Margaret Anne Doody Libri

Senza Aristotele niente Sherlock Holmes. È questa, verosimilmente, l'idea alla base di questo giallo investigativo. Il metodo del tipo di detective alla Sherlock Holmes - di enumerare indizi, trarne ipotesi, dedurne nuovi particolari, sino alla spiegazione del delitto e la scoperta conseguente del colpevole - non sarebbe stato possibile se non applicando il metodo dimostrativo della logica aristotelica al crimine. Stefanos, un simpatico giovanetto dell'Atene del IV secolo, dunque, guidato dallo Stagirita che non si muove di casa come Nero Wolfe, indaga sull'assassinio di un ricco oligarca, di cui è accusato ingiustamente il cugino, esule per un precedente errore. Al primo omicidio, ne segue un secondo, e tra colpi di scena, travestimenti, testimonianze reperite avventurosamente, Aristotele alla fine scioglie l'enigma e consente al giovane di smascherare il vero assassino. Ma Aristotele detective è qualcosa di più dello stratagemma curioso per un giallo giudiziario e dimostrativo di taglio classico e denso intreccio. È una specie di esperimento. La scrittrice, Margaret Doody, studiosa di letteratura comparata in una università americana, e convinta di una certa ipotesi sulla nascita del genere romanzesco, vi ha voluto provare l'adattabilità del mondo della Grecia antica (ricostruito con fedeltà filologica e storica) alle emozioni, alle psicologie, alle peripezie del romanzo moderno.

The greatest philosophical mastermind turns detective in this witty and dramatic whodunit which takes place in Athens, 332BC, an unhappy city under the rule of the Macedonian ‘barbarian’ Alexander the Great.In the midst of this unrest, Boutades, an eminent citizen, is found brutally murdered. Suspicion falls heavily on young Philemon, and, by Athenian law, his cousin Stephanos is elected to defend his name in court.In desperation, Stephanos seeks assistance from Aristotle, his former mentor — and Aristotle turns Detective.The young, inexperienced boy and the great philosopher form a classically uneven partnership. Their efforts culminate in the gripping trial scene when Stephanos uses all the powers of rhetoric and oratory instilled in him by Aristotle to clear his family’s name of this bloody murder.

Focusing on the intricacies of Augustan poetry, this book delves into its richness and complexity, offering a thought-provoking exploration of the era's literary landscape. It challenges readers to engage with the nuanced themes and stylistic innovations that define this period, providing insights into the cultural and historical contexts that shaped these works.

In Jane Austen's works, a name is never just a name. In fact, the names Austen gives her characters and places are as rich in subtle meaning as her prose itself. Wiltshire, for example, the home county of Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey, is a clue that this heroine is not as stupid as she seems: according to legend, cunning Wiltshire residents caught hiding contraband in a pond capitalized on a reputation for ignorance by claiming they were digging up a big cheese --the moon's reflection on the water's surface. It worked. In Jane Austen's Names, Margaret Doody offers a fascinating and comprehensive study of all the names of people and places--real and imaginary--in Austen's fiction. Austen's creative choice of names reveals not only her virtuosic talent for riddles and puns. Her names also pick up deep stories from English history, especially the various civil wars, and the blood-tinged differences that played out in the reign of Henry VIII, a period to which she often returns. Considering the major novels alongside unfinished works and juvenilia, Doody shows how Austen's names signal class tensions as well as regional, ethnic, and religious differences. We gain a new understanding of Austen's technique of creative anachronism, which plays with and against her skillfully deployed realism--in her books, the conflicts of the past swirl into the tensions of the present, transporting readers beyond the Regency. Full of insight and surprises for even the most devoted Janeite, Jane Austen's Names will revolutionize how we read Austen's fiction

It is summer, 330 B.C. The Macedonian Alexander the Great has conquered Asia Minor but now his armies are far from Athens, and those who support Athenian independence are beginning to chafe and plot against him. Foreigners, like Aristotle, and those suspected of befriending foreigners, such as Stephanos, are threatened. A series of threats persuades these two that they will be best served by quitting the mainland for a while. They both find suitable excuses: Aristotle has to transport a sick student home to Rhodos, while Stephanos must find a relative of his bride-to-be Philomela to clear up an inheritance dispute. With a varied cast of travellers they set across the Aegean to the sacred Isle of Delos, to Mykonos and beyond to the coast of Asia Minor. There they will soon be embroiled in investigating conspiracy and murder. But first they must survive life on the high seas where storms and piracy honour no man, least of all the greatest philosopher who has ever lived.

It is the autumn of 330 BC, and three law cases are exciting Athens. Ergokles' case against the wealthy Orthoboulos for malicious wounding seems to come out well for the dignified man, but shortly afterwards he is found dead of poison, evidently hemlock. His second wife is accused of the crime, and her trial for poisoning sets Athens at odds, as sympathies divide. Her stepson is her greatest enemy, and seems sure that she has done the deed, but there are other candidates. Meanwhile, the most beautiful woman in Athens, Phryne, is accused of impiety, a charge that can carry the death penalty. Stephanos, in treating himself to brother visits as she tries to recover not only from his wound but from having killed a man, gets close to danger, and his position as a witness could damage his prospects of marriage. Misogyny, political wrath, and lack of judgment bring affairs to a boiling point, stimulating Aristotle to intervene lest the trial of the stepmother break Athens into fragments. He endeavours to solve the mystery with the help of Stephanos, and also with his assistant Theophrastos, who has made a special study of plant and thus of poisons-

Jane Austen began writing in her early teens, and filled three notebooks with her fiction. Her earliest work reflects her interest in the novel as a genre; in brilliant short pieces she plays with plots, stock characters, diction, and style, developing a sense of form at a remarkably early age. The characters of these stories have a jaunty and never-failing devotion to themselves. They perpetually lie, cheat, steal - and occasionally commit murder. Throughout these short or unfinished pieces, Austen exhibits her sense of the preposterous in life and fiction with tough-mindedness and robust humour. Alice, the mock-heroine of Jack and Alice has `many rare and charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them'. In her later published fiction, Austen had learned to take demands for propriety seriously, reining in whatever might be thought boisterous or coarse. Here we see Jane Austen without her inhibitions. In addition to prose fiction and prayers, this collection also contains many of Jane Austen's poems, written to amuse or console friends, and rarely reprinted. The texts have been compared with the manuscripts and edited to give a number of new readings. The notes recreate the texture of daily life in Jane Austen's age, and demonstrate her knowledge of the fiction of her time. The introduction by Margaret Anne Doody sets the writings within the context of Jane Austen's life and literary career.

Brought up by her widowed father in a remote English castle, Arabella resorts to reading the French novels popular in her mother's youth. When her father dies, she must marry her cousin Glanville or risk losing the estate. But her conduct will only let her be center stage in the drama of her own life

Stephanos and his teacher, the philosopher Aristotle, are drawn into solving the perplexing abduction case of Anthia, the heiress of a prominent silver merchant. Someone has snatched her from her home, but no one knows the motive All that is known is that the abductor and the heiress are on the road to Delphi, and a murderer is following them close behind. The identity of the abductor and the murderer are mysteries that only Aristotle, with the aid of the Delphian oracle, will be able to solve.

La storia della giovane e bella Pamela insidiata dal suo ricco padrone e che si conclude felicemente nel matrimonio assomiglia molto alla trama delle favole. Ma il romanzo di Richardson era intensamente innovativo rispetto alla letteratura e alla morale del tempo: la sua eroina ne usciva vittoriosa scavalcando tutte le profonde e insormontabili differenze di classe, e questo creava non pochi problemi ai benpensanti dell'epoca. Pamela è consapevole della propria inferiorità, eppure crede fermamente nel valore della virtù e la difende contro tutte le tentazioni dell'amore e del denaro. Il lettore però non può fare a meno di chiedersi se dietro tanta umiltà e castità non si nasconda anche una calcolata consapevolezza delle proprie capacità e una voglia di mettersi in mostra cercando l'approvazione incondizionata del pubblico.