1wcarter
Symposium by Plato 1991
Plato’s Symposium is an account of conversations at a dinner party given by the playwright Agathon in about 376BC to celebrate his winning a competition. It has been described as the most romantic book ever written, although it has many homosexual overtones.
There are seven speakers in the dialogue (Agathon, a writer of tragedies; Socrates, a truth-loving eccentric; Phaedrus, an idealist; Pausanias, a realist and Agathon’s lover; Aristophanes, a writer of comedies; Eryximachus, a doctor; and Alicibiades a politician and philanderer). Each is required to give a speech about the god Eros.
In the course of a lively drinking party the discussions cover sex, gender, and human instincts in a fascinating dialogue that is as relevant today as ever. The Symposium interweaves different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love : as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education.
This xxi + 67 page book was translated by Tom Griffith who wrote a three page translator’s introduction. There is a thirteen page explanatory introduction by Anthony Quinton and ten leaves of bound-in colour plates by Tom Phillips. It is bound in dark brown cloth with a wrap-around design in pale brown by Phillips. The endleaves are pale yellow and the cream slipcase measures 28.9x18cm.
The Folio Society has also published The Trial and Execution of Socrates (1972) and Republic (2003) by Plato.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
Plato’s Symposium is an account of conversations at a dinner party given by the playwright Agathon in about 376BC to celebrate his winning a competition. It has been described as the most romantic book ever written, although it has many homosexual overtones.
There are seven speakers in the dialogue (Agathon, a writer of tragedies; Socrates, a truth-loving eccentric; Phaedrus, an idealist; Pausanias, a realist and Agathon’s lover; Aristophanes, a writer of comedies; Eryximachus, a doctor; and Alicibiades a politician and philanderer). Each is required to give a speech about the god Eros.
In the course of a lively drinking party the discussions cover sex, gender, and human instincts in a fascinating dialogue that is as relevant today as ever. The Symposium interweaves different viewpoints and ideas about the nature of love : as a response to beauty, a cosmic force, a motive for social action and as a means of ethical education.
This xxi + 67 page book was translated by Tom Griffith who wrote a three page translator’s introduction. There is a thirteen page explanatory introduction by Anthony Quinton and ten leaves of bound-in colour plates by Tom Phillips. It is bound in dark brown cloth with a wrap-around design in pale brown by Phillips. The endleaves are pale yellow and the cream slipcase measures 28.9x18cm.
The Folio Society has also published The Trial and Execution of Socrates (1972) and Republic (2003) by Plato.
An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.
2jose2486
Hi, if you happen to own the 2014 Folio Society two-volume edition of War and Peace, illustrated by Igor Karash, would you consider including it in one of your illustrated reviews? I’d be particularly interested in seeing more detail on the appendices, such as the Notes, Historical Index, and any other supplementary material. Thank you.
3wcarter
>2 jose2486:
I have the limited edition but not the standard edition.
The LE was reviewed at https://www.librarything.com/topic/357797
I have the limited edition but not the standard edition.
The LE was reviewed at https://www.librarything.com/topic/357797
