Franccedil;ois-Marie Arouet wrote under the nom de plume of Voltaire; and produced works in almost every literary form; including plays; poems; novels; essays; and historical and scientific works. Orestes was produced in 1750; an experiment which intensely interested the literary world and the public. In his Dedicatory Letters to the Duchess of Maine; Voltaire has the following passage on the Greek drama: "We should not; I acknowledge; endeavor to imitate what is weak and defective in the ancients: it is most probable that their faults were well known to their contemporaries. I am satisfied; Madam; that the wits of Athens condemned; as well as you; some of those repetitions; and some declamations with which Sophocles has loaded his Electra: they must have observed that he had not dived deep enough into the human heart. I will moreover fairly confess; that there are beauties peculiar not only to the Greek language; but to the climate; to manners and times; which it would be ridiculous to transplant hither. Therefore I have not copied exactly the Electra of Sophocles-much more I knew would be necessary; but I have taken; as well as I could; all the spirit and substance of it."
#2291676 in eBooks 2011-11-16 2014-04-12File Name: B00JOK8NK6
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. How to See.By George GreeneThis collection of essays by Christopher Dustin and Joanna E. Ziegler is simply wonderful. They gently guide one through both great and good texts on how to see the world anew. It led me to books that I did not know such as Josef Piepers gem Only the Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation as well as Eric Sloanes A Reverence for Wood. Likewise; the chapters on Thoreau and Plato/Socrates are worth the price of admission. The essays should be read in the order written since the authors continue to bring forward thinkers considered with the thinkers being discussed. Connections within connections are continuously being made. If one can imagine a book like this visually; it is a beautiful weaving with complex and variegated patterns. If one could imagine it as a piece of music; it is well arranged melody which turns around certain musical themes. It is teaches us about our humanity and what it means to be whole. Good stuff.This paragraph modifies my earlier review. I need to comment on the Heidegger chapters. There is a growing literature on the problem of Heideggers thinking because of his involvement with the Nazi Party. I do not wish to debate that topic here. I also do not mean to suggest anything about the authors of this fine book. I just wish that they dropped a footnote about the controversy so that the reader is apprised of the problem as well as the false starts and dangerous consequences that may arise from such thinking. If one is to think through Heidegger one needs also to think philosophically through this problem. It is a path that needs to be journeyed.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. MortalBy torontoZiegler; who died prematurely; was widely recognized as a great; and innovative; teacher of contemplation and art. I approached this book with a lot of anticipation; but came away disappointed. The topics -- craftsmanship; contemplation; participation; etc.; are all important; and good things are said about them; but overall the book is dull. It says a lot of obvious things over and over again. I kept waiting for it to catch fire; but it was a slog. The book never really feels like the contemplativity it espouses -- what it needed perhaps were a number of deeply worked examples. The most engaging parts of the book are the discussions of Thoreau and Plato; but a lot of people have been down the same path before.It is a puzzle why the book is so dull. There are a couple of Zieglers talks online which are more compelling than this whole book; Im sorry to say.
