Pantes Anthrōpoi Tou Eidenai Oregontai Phusei

Aristotle I’ve long been a fan of Margaret Doody’s 1978 mystery novel Aristotle Detective, which as you’d guess from the title features my favourite philosopher as a sleuth in ancient Athens. (The psychological insights Aristotle employs seem drawn primarily from the Rhetoric; the book also offers an engaging portrait of Athenian law and society.)

I’m also a fan of some of Doody’s nonfiction; her article “‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song upon an alien soil?’: The New Episcopalian Liturgy” (in Christopher Ricks and Leonard Michaels, eds., The State of the Language) is absolutely terrific – even if you think you don’t care about the New Episcopalian Liturgy. Trust me, you will.

But I’ve only just discovered that she’s written a bunch more Aristotle mysteries. Apparently a couple of them (Aristotle and the Fatal Javelin and Aristotle and the Ring of Bronze) are thus far available only in Italian, for some reason; but four others – Aristotle and Poetic Justice, Aristotle and the Mystery of Life (also titled Aristotle and the Secrets of Life or just The Secrets of Life), Poison in Athens, and Mysteries of Eleusis – are all available in English, and have now found their way to my desk. Just what I needed – another diversion for my idle hours. Wait – what idle hours?

One Response to Pantes Anthrōpoi Tou Eidenai Oregontai Phusei

  1. David Gordon June 27, 2007 at 9:25 pm #

    She also has a long book on the history of the novel, The True Story of the Novel http://www.amazon.com/True-Story-Novel-Margaret-Doody/dp/0813524539/ref=sr_1_4/002-7689272-42112

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