Epic
pp. 185-202
in: Barry Stocker, Michael Mack (eds), The Palgrave handbook of philosophy and literature, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
This chapter hopes simultaneously to meet two central aims. First, to introduce the rivalry between philosophy and epic, beginning from "the ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry" reported by Plato in Republic 10 and continuing right until today. Second, to argue that epic remains relevant for philosophy for essential, not merely accidental or historical, reasons. Chief among the reasons for epic's continuing relevance, we will see, is one Plato identifies: the peculiar and transgressive power of imitative poetry where the poet's voice is hidden directly in one or more speaking characters within the literary work.
