How to Tell a Story, Aristotle
How to Tell a Story, Aristotle
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How to Tell a Story
An Ancient Guide to the Art of Storytelling for Writers and Readers

Author: Aristotle, Philip Freeman

Narrator: Gareth Richards

Unabridged: 1 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/10/2022

Synopsis

An inviting and accessible new translation of Aristotle's complete Poetics—the first and best introduction to the art of writing and understanding stories

Aristotle's Poetics is the most important book ever written for writers and readers of stories—whether novels, short fiction, plays, screenplays, or nonfiction. Aristotle was the first to identify the keys to plot, character, audience perception, tragic pleasure, and dozens of other critical points of good storytelling. Despite being written more than 2,000 years ago, the Poetics remains essential reading for anyone who wants to learn how to write a captivating story—or understand how such stories work and achieve their psychological effects. Yet for all its influence, the Poetics is too little read because it comes down to us in a form that is often difficult to follow, and even the best translations are geared more to specialists than to general readers who simply want to grasp Aristotle's profound and practical insights. In How to Tell a Story, Philip Freeman presents the most accessible translation of the Poetics yet produced, making this indispensable book more engaging and useful than ever before.

About Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato, and a tutor to Alexander the Great. His writings, on such diverse subjects as rhetoric, logic, politics, ethics, biology, physics, and poetry, comprise some of the foundations of Western philosophy. He wrote as many as 200 treatises during his lifetime, of which only 31 survive. Of these, Aristotle's best-known works include Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, Politics, and On the Soul.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Massimo on February 01, 2023

Another gem in the long-running Princeton Press series "Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers." Aristotle's Poetics, on which How to Tell a Story is based, is not just one of the classics of western literature, but a book that is still very much used in writing programs today. The specific advice that A......more

Goodreads review by isabella on December 31, 2022

no bc how are you supposed to be mad at a philosopher who wrote this milleniums before you were even born? like yeah it’s outdated it’s in ancient greece guys. anyways it was pretty interesting and the translation was readable. many parts of it still pertain to modern day storytelling, but not all.......more

Goodreads review by Coby on September 30, 2024

Very clear and readable translation of the Poetics. Translation accuracy is a matter someone much more trained than I will have to speak to. But this is a genuinely enjoyable read in which the Aristotle’s clear-eyed wisdom on the art of storytelling shines.......more

Goodreads review by Brother Brandon on January 22, 2023

There are some useful tid-bits here and there. Aristotle is mainly concerned with ancient Greek forms of literature and story-telling, particularly tragedy and epic. He critiques and celebrates the different forms and highlights what makes a good story.......more

Goodreads review by Jinan on July 12, 2024

Modern compilation, translation, and retelling of Aristotle's essays on "Poetics". His narratives on storytelling are quite interesting; not only is it from a very logical perspective, he is brings up surprisingly hard arguments in different angles for theatric concepts. Content itself gave much insig......more

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