According to Plato

Moore, Frank Frankfort, 1855-1931Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 447K words
Chapters: 45

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.According to Plato by Frank Frankfort MooreAuthor: Moore, Frank Frankfort, 1855-1931,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: May 2, 2016

Editor's review

According to Plato comes from Frank Frankfort Moore and belongs to Project Gutenberg's public-domain English literature. Moore is known for humor, satire, and social observation, and this book uses the ironic title "According to Plato" to offer light-hearted mockery of human nature and ideas. It is not a commentary on Plato's philosophy but a story of manners that uses classical material as a springboard, suited to reading as intellectually playful entertainment. While reading, notice the narrator's parody of "authoritative citation" and the gaps between what characters say and do. Its length suits reading in installments, and it also works well read against similar works in the English satirical tradition.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy British humor and satirical narrative
Those interested in stories of manners that use classical philosophy as a springboard
Learners who need public-domain English works for extensive reading practice

Not a good fit for

Readers who want to study Plato's philosophical thought systematically
Those who prefer serious academic annotation and philosophical primary texts
Beginners not yet comfortable with earlier English usage

Reading tips

Read the title and opening first to gauge the narrator's teasing tone before entering the main text.
Mark quotations and irony in characters' dialogue and observe how they diverge from the actual plot.
Read section by section, reviewing the jokes and satirical targets after each section.
Read alongside familiar passages from Plato's dialogues to appreciate the parody.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book about Plato's philosophy?

It is not a philosophical monograph. It borrows Plato's name to develop a narrative and teasing commentary, with the focus on characters and social observation. If you want to learn Plato's thought, read his dialogues and related introductions.

Can I understand it without a background in classics?

Most of the plot does not depend on specialized knowledge; the title and quotations are mainly sources of fun. When you meet an unfamiliar allusion, you can skip it and first grasp the character relationships and satirical tone.

What reading pace suits it?

It suits extensive reading in installments, one or two sections at a time, leaving time to savor the irony. For language learning, choose dialogue passages for close reading and retelling.

Comments

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About the author

Moore, Frank Frankfort, 1855-1931 Author

Frank Frankfort Moore (1855–1931) was a British writer active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Twenty-two of his works are held in this collection, though public information about him is limited. Judging from representative titles such as The Jessamy Bride and A Georgian Pageant, he often set his fiction against English history and upper-class society, weaving real figures into invented plots with a light, dramatic touch. Books like Daireen and Priscilla and Charybdis show his interest in love, marriage, and difficult choices. His range also extends to social manners and philosophical fantasy, as seen in the speculative tone of According to Plato and The Other World. Stylistically, Moore emphasized narrative appeal and dialogue, suiting the serial and popular reading of his day and offering a useful glimpse of late Victorian and Edwardian popular fiction.