New Book from Peikoff

Discovering Great Plays: As Literature and as Philosophy is a collaboration of  an unusual sort between Leonard Peikoff and Marlene Trollope.  The book is based on transcripts of  lectures he gave in the 1990s, but, as he emphasizes in a preface,  was edited and put together by her with no input from him.   There are eight lectures – one each on Antigone, Othello, Le Cid, Don Carlos, An Enemy of the People, Saint Joan, Monna Vanna, and Cyrano de Bergerac  - from a man who passionately loves the theater and appreciates good writing.  They are well organized, thoughtful, clear, and decisive as to viewpoint. It is easy to tell where he stands  and why. His methods and standards are the usual “official” objectivist ones familiar from Rand’s essays on aesthetics, and many of the results, such as his following her in a gross misreading of Shakespeare , are predictable.  However some of the conclusions and insights are surprising, particularly in the treatment of Antigone. 

All in all it is a book to be read critically and skeptically but also enjoyably. His passion for these plays is infectious and appealing. Also he (and/or she; I don’t know how closely the book follows the transcripts or how much cleaning up and revising she did) is talking seriously about important and interesting subjects worth contemplating.  One can disagree with much  of what he says and still find that something to appreciate.  It surely beats following the news on TV.