Theophrastus' Characters - Annotated by James Romm (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>"<b>These <i>Characters</i> are people we know--they're our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell.</b> Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom." -<b><i>Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, presenter of BBC's Civilisations</i></b></p><p><b>The more things change, the more they stay the same: <i>Theophrastus' Characters</i>, a classical Greek text newly translated for a modern audience, is a joyful festival of fault-finding.</b> The book outlines 30 characters, each crystallizing a human flaw all readers will immediately recognize, and is a humorous survey of failings, follies, and bad behavior taken straight off the streets of Athens and brought into our everyday fraught and divisive social and political scene. Brilliantly illustrated by acclaimed artist Andre Carrilho, this is an irresistible treasure of a book.</p><p><b>WHEN ARISTOTLE WROTE that "comedy is about people worse than ourselves," he may have been recalling a hard-edged gem of a treatise written by his favorite student, Theophrastus.</b> <i>Theophrastus' Characters</i> is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real.</p><p><b>Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation--the first widely available English version in over half a century--<i>Theophrastus' Characters</i> transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble.</b> The wry, inventive drawings help envoke the cankered wit of this most modern of ancient texts. Lightly but helpfully annotated by classicist James Romm, these thirty thumbnail portraits are startlingly recognizable twenty-three centuries later. The characters of Theophrastus are archetypes of human nature that remain insightful, caustic, and relevant.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"...usefully pocket-size volume...presenting classic pen-portraits of liars, slanderers and other scoundrels." - <b>Washington Post</b>--<b>The Washington Post</i></b><br><br><p><b>Theophrastus' Charaktēres</b>, written around 320 BC, consists of thirty "brief and vigorous character sketches delineating moral types derived from studies that Aristotle had made for ethical and rhetorical purposes." These include the Dissembler, Flatterer, Yokel, Sycophant, Newshound, Miser, Busybody, Vulgar Man, Social Climber, Coward, and twenty more. Theophrastus's observations are--with small adaptions--as appropriate today as they were 2,300 years ago.</p>--<b>Wally Wood, author of <i>Getting Oriented: A Novel about Japan</i></b><br><br>"There are always people on your gift list that 'have everything' or are so esoteric that they deserve an equally out-of-the box gift. <i>Theophrastus' Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior</i> is just that gift."--<b>Gerry Furth-Sides, <i>Coast to Coast Newspaper</i></b><br><br>An inherently absorbing, deftly crafted, and wonderfully entertaining read that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, <i>Theophrastus' Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior</i> is unreservedly recommended for personal, community, college, and university library collections.--<b>Midwest Book Review</b><br><br>"If there's anything new to learn from <i>Characters</i>, a series of personality portraits written by the ancient Greek Theophrastus (c. 371 - c. 287 BC), it is that gluttons, chatterboxes, drunks, idiots, and others are not unique to any time or place in human history. This robust little volume of character sketches has been widely published and translated since its first appearance twenty-three centuries ago....Translated by Pamela Mensch with vibrant pen-and-ink illustrations by acclaimed caricature artist André Carrillo, this edition includes insightful annotations by Bard College classics professor and Guggenheim recipient James Romm."--<b>Literary Features Syndicate</b><br><br>"André Carrilho is one of the most original caricaturists working today, and in Characters his swank surprises in every instance. Ahead of even his own curves, this contemporary artist turns out to be the perfect illustrator to point up the timelessness of the ancient Greek's witty observations."--<b>Edward Sorel, author of <i>Mary Astor's Purple Diary</i></b><br><br>"At a time when bad behavior flourishes, even among our leaders, these dead-on portraits of boors, braggarts, and blowhards have never felt more current."--<b>Francine Prose, author of <i>Lovers at the Chameleon Club</i></b><br><br>"These <i>Characters</i> are people we know--they're our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell. Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom."--<b>Mary Beard, author of <i>SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome</i></b><br>
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