Contains two works by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, including "Poetics," a critique of the literature of his time with reference to the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; and "Rhetoric," a discussion of the role of language in achieving precision and clarity of thought.

"Aristotle's Poetics is one of the most powerful, perceptive and influential works of criticism in Western literary history." "A penetrating, near-contemporary account of Greek tragedy, it demonstrates how the elements of plot, character and spectacle combine to produce 'pity and fear' - and why we derive pleasure from this apparently painful process. It introduces the crucial concepts of mimesis ('imitation'), hamartia ('error') and katharsis, which have informed serious thinking about drama ev

"Aaron Sorkin, the Oscar-winning director and screenwriter of such hits as The Social Network and The West Wing, recently urged aspiring writers to become students and evangelists for Aristotle's Poetics. How is it that this small and rather obscure treatise by an ancient philosopher better known for metaphysics and ethics has become over the centuries the standard and best handbook for writing drama, novels, short stories, and now screenplays for film and television? How can a book that is admi