Poetic and Legal Fiction in the Aristotelian Tradition

210 Pages·1986·6.65 MB·English

by  Kathy Eden

POETIC AND LEGAL FICTION
IN THE ARISTOTELIAN
TRADITION

KATHY EDEN
Poetic and Legal Fiction
in the Aristotelian
Tradition
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright ' 1986 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, NewJersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
Guildford, Surrey
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be
found on the last printed page of this book
ISBN 0-691-06697-3
Publication of this book has been aided by
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
This book has been composed in Linotron Sabon
Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books
are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen
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for personal collections, are not usually
suitable for library rebinding
Printed in the United States of America by
Princeton University Press
Princeton, NewJersey
For Wesley Trimpi

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
INTRODUCTION 3
ONE. Legal Proof and Tragic Recognition: The
Aristotelian Grounds of Discovery 7
Two. Poetry and Equity: Aristotle’s Defense of Fiction 25
1. The Case for Poetry before Aristotle: Gorgias vs. Plato 25
2. TheLogicofFiction 32
3. The Psychology of Fiction 54
THREE. Rhetoric and Psychology: The Aristotelian
Foundations of the Poetic Image 62
1. ImageandlmitationinPlato 64
2. Image and Imitation in Aristotle’s Poetics and Rhetoric 69
3. The Psychological Image of the De Anima 7 5
4. The Image in the Later Rhetorical Tradition 8 5
5. The Image in Stoic Psychology and Literary Theory 96
FOUR. Image and Imitation: Aristotle’s Contribution
to a Christian Literary Theory 112
1. Contra Academicos and Soliloquia: Image and
Imitation in Augustine’s Early Works 113
2. Imago Dei and Imitatio Christi: Augustine’s Later
Works 124
3. From Scholastic Psychology to Neoclassical Literary
Theory 141
4. The Logic and Psychology of Renaissance Fiction:
Sidney’s An Apology for Poetry 157
APPENDIX: Hamlet and the Reaches of Aristotelian
Tragedy 176
INDEX 185
Names and Titles 185
Topics 192

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IN APPRECIATION for the leisure and resources to write this
book I thank The Center for Hellenic Studies, where I was a
junior fellow during the academic year 1982-1983; the Co›
lumbia University Council for Research in the Humanities, for
its support during the summers of 1982 and 1984; and the
Lawrence Chamberlain Fellowship of Columbia University for
its support during the fall of 1984.
For their generosity in reading and commenting on either all
or part of this study, I am grateful to Helen Bacon, James Coul›
ter, Phillip Damon, David Damrosch, Helene Foley, David
Gorman, Richard Janko, Bernard Knox, Robert Lamberton,
James Lesher, William Race, Carey Ramos, Charles Reed, and
Ann Van Sant.
For his encouragement at the earlier stages of my research, I
recall in gratitude the memory of Gerald Else. And, finally, by
way of dedicating this book to him, I wish to thank Wesley
Trimpi for his willingness over the past ten years to share with
me his own efforts to understand better what he himself has
called "the literary analysis of experience and its continuity."