2.2 Aristotle.pptVIP

* * 2.2 Aristotle亚里士多德(384-322 B.C.), Poetics《诗学》 2.2.1 His Life Born in 384 B.C. at Stagirus in the Chalcidice, Greece; the son of a medical doctor; The First Athenian Period: In 368 or 367 B.C. Aristotle enrolled in Plato’s Academy and remained attached to it until his teacher’s death in about 348 B.C. During this twenty-year’s time, Aristotle laid his philosophical foundations, clearly set in Platonism. Even if in later years he felt compelled to disagree at times with his master, his respect for and debt to Plato are firm. The Middle Period (348-336 B.C.): After Plato’s death, Aristotle left Athens and lived under the patronage of two absolute Hellenistic (希腊主义的) rulers, Hermeias (tyrant of Atarneus and Assos in Mysia in modern Turkey) and Philip II of Macedonia (马其顿王国). Later, Aristotle married Hermeias’ niece and adopted daughter. At Philip’s court, Aristotle became the tutor of Philip’s son, Alexander the Great. The Second Athenian Period: He returned to Athens in 335 B.C. and established his own philosophic school, the Lyceum (学园), and lasted until his death in 322 B.C. Most of his extant works, including Poetics, were written during this time. 2.2.2 Style Unlike exoteric (公开的) treatises meant for general publication, the Poetics is an esoteric (秘密的) work , one meant for private circulation to those who attended the Lyceum. It therefore lacks the unity and coherence of Aristotle’s other works, but it remains one of the most important critical influences on literary theory and criticism. 2.2.3 Contributions Aristotle’s Poetics is the earliest known and only extant Greek technical handbook of literary criticism. His work marks the beginning of the Western tradition of formal literary criticism. By applying his analytic abilities to a definition of tragedy (in chapters 6 through 22), Aristotle began in the Poetics a discussion of the components of a literary work that continues to the present day. Aristotle’s purpose was not to formulate a series of abso