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Narrated by Billy Crudup
TheophrastusUnabridged — 1 hours, 20 minutes
Narrated by Billy Crudup
TheophrastusUnabridged — 1 hours, 20 minutes
Read by Billy Crudup
"These Characters are people we know-they're our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell. Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom." -Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, presenter of BBC's Civilisations
When Aristotle wrote that that "comedy is about people worse than ourselves," he may have been recalling a hard-edged gem of a treatise written by his favorite student, Theophrastus. Theophrastus's Characters is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real.
Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation-the first widely available English version in over half a century-Theophrastus's Characters transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble. The wry, inventive drawings help envoke the cankered wit of this most modern of ancient texts. Lightly but helpfully annotated by classicist James Romm, these thirty thumbnail portraits are startlingly recognizable twenty-three centuries later. The characters of Theophrastus are archetypes of human nature that remain insightful, caustic, and relevant.
"There are always people on your gift list that 'have everything' or are so esoteric that they deserve an equally out-of-the box gift. Theophrastus’ Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior is just that gift."
Theophrastus' Charaktēres, written around 320 BC, consists of thirty "brief and vigorous character sketches delineating moral types derived from studies that Aristotle had made for ethical and rhetorical purposes." These include the Dissembler, Flatterer, Yokel, Sycophant, Newshound, Miser, Busybody, Vulgar Man, Social Climber, Coward, and twenty more. Theophrastus's observations are—with small adaptions—as appropriate today as they were 2,300 years ago.
"These Characters are people we know—they’re our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell. Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom."
"André Carrilho is one of the most original caricaturists working today, and in Characters his swank surprises in every instance. Ahead of even his own curves, this contemporary artist turns out to be the perfect illustrator to point up the timelessness of the ancient Greek’s witty observations."
"At a time when bad behavior flourishes, even among our leaders, these dead-on portraits of boors, braggarts, and blowhards have never felt more current."
"This well-chosen collection of Seneca's writings on death demonstrates James Romm's gift for making the people and ideas of antiquity vivid for general readers. The introduction is graceful, the translations are accurate and readable, the annotations are nicely judged, and the epilogue featuring Tacitus's account of Seneca's suicide is indispensable."
"If there’s anything new to learn from Characters, a series of personality portraits written by the ancient Greek Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BC), it is that gluttons, chatterboxes, drunks, idiots, and others are not unique to any time or place in human history. This robust little volume of character sketches has been widely published and translated since its first appearance twenty-three centuries ago….Translated by Pamela Mensch with vibrant pen-and-ink illustrations by acclaimed caricature artist André Carrillo, this edition includes insightful annotations by Bard College classics professor and Guggenheim recipient James Romm.
…usefully pocket-size volume…presenting classic pen-portraits of liars, slanderers and other scoundrels.” – Washington Post
An inherently absorbing, deftly crafted, and wonderfully entertaining read that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, Theophrastus' Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library collections.
"This well-chosen collection of Seneca's writings on death demonstrates James Romm's gift for making the people and ideas of antiquity vivid for general readers. The introduction is graceful, the translations are accurate and readable, the annotations are nicely judged, and the epilogue featuring Tacitus's account of Seneca's suicide is indispensable."—Robert A. Kaster, Princeton University (review quote for previous work)
| BN ID: | 2940175875875 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 08/30/2022 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
