Uncovering Writing

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I acquired this book to read “On the Sublime” by Pseudo-Longinus. I was never a big fan of Aristotle, and I’d already read Horace’s Ars Poetica, so I was surprised when I finished reading that I enjoyed the Aristotle piece the most out of the three. The other two pieces are still worth reading, and overall, this book is a nice compilation of early literary criticism. Aristotle and Pseudo-Longinus read more like theoretical treatises while Horace is more pragmatic and full of advice. I loved Aristotle and Pseudo-Longinus where they quoted from works that are no longer extant, especially all the Euripides, one of my favorite tragedians.

While there are many quotable pieces from all three works, I liked this one the best from Pseudo-Longinus:

For a piece is truly great only if it can stand up to repeated examination, and if it is difficult, or, rather, impossible to resist its appeal, and it remains firmly and ineffaceably in the memory." (Longinus 7, p. 107)