The Republic of Plato

In Adam Kirch’s introduction to Allan Bloom’s translation of “The Republic,” he writes “Plato intended his works essentially for the industrious and intelligent few, a natural aristocracy determined neither by birth nor wealth, and his translation attempts to do nothing which would contradict that would contradict that intention.” Further on in his introduction, he relates stories of students in Mr. Bloom’s university classes where he taught Plato. He often assigned essays based upon his translation and, to his delight, would receive responses from his students that he thought quite excellent. Notwithstanding the intended difficulty of the work- deliberately unmitigated by Mr. Bloom- a surprising number of these youngsters had the right stuff be guardians in Plato’s idealized city. Could Mr. Bloom justly claim success in teaching such a hard book?Hardly.It turns out, Kirch informs us, the students merely repackaged the conclusions in Mr. Bloom’s own masterful interpretive essay he placed at the conclusion of his translation. And who could blame them? Students will always be students; and I, like many, can commiserate with them if they felt overmatched by the task of understanding “The Republic.” For I found nit to be every bit as difficult and Plato and Mr. Bloom intended.To keep with the spirit of Plato and Mr. Bloom, I won’t provide my own cliff notes on Plato’s masterpiece. Merely, I will write that Plato gives his most famous character, Socrates, a chance to defend philosophy against a hostile crowd, this time without a draught of hemlock awaiting him at the end of his efforts.What I will say regards Mr. Bloom’s translation. “The Republic,” he says, was meant to be read as a conversation- dialectic. Previous translations had been too liberal in reorganizing Plato’s style to fit their own particular milieu’s tastes. They had too readily altered the words in translations to convey senses more suitable to their own time and place. Mr. Bloom sought to correct their errors. In so doing, he rendered a translation that can be difficult to follow and, speaking for myself, required rereading. But if Mr. Bloom was right (and, for what it’s worth, I incline to his view) then the reader should be pleased to be reading something closer to what Plato actually wrote.I ended “The Republic” admiring Allan Bloom more than Plato. In reading this book, especially his interpretive essay, I discovered the answer to the question “what is a scholar?” Mr. Bloom’s love for his craft and zealous attention to detail are obvious; and his renowned skill as a writer made obvious in his concluding essay. My only recommendation to the reader is to form your own judgement of “The Republic” before reading Mr. Bloom’s, and having done so don’t be at all surprised if your judgement is left behind in the dark of Plato’s cave as you turn towards the light of his.

Very readable translation of The Republic. I had borrowed a copy from a colleague several years ago, and kept it for years. Finally decided to get my own copy.

Whew, that was an intense read! I gave five stars because after careful consideration I realized that Alan Blooms interpretive essay really helped me to understand the The Republic to a different degree. The first ten books are the shoes, the interpretive essay is the shoe lace and it ties all of it up very neatly. To read something over 2,000 years old that’s been translated from Ancient Greek is a task in itself, I commend this translations interpreter he did a stellar job. This book is Heavy and not a book you can just pick up and expect to read in a weekend, its not littered with images that create a perfect picture for you to burn thru, it’s page after page after page of thought, so it slows you down, a lot. Each page forces you to think about what you’re reading, sometimes you have ZERO Idea and that’s ok, that’s where Bloom’s Interpretive Essay comes in. To pick up this book and commit to finishing it is a Challenge I highly recommend, you’ll walk away a better person with a sense of accomplishment and more thoughtful mind. I’ve read over 200 books and I think it’s safe to say that this was the most challenging book I’ve ever put my mind too, if your looking for a challenge then you’ve found it. Happy reading 📖

The author’s translation philosophy and explanation of it are exceptional. With his introductory material and translator’s notes, you get a real feeling for what Plato (and Socrates) were trying to do and how they thought.

They are as applicable now as they were then.

Faithful translation. Outstanding notes. But Shorey? Jowett? Others? They may be more readily available, cheaper (free?), but they are NOT better, or even as good. I am the kind of person who wants a consistent translation of all words. If a word can be translated in two different ways based on the context, then say so in a foot or end note. OK, so you may not like the Strauss school (I believe Bloom studied with Leo Strauss), big deal. But if you want a hard bound copy of the Republic to put on your living room book shelf, then this will do fine. It will impress people who have never read Plato ... and probably wouldn't understand him if they did.

Had to read for school. Mind blown

I started to read Plato's Republic roughly during the college years. I continued to read it for many years, on and off, but I still didn't think I actually understood even a bit of it, until now: Bloom's interpretive essay is tremendously helpful.