its effects on the soul were so emblematic for the Greeks, that they also made this instrument and its sounds into a metaphor of persuasion, as it happens for instance in some Platonic dialogues. On the other side, the aulos was also a 'perturbing' instrument, as it appears for instance in tragedy. Indeed it seems to work on the fears (phobos) and insecurities of tragic characters, and leads sometimes to the conclusive developments of the theatrical performance. As far as the audience in the theatre is concerned, the aulos instead may have had a role in the development of catharsis, since the audience would be able to connect its sounds with experiences of everyday life, especially with the Dionysiac cathartic rites. By means of catharsis, and because of its ethical implications, tragedy -with its utterly public context and role -seems then to have performed a most meaningful 'political' effect on the anxieties of the very large theatre audience.

In Bakhtin's opinion, "the relation to meaning is always dialogic. Even understanding itself is dialogic." Particularly, the art of acting is such a dialogic relationship that fuses character and interpreter (performer) in the same unity of the presence before the audience. In other words, acting is a "dialectic" relationship, a dialogue on a higher level (a dialogue of personalities), as Bakhtin said. Dialogic acting manifests itself between two extreme aspects (identification and "distanciation") and as a merging of them. Putting the concrete manifestation of acting and staging into a formal model, we can affirm that the function of (theatrical) representation has a multitude of fuzzy values, situated between a theoretically absolute embodiment and a theoretically complete "distanciation." For instance, the former tends to be manifested in the "mimetic" rites (Durkheim) and in Stanislavski’s poetics. The latter is known as Brecht Verfremdungseffekt, or "alienantion effect," also to be found in traditional drama of the Extreme Orient, which inspired Brecht. (Today in the United States, Stanislavsks’s theories are a very important source of study for many actors. In contrast to Stanislavski, Brecht theorizes Verfremdungseffekt, endowing it with ideological connotations.) In mimetic rites, it is compulsory for the interpreter to identify itself with the archetypal character; this is a primary condition for the social, magical or religious efficiency of the ritualistic act(ing). More than (theatrical) performance, ritualistic act(ing) is a performative (re)presentation, i.e., the very archetypal event, in its immediate unfolding: drômenon as "lived transcendence" (Gusdorf), and Gadamerian metamorphosis. Alternatively, for both identification and distanciation as manners of acting, the concept of dialogism (Bakhtin) highlights one and the same discursive mechanism. The advantage is that the analysis of such a heterogeneous corpu—from modern theatre poetics to the ancient ritualistic performance—may operate in a relatively homogeneous way, with the same descriptive categories, borrowed from dialogic theory, and from theory of speech and fictional acts. Situated on the same axis of interpretation/ (re)presentation, "identification" and "distanciation" are fuzzy categories, with differences between them difficult to establish. This evokes Diderot's famous paradox, as reformulated by Lee Strasberg: "to move the audience, the actor must himself remain un moved.”
Keywords: (Theatrical) Performance, Identification, Distanciation, Artaud, Brecht, Gadamer, Stanislavski

Résumé
Le théâtre d'Eugène Ionesco fait l'objet d'un paradoxe: son «avant-gardisme» spectaculaire se nourrit d'une vision essentiellement classique. Plus précisément, Ionesco envisage des «archétypes oubliés», et cherche à les «renouveler» sous l'aspect de l' expression dramatique, tel qu'il dit lui-même. Son «antithéâtre» pousse ainsi à l'extrême le ressort expressif du genre. Ionesco ne s'essaye plus à un théâtre d'événements, ni à l'intrigue bien faite à la manière d'Ibsen et du drame realiste du XIX-ième siècle; tout au contraire, il tente l'expérience d'un théâtre voulu «abstrait», «nonfiguratif», dépourvu du référent extra-théâtral circonscrit par l'imitation vraisemblable (mimesis) que recommande Aristote; quelquefois, un théâtre d'énergie pure, préconceptuelle − sonore ou kinésique −, comme dans ses «anti-pièces» (La Cantatrice chauve, La Leçon).
Les nouvelles dites «fantastiques» de Mircea Eliade avancent également, d'une manière plus ou moins implicite, une certaine poétique du théâtre. Celle-ci repose essentiellement sur l'aptitude sotériologique de l'art. La figure exemplaire en est le Poète orphique. Chez Mircea Eliade, la thèse bien connue du «sacré camouflé dans le profane», épouse le principe-clé d'un «nouveau» théâtre. À son avis, le vrai théâtre croise l'ancien rituel, et le drame revient ainsi au dromenon; c'est-à-dire, à l'ancienne (re)présentation rituelle, de la tradition des cultes de mystères, censés révéler les grands mythes fondateurs et ce qu'ils disent de la destinée humaine.
Notre travail porte donc sur la remise en question du mécanisme théâtral de souche aristotélicienne, que tente à la fois Mircea Eliade et Eugène Ionesco, chacun à sa façon. On envisage principalement les aspects suivants:
a) tout d'abord, la poétique théâtrale dont quelques nouvelles de Mircea Eliade sont à même de rendre compte: Nouăsprezece trandafiri [Dix-neuf roses], În curte la Dionis [Dans la cour de Dionis], Incognito la Buchenwald [Incognito à Buchenwald], Uniforme de general [Uniformes de général] ;
b) deuxièmement, l'imaginaire de Ionesco vu par Eliade; la dissolution du «théâtre de l'absurde» (tel que le désignait Martin Esslin) dans un théâtre plutôt mythique, voire mystique (selon Marguerite Jean-Blain), «théâtre des origines» à la manière d' Antonin Artaud et des «archétypes oubliés», comme disait Ionesco;
c) en troisième lieu, la dissolution chez Ionesco, d'une dichotomie essentielle de l'esthétique classique: tragique vs. comique; d'où la tragi-comédie sur laquelle repose symptomatiquement son antithéâtre;
d) enfin, l'(anti)théâtre d' Eugène Ionesco − ou tel qu'il dit, son «théâtre abstrait» − en tant que  mise à l'oeuvre et mise à l' épreuve d'une certaine poétique du «nonfiguratif», dont se réclame le dramaturge.

Mots-clés:  poétique, théâtre, absurde, abstrait, nonfiguratif, mimesis, rituel, archétype, Aristote, Artaud, Pirandello, Ionesco, Eliade.

ARTÍCULOS

1) Viviana Suñol
(Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas,
Universidad Nacional de La Plata)

La educación musical en Aristóteles:
su correspondencia con la vida mejor en el mejor régimen

Resumen
La mousiké ocupa un lugar central en el programa educativo que Aristóteles diseña para el mejor régimen en Política VII-VIII. En concordancia con el desprecio que tradicionalmente ha recibido el estudio de la educación en su obra, la literatura académica tampoco reconoce la relevancia de esta disciplina (salvo escasas excepciones). Sin embargo, la mousiké es una pieza clave para comprender el pensamiento práctico aristotélico, puesto que es una parte esencial de la respuesta que el filósofo ofrece ante las preguntas ético-políticas fundamentales, que plantea al inicio de Política VII. El propósito del presente artículo es analizar la importancia filosófica del programa de educación musical que Aristóteles propone en el marco de su reflexión sobre la vida mejor en el mejor régimen, para lo cual se investigarán las correspondencias que pueden establecerse entre su proyecto político y el currículo musical que bosqueja.

2) Cécile Michaud
(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)

Para los sentidos y el espíritu.
El lugar de la sensibilidad en los debates sobre la finalidad de la pintura en la Academia Real Francesa

Resumen
El artículo estudia la presencia del concepto de sensibilidad en los debates de la Academia Real Francesa de Pintura y Escultura en el último tercio del siglo XVII, en el contexto de la llamada Querelle du Coloris. Detrás de la discusión sobre la primacía del dibujo o del color en la pintura, se expresa una cuestión más profunda: ¿qué parte del ser humano debe ser atendida en prioridad por el acto pictórico: la mente o los sentidos? El estudio de estos peculiares debates, tanto desde los textos como desde los artistas involucrados, revela la imagen de una Francia que busca posicionarse ante el resto de Europa, no solamente a nivel artístico sino también teórico e intelectual.

ARCHIVO

Ricardo Ibarlucía
(Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas,
Universidad Nacional de San Martín)

Mariano Antonio Barrenechea:
Cursos de Estética 1922-1930

Resumen
El presente estudio es una contribución documental a la historia de la estética en Argentina. Recopila, comenta y contextualiza los programas de los cursos impartidos por Mariano Antonio Barrenechea como Profesor Titular de Estética en la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la Universidad de Buenos Aires entre 1922 y 1930.

COMENTARIOS BIBLIOGRÁFICOS

Marcelo Antonelli (CONICET-UNSAM): Graham Harman. Hacia el realismo especulativo. Ensayos y conferencias, traducción de Claudio Iglesias, edición al cuidado de Florencio Noceti. Buenos Aires: Caja Negra Editora, 2015, 296 páginas.

Daiana Ruiz (UBA): Adrián Bertorello y María José Rossi (eds.). Esto no es un injerto. Ensayos sobre hermenéutica y barroco en América Latina. Buenos Aires: Miño y Dávila Editores, 2017, 296 páginas.

Several of the concepts describing the plot in Aristotle's Poetics is ambiguous, and several contradictions are unresolved in current popular interpretations. This is an attempt to solve these problems, by finding an interpretation where the parts fit together, that resolve the contradiction and make sense in the real world.

This paper has become a chapter in the ebook Untying Aristotle's Poetics for Storytellers, available here: http://a.co/eUgTyjM

http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/163628
https://dartmouth.academia.edu/MichaelLurie/Chapters

Reviews: 
A. Kerkhecker, Museum Helveticum 62 (2005) 224f. (http://retro.seals.ch/digbib/view?rid=mhl-001:2005:62::241&id=hitlist);
R. Lohse, Romanische Forschungen 119 (2007), 257–260 (http://dx.doi.org/10.3196/003581207781361279)
G. Boter, “Lees maar: er staat niet wat er staat. Over Oedipus’ schuld en Aristoteles’ hamartia”, Lampas 43 (2010), 3-19 http://www.verloren.nl/file.php?id=6038

For responses from the scholars whose positions were challenged and dismantled in the book, see H. Flashar, Gnomon 78 (2006) 671–674 and E. Lefèvre, CR 57, (2007) 18–20, whose angry outburst  is cowardly disguised as an impartial review by an independent observer.

Si tratta della prima edizione del volgarizzamento della «Poetica» aristotelica, approntato da Giorgio Bartoli (1534-1583), l’accademico fiorentino e l’autore del trattato di fonetica “Degli elementi del parlar toscano”, edito postumo nel 1584 a cura dell’amico Lorenzo Giacomini. Il testo qui edito è tratto dal codice Ashb. 531 (II, ff. 1r-38r) della Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana di Firenze. Dal confronto della traduzione di Giorgio Bartoli con la versione latina della «Poetica» eseguita da Piero Vettori e con quelle volgari coeve di Ludovico Castelvetro e Alessandro Piccolomini emergono, da un lato, una notevole autonomia del fonetista fiorentino quanto all’adattamento in volgare dei termini specifici greci e, dall’altro, una sua fedele adesione al metodo seguito da Piero Vettori nella resa dell’ordito sintattico dell’opera originale.

This article deals with genetic connections between Fyodor Dostoevsky and Catherine Breillat—using psychoanalysis and philosophy that integrates Plato and Aristotle with Kleinian psychoanalysis. The article develops the notion of two kinds of love, good and bad, distinguishing Freud’s work on instincts referencing Plato’s "Symposium," from Klein’s interest in the function of instincts in human relations. The article discusses issues of intimacy— specifically destructive and creative forces—as conflicting forces to better understand the dynamics of tragic love stories. It then discusses the way that understandings of tragedy, comedy, and tragicomedy help us conceptualize mistakes and learning in intimate relations. It does this by considering the notion of “noble error” discussed in Plato’s "Symposium," and the notion of tragedy in Aristotle’s "Poetics," dealing with the magnitude of such “error” and its consequences. The article then uses these concepts to describe differences in narration and characterization in Dostoevsky’s "The Idiot" and Breillat’s "Bad Love." It suggests that, ultimately, the tension of intimacy leads to the need for symbolic death in the form of relief from intimacy—which, when taken to the extreme, can lead to a “noble error” of real death and resulting in tragic love

This chapter looks at the development of the doctrine of 'poetic justice' from Plato to the late 17th century and the role it played in the transformation of Aristotle's notion of tragic catharsis in the Renaissance theory of tragedy and in the Doctrine classique.

En el horizonte de una aproximación comparativa a los rendimientos trascendentales del poema –las formas poéticas como exploración de la representación y puesta en común de mundos posibles–, el seminario examinará cómo las figuraciones dominantes de la imagen sintetizan con-figuraciones características de lo real, poniendo especial atención a la proyección de concepciones metafísicas.

Tras una introducción in media res a las solidaridades básicas que se disciernen entre ‘formas del poema’ y ‘concepciones de mundo’, lo que llevará a precisar las relaciones fundacionales que cabe suponer entre los comportamientos de la imagen literaria y las proyecciones metafísicas de lo real, el grueso del seminario estará dedicado a examinar el gran contraste que se observa entre las figuraciones características de la ‘metáfora’ en la poética occidental y de la ‘imagen dinámica’ en la poética china, verificando cómo el encuentro entre ambas detonó la revolución poética del montaje en las vanguardias históricas. De una parte, se interrogará el rol fundacional que cabe atribuir a las figuraciones metafórico-analógicas en la síntesis poética de una serie de configuraciones dualistas y sustitutivas que han caracterizado diversas versiones clásicas, medievales y modernas de la onto-teología occidental. De otra, se evaluará el rol fundacional que cabe atribuir a las figuraciones paralelísticas de la imagen dinámica en la síntesis poética de las configuraciones correlativas e inmanentes que se disciernen en diversos momentos del pensamiento chino. Finalmente, si esta figuración propia de la ‘imagen dinámica’ irrumpió de manera inaudita en Occidente a comienzos del siglo XX –un evento de traducción que daría a sus formas nuevas posibilidades al interior de los lenguajes poéticos de las vanguardias, decantando en las formas contemporáneas del ‘montaje’–, se examinará hasta qué punto la experimentación poética radical y consiguientes posibilidades de representación que trajeron las nuevas formas de significación por fragmentación y yuxtaposición de lo real permitieron una revolución estética aparejada a una concepción inédita de la trascendencia en la inmanencia.

Complementando la atención a la estricta especificidad del comportamiento del poema con una al horizonte de discurso estético en el cual se inscribe, el trabajo de seminario supondrá un contrapunto permanente entre la lectura de ‘consideraciones teóricas’ (de filosofía y poética) sobre los diversos aspectos de las relaciones lenguaje-mundo a ser tratados y el examen atento de ‘poemas escogidos’ para cada instancia de interrogación. En lo que respecta a la perspectiva teórico-crítica, se leerán textos breves de Platón, Aristóteles, Quintiliano, Lu Chi, Liu Xie, Lao Tze, Vico, Hegel, Nietzsche, E. Fenollosa, F. Jullien, E. Cassirer, W. Benjamin, M. Heidegger, P. Ricoeur, J. Derrida y J. L. Borges. En lo que respecta al corpus poético-literario, se leerán pasajes y poemas de Píndaro, Homero, Horacio, Virgilio, Shijing (El libro de las Odas), Los diecinueve poemas antiguos, Li Po, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Dante, Petrarca, Quevedo, Shakespeare, Hölderlin, E. Pound y T. S. Eliot.

This chapter looks at the first attempts to make sense of Aristotle's concept of tragic hamartia and the insurmountable difficulties Renaissance scholars and literary critics faced while trying to reconcile it with their own theoretical, and increasingly moralistic, concerns as well as their re-interpretation of Aristotle's tragic theory  as a whole.  The compelling, yet most inconvenient interpretation advanced by Francesco Robortello in his commentary on Aristotle's Poetics of 1548 played in this intellectual controversy a crucial role.

Il faut sauver la tragédie grecque de toute la gnose philosophique et tragique qui l'accable depuis près de trois siècles. Il faut la sauver de notre conception moderne de la littérature et du théâtre. Il faut la sauver de nous-mêmes pour la retrouver ailleurs, très loin, dans les lieux les plus improbables : le nô japonais, la messe catholique, la psychanalyse freudienne… À moins qu'elle ne soit déjà plus nulle part.
Car la tragédie est aussi introuvable que le tombeau d’Œdipe, ce tombeau que Sophocle prit pour thème de sa pièce ultime, laquelle est également la dernière tragédie grecque connue.
Avec Œdipe à Colone pour fil conducteur, ce livre raconte l’histoire édifiante d’une incompréhension à laquelle nous sommes voués. Il révèle les incroyables trahisons et mutilations dont ces chefs-d’oeuvre furent les victimes et propose en retour quelques thèses - ou hérésies – susceptibles de bouleverser non seulement notre vision de la tragédie, mais notre conception même de la littérature et de ses pouvoirs – sur les lieux, les corps et les dieux.
Nul détour n’est aujourd’hui si troublant ni si salutaire.

Les jugements que les philosophes ont initialement porté sur les mythes des anciens poètes paraissent avoir enveloppé, dans un même mouvement d'approbation ou de rejet, évaluation du mythe et évaluation du poète. La chose apparaît assez nettement chez celui qui passe pour avoir été le premier à formuler une critique des représentations mythologiques des dieux -Xénophane -qui associe réprobation de la conduite proprement immorale que les mythes disent avoir été celle des dieux et réprobation, en conséquence, des poètes qui affublent les dieux de toutes sortes de vices 2 . Cela ne signifie pas que cette critique des poètes, chez Xénophane, soit une critique de la poésie -qu'il s'agit d'épurer plutôt que de discréditer ; cela signifie en revanche que l'évaluation d'une représentation mythologique engage en elle-même un jugement sur son auteur.

According to Aristotle, tragedies induce three different kinds of pleasures. First, there is the cognitive pleasure of imitation, since it is pleasurable to recognize in the imitation an object one already knows. Second, there is the aesthetic pleasure linked to the material parameters of the tragedy, that is the language, the show, and the performance (verses, singing, acting). Third, there is the “specific” pleasure of tragedy. This specific pleasure is linked to the affects of pity and fear through the process of catharsis. Although pity and fear are two opposite affects depending on the position of the subject relatively to an event, the spectator of the tragedy is bound to experience both of them simultaneously because of the ethical similarity the playwright must keep between him and the tragic hero. But pity and fear are also two opposite affects on the physiological level: pity is a warm affect, fear a cold one. Catharsis is then a physiological balancing of pity by fear, of warmth by cold, and reciprocally, and this continuous suppression of excesses of temperature through the tragic imitation, while bringing a feeling of relief and pleasure, rids the spectator of all excessive affects. Catharsis provides a healthy and hygienic pleasure, and so can Aristotle effectively reply to Plato’s criticism of tragedy.

„Die Aufgabe eines Dichters ist es, etwas so darzustellen, wie es gemäß Wahrscheinlichkeit oder Notwendigkeit geschehen würde, d. h. was möglich ist.“ (Aristot. poet. 1451a37f.)

Können wir tatsächlich auch unter dieser Voraussetzung Sophokles‘ KÖNIG ÖDIPUS noch als gute Dichtung bezeichnen? Soll ausgerechnet jenes Drama, in dem wir erfahren, dass der Sohn, ohne es zu wissen, seinen eigenen Vater getötet und seine eigene Mutter geheiratet hat, eine Geschichte erzählen, die sich an den Merkmalen Wahrscheinlichkeit oder Notwendigkeit orientiert?

The chapter looks at the complex process of re-interpretation of Aristotle's notion of tragic catharsis in the Renaissance theory of tragedy. Transformed eventually into the doctrine of moral purgation of our souls from perilous vices, depraved passions, and character flaws, catharsis becomes one of the central dogmas of the neo-classical dramatic theory in France

Autor(en): Fuhrer, Therese Objekttyp: Article Zeitschrift: Museum Helveticum : schweizerische Zeitschrift für klassische Altertumswissenschaft = Revue suisse pour l'étude de l'antiquité classique = Rivista svizzera di filologia classica Band(Jahr): 53(1996) Heft 2 Persistenter Link: http://dx.

Shakespeare's plays do not abide by the "rules" laid down in Aristotle's 'Poetics', nor are they expected to be. Nevertheless, some elements noted in the 'Poetics' concerning tragedy are to be found in Shakespeare too. An example is provided from "Macbeth' which contains both recognition and reversal in the plot structure.

A close reading of the famous definition of tragedy and how despite the overwhelming spectacle of movies and complex dramatic mode, the principles of writing articulated are the same because the stories we are telling each other are the same.  Translation used:  Stephen Halliwell.

Part of a much larger discussion of Aristotle's notion of tragic hamartia, and its different intepretations, in the context of Aristotle's theory of action (see above), this chapter examines in detail multiple attempts made by scholars from the Renaissance to the present day to identify the tragic hero's hamartia in Aristotle's Poetics exclusively with what in the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle describes as voluntary, and hence morally culpable acts committed διὰ πάθος, e.g. out of anger or through some other passion. I argue that this interpretation, incompatible with Aristotle's theory of tragedy as well as his theory of action, is a mere illusion born out of the desire to reconcile Aristotle's Poetics with a moralizing, and a distinctly anti-Aristotelian, theory of tragedy.

La noción de mímesis es, sin dudas, el concepto rector de la
Poética de Aristóteles. Pese a la importancia que dicha noción
reviste en este contexto, no se ofrecen allí elementos que permitan una clara y acotada significación del término. Considero que es posible acceder a una caracterización más precisa de la mímesis por una vía indirecta, esto es, a través de las relaciones que entabla con otras nociones centrales de la obra que el estagirita le dedica al arte dramático. En este trabajo, me interesa señalar de qué manera los condicionantes lógicos del mûthos trágico se convierten en criterios para la mímesis, en tanto establecen las pautas a seguir en la elaboración del mîmema. Dilucidar algunos de los problemas que entrañan los criterios de necesidad y verosimilitud permitirá subrayar las dimensiones (objetivas y subjetivas) que atraviesan a la noción de mímesis.

Early forms of Greek theatre grew out of the ritual poems and dances (Dithyrambs = "twice born") performed during the worship of Dionysus Dionysus was the god of wine and madness; the violence and intoxication associated with his worship are still evident in the earliest tragedies -as that which is in tension with civilized, political life.

This contribution analyses the direct and implicit references to the cyclic epics included in Aristotle’s Poetics. Two basic motifs explaining his censure of this kind of poetry are identified: the cyclic epics employ an erroneous concept of the unity of the poetical work and direct speech only plays a minor role in comparison with Homer. It is discussed afterwards whether this critical judgment agrees with the evidence about the Cycle known from his testimonies and fragments. Two further references to the Cycle included in the Aristotelian Organon are then proposed and analysed. It is underlined that Aristotle, in spite of keeping silence about the Cycle in his Poetics, must have been aware that those poems were attributed to Homer in his own time. It is attempted to clarify, on the one hand, the reasons which explain this silence and why, on the other hand, Aristotle does not hesitate to recognize the Homeric authorship of a burlesque epic such as Margites.

Part of a much larger discussion of Aristotle's  notion of tragic hamartia, and its different intepretations, in the context of Aristotle's theory of action, this chapter examines in detail multiple attempts made by scholars from the Renaissance to the present day to identify the tragic hero's hamartia in Aristotle's Poetics exclusively with what in the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle describes as voluntary, and hence morally culpable acts done through 'weakness of will' (akrasia). I argue that this interpretation, incompatible with Aristotle's concept of the ideal tragic plot or his theory of action, is a mere illusion born out of the scholars' desire to reconcile Aristotle's Poetics with their own, moralizing, and distinctly anti-Aristotelian theory of tragedy.

It could hardly be denied that 'la scelta di un metodo esegetico comporta automaticamente un'idea di poetica', 1 and for this reason 'pare assurdo pensare che Aristarco non avesse idee proprie sulla poetica'. The problem is that we struggle to find positive evidence of them. But that should not be a surprise, since 'è troppo ovvio trovare scarsi indizi su questioni teoriche ed epistemologiche nei frammenti filologico-esegetici conservati'. 2 The history of research on this topic shows that this difficulty has not led to discouragement -quite the contrary. Two approaches have been explored and remain fundamentally in play. The first is the historical reconstruction of the two phenomena -the Athenian Peripatos and the Alexandrian Museum -and their respective contexts, accompanied by a focus on figures, circumstances, and situations where the two overlap. The second approach consists in recovering methods and content specific to each of the two cultural experiences, in order to document and measure at a formal level their degree of affinity and relation. Interaction between these two points of view is useful, and methodologically desirable, in order to prevent partial and unbalanced readings. In other words, once we admit in general and intuitive terms the difference between the two realities (philosophy and philology), the comparison of Peripatetic reflection on the art of poetry with the practice of Alexandrian philology on literary texts in the Hellenistic period will gain by focusing on the corresponding historical, conceptual, and critical categories, and by translating the  1 Montanari 1987, 17 ('the choice of an exegetical method automatically brings with it an idea of poetics'). 2 Both passages are from Montanari 1993a, 263 ('it seems absurd to suppose that Aristarchus did not have ideas of his own about poetics', 'it is quite natural to find only a few indications of theoretical and epistemological questions in the philological-exegetical fragments which are preserved'), who continues (n. 62): 'Che la Poetica di Aristotele non sia citata negli scolii è un'ovvietà che non dimostra niente: perché dovrebbe esserlo, a commento di quale passo (soprattutto considerando la riduzione del materiale)? Fornì invece strumenti di pensiero e posizioni critiche' ('That the Poetics of Aristotle is not cited in the scholia is a self-evident point that proves nothing: why would it need to be, in comment upon which passage (above all considering the reduction of the material)? Yet it provided tools of thought and critical positions').

« Shedding light on the readings of Aristotle’s Poetics developed within the Alterati of Florence (1569 — ca. 1630) : from manuscript studies to the social and political history of aesthetics », in Bryan Brazeau (dir.), The Reception of Aristotle’s Poetics in the Italian Renaissance and Beyond : New Directions in Criticism, Londres, Bloomsbury, 2020,  p. 98-132.

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