The Consolation of Philosophy - Softcover

Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3842475454 ISBN 13: 9783842475458

Publisher: Tredition Classics, 2011

Synopsis

This book is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS series. The creators of this series are united by passion for literature and driven by the intention of making all public domain books available in printed format again - worldwide. At tredition we believe that a great book never goes out of style. Several mostly non-profit literature projects provide content to tredition. To support their good work, tredition donates a portion of the proceeds from each sold copy. As a reader of a TREDITION CLASSICS book, you support our mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion.

About this title

Review:

Unjustly imprisoned and waiting to die, Boethius penned his last and greatest work, Consolation of Philosophy, an imaginary dialogue between himself and Philosophy, personified as a woman. Reminiscent of Dante in places, Boethius's fiction is an ode-to-philosophy-cum-Socratic-dialogue. Joel Relihan's skillful rendering, smoother to the modern ear than previous translations, preserves the book's heart-rending clarity and Boethius's knack for getting it just right. Listen to him on fortune: "We spin in an ever-turning circle, and it is our delight to change the bottom for the top and the top for the bottom. You may climb up if you wish, but on this condition: Don't think it an injustice when the rules of the game require you to go back down."

Consolation of Philosophy recalls the transience of the material world, the eternality of wisdom, and the life of the philosopher. Boethius was deeply influenced by the Platonist tradition, and this piece is one of the more powerful and artful defenses of a detachment that feels almost Buddhist. For anyone who's felt at odds with the world, Consolation is a reminder that the best things in life are eternal. Boethius must be right: the book is just as meaningful today as it was in the sixth century when he wrote it. --Eric de Place

About the Author:

Joel C. Relihan is Professor of Classics, Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts. He is also author of The Prisoner's Philosophy: Life and Death in Boethius' Consolation (The University of Notre Dame Press, 2006).

About this edition

• Publisher: Tredition Classics
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 3842475454
• ISBN 13: 9783842475458
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216