Aristotle on Dramatic Musical Composition: The Real Role of Literature, Catharsis, Music and Dance in the Poetics

Notice Regarding 2nd Edition The recommended 2nd edition will be available by July 2018. Although no significant change in philosophical content occurs, extensive typographical, editorial and formatting changes result. The most obvious difference will be two volumes with 1.5 spacing instead of the one enormous volume with single spacing. If research requirements require immediate access to Edition 1, the imprints that will be offering the 2nd edition, including CreateSpace, will upgrade any purchase of Ed. 1 to Ed. 2 for the incremental difference in cost, plus tax & shipping. Softcover/hardcover prices will be: Vol 1: Tragedy as fully performed musical drama requiring language, dance, and spectacle; when RHUTHMOS means dance for Plato and Aristotle (366 pages): $48/$64. Vol 2: Catharsis; Aristotle's real goal(s) of tragedy and his response to Plato without catharsis; comedy; applying principles of "musical" drama to other art forms; the history of the Poetics; Bibliography; and Index for both volumes (312 pages): $39/$53. Pre-orders of Ed. 2 at a discount of 25% can also be made before the release, using digital payment methods like PayPal (excluding tax/shipping). No credit cards. For more information on upgrades/pre-orders, see www.EPSpress.com. Scott revolutionizes the standard interpretation of Aristotle's Poetics, which has been considered to be literary theory since Avicenna wrote the first commentary in the 11th century, despite not one poem existing in the treatise! The treatise's title and theme, stemming from poiesis ("poetry"), have been interpreted as if they came from the sophist Gorgias (c.483-c.380 BCE), who first coined the meaning in 415 BCE. Scott demonstrates that by hypothesizing instead that poiesis means what Plato (c.428-347 BCE ) says it means via Diotima in the Symposium, "'music' and verse," we achieve a much clearer understanding of the Poetics and resolve a number of perennial dilemmas. For one, we understand why Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE) does not care about the poetic forms per se in his treatise. He only focusses on tragedy and comedy, which were fully performed dramatic arts involving music, dance, and spectacle in his day (with the final art covered in the treatise, epic, being considered quasi-dramatic). Scott's revised article "The Poetics of Performance" (Cambridge University Press, 1999) is included, and additional arguments are given to show that because "music" is in the definition of tragedy "music" cannot be merely optional, as traditionally thought. Moreover, additional evidence is provided to reveal that HARMONIA KAI RHUTHMOS, always translated to this day as "harmony/melody and rhythm" in the context of orchestral art for Plato and Aristotle, must really mean "music and dance" in that context. Also, in 2003 Scott published reasons in "Purging the Poetics" (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy) why Aristotle could not have written the catharsis clause in the definition of tragedy. The article, reprinted as Chapter 5, has generated significant debate, with many specialists now supporting Scott with regards to catharsis itself. Here he provides the additional reasons why "pity and fear" are also inauthentic in the catharsis clause, even if they are authentic in the middle chapters. As a result, he demonstrates that tragedy for Aristotle is simply serious drama showing noteworthy individuals, which can end in misfortune or fortune, as proven by the best "tragedies" in Chapter 14 that end happily. The final chapters explain the real goal(s) of tragedy for Aristotle, and how he responds without catharsis to Plato's censorship of tragedy and comedy in the ideal republic. All of this allows a fresh appraisal of the treatise that in spite of the two fundamental misconceptions has been the most important work of literary, dramatic and artistic theory in Western culture

About the Author :
After working in ballet, Gregory Scott finished his dissertation, Unearthing Aristotle's Dramatics: Why There is No Theory of Literature in the Poetics, under Francis Sparshott at the University of Toronto, while also studying under one of the esteemed 20th century scholars of the Poetics, Daniel de Montmollin. He then taught for four years as a full-time philosopher at universities in the U.S. and Canada. Afterwards, he engaged in a post-doctoral fellowship under Sarah Broadie at Princeton University (Philosophy) while simultaneously directing the doctoral program in dance education at New York University. At NYU, he created "The Practice & Theory of Teaching Ballet," with co-directors that included Claude Bessy of the Paris Opera Ballet School and Dinna Bjørn of the Royal Danish Ballet. Scott's publications include "The Poetics of Performance: The Necessity of Performance, Spectacle, Music, and Dance in Aristotelian Tragedy" (Cambridge University Press, 1999) and "Purging the Poetics" (Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, 2003). Scott has published articles on the philosophy of dance in journals such as Dance Research Journal, including "Twists and Turns: Modern Misconceptions of Peripatetic Dance Theory" (Dance Research, Edinburgh University Press, 2005). His Aristotle's Favorite Tragedy: Oedipus or Cresphontes? was published in 2016, with a 2nd edition appearing in 2018. Scott has taught the The Meaning of Life and The Art and Theory of Dance since 1995 in Humanities at NYU (SPS) and is finishing a book Aristotle's "Not to Fear" Proof for the Necessary Eternality of the Universe without the Unmoved Mover (expected publication 2019-20). He can be reached at gls62@columbia.edu.