Halliwell S. Aristotle’s Poetics

London: Ducksworth, 2009. — 369 p.An analysis of Aristotle's "Poetics", this work attempts a sustained interpretation of the text, contending that it states a challenging theory of poetic art. It hints at a theory of mimetic art, and represents Aristotle's philosophical urge to work out a secularized understanding of Greek tragedy. In this sustained interpretation, Stephen Halliwell demonstrates that Poetics, despite its laconic brevity, contains a coherent statement of mimetic art in general. He assesses this theory against a background of earlier Greek views on poetry and art, particularly Plato's; and he goes further than many previous authors in setting Aristotle's ideas in the wider context of his philosophical system. The core of the book is an appraisal of Aristotle's view of tragic drama, in which Professor Halliwell contends that at the heart of Poetics lies the philosophical urge to work out a secularized understanding of Greek tragedy.
In this, the fullest, sustained interpretation of Aristotle’s Poetics available in English, Stephen Halliwell demonstrates that the Poetics, despite its laconic brevity, is a coherent statement of a challenging theory of poetic art, and it hints towards a theory of mimetic art in general. Assessing this theory against the background of earlier Greek views on poetry and art, particularly Plato’s, Halliwell goes further than any previous author in setting Aristotle’s ideas.