Framing the Dialogues: How to Read Openings and Closures in Plato

Framing the Dialogues: How to Read Openings and Closures in Plato is a collection of 14 chapters with an Introduction that focuses on the intricate and multifarious ways in which Plato frames his dialogues. Its main aim is to explore both the association between inner and outer framework and how this relationship contributes to, and sheds light upon, the framed dialogues and their philosophical content. All contributors to the volume advocate the significance of closures and especially openings in Plato, arguing that platonic frames should not be treated merely as ‘trimmings’ or decorative literary devices but as an integral part of the central philosophical discourse. The volume will prove to be an invaluable companion to all those interested in Plato as well as in classical literature in general.

Eleni Kaklamanou is currently a researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean Studies, Foundation for Research and Technology, Crete. She teaches ancient philosophy at the Hellenic Open University and the Open University of Cyprus. Her main research interest include Plato and Platonism and political philosophy.

Maria Pavlou is Lecturer of Ancient Greek Language and Literature at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus. Her main areas of interest are archaic lyric poetry, Plato, reception studies and the teaching of classics. She has published several articles on Pindar, Plato, Thucydides, and Yannis Ritsos; she is also the co-editor of Debating with the Eumenides: Aspects of the Reception of Tragedy in Modern Greece (Cambridge Scholars 2018).

Antonis Tsakmakis is Associate Professor of Greek at the Department of Classics and Philosophy, University of Cyprus. He has published amply on Greek historiography and biography and classical drama, especially Old Comedy. His interests also include philosophy, stylistics and linguistics, narratology, cognitive poetics, reception and the teaching of Greek in secondary education. He has published a series of textbooks for High Schools.