Tragic Pleasure From Homer To Plato

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This book offers a resolution of the paradox posed by the pleasure of tragedy by returning to its earliest articulations in archaic Greek poetry and its subsequent emergence as a philosophical problem in Plato's Republic. Socrates' claim that tragic poetry satisfies our 'hunger for tears' hearkens back to archaic conceptions of both poetry and mourning that suggest a common source of pleasure in the human appetite for heightened forms of emotional distress. By unearthing a psychosomatic model of aesthetic engagement implicit in archaic poetry and philosophically elaborated by Plato, this volume not only sheds new light on the Republic's notorious indictment of poetry, but also identifies rationally and ethically disinterested sources of value in our pursuit of aesthetic states. In doing so the book resolves an intractable paradox in aesthetic theory and human psychology: the appeal of painful emotions.

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T R A G I C P L E A S U R E F RO M H O M E R TO   P L ATO This book offers a resolution to the paradox posed by the pleasure of tragedy by returning to its earliest articulations in archaic Greek poetry and its subsequent emergence as a philosophical problem in Plato’s Republic. Socrates’ claim that tragic poetry satisfies our “hunger for tears” hearkens back to archaic conceptions of both poetry and mourning that suggest a common source of pleasure in the human appetite for heightened forms of emotional distress. By unearthing a psychosomatic model of aesthetic engagement implicit in archaic poetry and philosophically elaborated by Plato, this volume not only sheds new light on the Republic’s notorious indictment of poetry but also identifies rationally and ethically disinterested sources of value in our pursuit of aesthetic states. In doing so the book resolves an intractable paradox in aesthetic theory and human psychology: the appeal of painful emotions. Rana Saadi Liebert is a site director and faculty member of the Bard Prison Initiative, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics at Bard College. T R A G I C P L E A S U R E F RO M H O M E R TO   P L ATO R A N A S A A D I L I E B E RT Bard College, New York University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 4843/24, 2nd Floor, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi – 110002, India 79 Anson Road, #06-04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107184442 DOI: 10.1017/9781316877036 © Rana Saadi Liebert 2017 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2017 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Liebert, Rana Saadi, author. Title: Tragic pleasure from Homer to Plato / Rana Saadi Liebert, Bard College, New York. Description: Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017004140 | ISBN 9781107184442 (hardback) Subjects: LCSH: Greek drama (Tragedy) – History and criticism. | Emotions in literature. | Plato. Republic. Classification: LCC PA3131 .L54 2017 | DDC 882/.0109–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017004140 ISBN 978-1-107-18444-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persiste