Symposium (Sharon Edition)

"The Symposium challenges the translator who is also a poet in its range of styles which is unique among the Platonic dialogues. Not only does the translator have to mimic the distinct style of the narrator, Apollodoros, and the seven symposiasts . . . he has to mind and represent the action in this the most dramatic of the Platonic dialogues. Sharon's translation meets these challenges and is a brilliant recovery of the style and drama of the Symposium. I know of no other translation that is so appropriately various in the styles adopted by and for the speakers or which is so attentive to the drama of this dialogue which celebrates a tragic victory."
     —Diskin Clay, Duke University

SKU
27765g

Plato
Translated, with Introduction and Glossary, by Avi Sharon

1998 - 80 pp.
Imprint: Focus, Series: Focus Philosophical Library

Grouped product items
Format ISBN Price Qty
Paper 978-0-94105-156-9
$11.95
Instructor Examination (Review) Copy 978-0-94105-156-9
$1.00

This is an English translation of Plato's account of an important dialogue on the nature of love between Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates and Alcibiades.

Focus Philosophical Library translations are close to and are non-interpretative of the original text, with the notes and a glossary intending to provide the reader with some sense of the terms and the concepts as they were understood by Plato’s immediate audience.


Review:

"The Symposium challenges the translator who is also a poet in its range of styles which is unique among the Platonic dialogues. Not only does the translator have to mimic the distinct style of the narrator, Apollodoros, and the seven symposiasts . . . he has to mind and represent the action in this the most dramatic of the Platonic dialogues. Sharon's translation meets these challenges and is a brilliant recovery of the style and drama of the Symposium. I know of no other translation that is so appropriately various in the styles adopted by and for the speakers or which is so attentive to the drama of this dialogue which celebrates a tragic victory."
     —Diskin Clay, Duke University


About the Author:

Avi Sharon is a professor of Classics and has taught in New York, Boston, and Athens, Greece. He is active as a translator of ancient Greek, Italian and Hebrew and has published in such journals as Arion, Partisan Review, and Dialogos. He is the 1996 recipient of the Alexander Onassis Fellowship for scholars of Greek.