Comic Cure for Delusional Democracy

Gene Fendt's book is a rereading and rethinking of the relation between our passions and our reason in the light of poetic nature of Plato's Republic. It is a book that searches for and sees the unity of the great Platonic work along with the inner relations that exist between city and soul. The 'missing' city of Fendt's argument is, perhaps, indicated in his introductory dedication: Ad majoren civitatis dei gloriam, with its overtones of both Augustine and Ignatius. -- James V. Schall, S.J., Georgetown University
Fendt offers a fresh reading of the Republic that allows Plato to speak in his own terms—mimetic, dramatic, imagistic, ironic, comedic, and above all therapeutic—rather than imposing an alien, “analytic” problematic on the text. The book unites philosophical insights and verbal sparklers in a manner true to the spirit of Plato himself. -- Eric Perl, Loyola Marymount University
In this compellingly readable new study, Gene Fendt shows that Plato is well aware that we cannot, as human beings, ever leave the psychic or political cave, nor ever have done with rhetorical persuasive power and the sway of poetic mimesis. Rather, if our cities and souls are to be cured, they must be touched in their force and desire by the wind of the intellect. Fendt's compelling and decisive argument has powerful implications for the re-reading of our western legacy. -- Catherine Pickstock, University of Cambridge
Many pages of the book are impressive in showing the familiarity of many long-lasting conversations about the Republic. * Interpretation *