"Baracchi has identified pivotal points around which the Republic                  operates; this allows a reading of the entire text to unfold.... a very beautifully                  written book." -- Walter Brogan"... a work that opens new and                  timely vistas within the Republic.... Her approach... is thorough and rigorous." --                  John SallisAlthough Plato's Republic is perhaps the most                  influential text in the history of Western philosophy, Claudia Baracchi finds that                  the work remains obscure and enigmatic. To fully understand and appreciate its                  meaning, she argues, we must attend to what its original language discloses. Through                  a close reading of the Greek text, attentive to the pervasiveness of story and myth,                  Baracchi investigates the dialogue's major themes. The first part of the book                  addresses issues of generation, reproduction, and decay as they apply to the                  founding of Socrates' just city. The second part takes up the connection between war                  and the cycle of life, employing a thorough analysis of Plato's rendition of the                  myth of Er. Baracchi shows that the Republic is concerned throughout with the                  complex but intertwined issues of life and war, locating the site of this tangled                  web of growth and destruction in the mythical dimension of the Platonic                  city.

Of Myth, Life, and War in Plato's Republic (Studies in Continental Thought) PDF

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