Permanent Expatriate

I’ve been making an effort over the past few months to round out my appreciation of Plato. Here’s what my reading schedule has been like:

22-28 novembre 2010: ‘Gorgias’ and Benardete’s commentary in The Rhetoric of Morality and Philosophy.
29 nov. – 5 dec. 2010:  ‘Phaedrus’ and Benardete’s commentary.
6-12 decembre 2010:  ‘Symposium’ and Bloom’s and Benardete’s commentaries in Plato’s Symposium.
13-19 decembre 2010:  Nichols’ commentary on ‘Symposium’ and ‘Phaedrus’ in Socrates on Friendship and Community.
20-26 decembre 2010:  ‘Lysis’ and Nichols’ commentary.
27 dec. 2010 – 2 jan. 2011: ‘Protagoras’ and Lampert’s commentary in How Philosophy Became Socratic.
3-9 janvier 2011:   ‘Charmides’ and Lampert’s commentary.
10-16 janvier 2011:   ‘Republic’ books I-II and respective parts of Bloom’s interpretive essay and Benardete’s Socrates’ Second Sailing.
17-23 janvier 2011:   ‘Republic’ books III-IV and respective parts of Bloom and Benardete.
24-30 janvier:    ‘Republic’ books V-VI and respective parts of Bloom and Benardete.
31 jan. – 6 fev. 2011:  ‘Republic’ books VII-VIII and respective parts of Bloom and Benardete.
7-13 fev. 2011:   ‘Republic’ books IX-X and respective parts of Bloom and Benardete.
14-20 fev. 2011:   Strauss’ commentary on ‘Republic’ in The City & Man and Lampert’s in How Philosophy Became Socratic.
21-27 fev. 2011:   ‘Laws’ I-II and respective parts of Pangle’s interpretive essay & Benardete’s Plato’s ‘Laws’: The Discovery of Being.
28 fev. – 6 mars 2011:  ‘Laws’ III-IV and respective parts of Pangle and Benardete.
7-13 mars 2011:   ‘Laws’ V-VI and respective parts of Pangle and Benardete.
14-20 mars 2011:   ‘Laws’ VII and respective parts of Pangle and Benardete.
21-27 mars 2011:   ‘Laws’ VIII-IX and respective parts of Pangle and Benardete.
28 mars – 3 avril 2011:  ‘Laws’ X and respective parts of Pangle and Benardete.

I’ve got another week or two of ‘Laws’ (finishing the dialogue itself along with the secondary reading) and then I think I need a break from Plato for a bit. I’d been planning on continuing onward into some of the other big dialogues (‘Timaeus’, ‘Theaetetus’, ‘Sophist’, ‘Statesman’, ‘Philebus’), but we’ll see how my head is after ‘Laws’. A decompression period with some fiction or current-events reading may be called for.

My extracurricular reading has included Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera’s All the Devils are Here, as well as the usual load of cookbooks and books on toddler-rearing. I’ve also recommenced trying to learn classical Greek, but it’s going very slowly as that all other activities have priority over this one.

That’s all for now. I aim at making a more general update, with new pictures included, on the weekend.