How, where, and why might we want to reconceive of “poetic justice” not as the pursuit of redemptive vengeance, but as a representation of psychological, conversational, social harmony? How might a densely textured rereading of Plato’s intricate dialogues help us to realize these personal/artistic/civic ends? And how might cultivating this clarified perspective on Plato’s poetics push us towards constructive political engagements? When I want to ask such questions, I pose them to Jill Frank. This conversation focuses on Frank’s Poetic Justice: Rereading Plato’s Republic. Frank is the author of A Democracy of Distinction: Aristotle and the Works of Politics, and founding director of the Classics in Contemporary Perspectives Initiative (2008-2014) at the University of South Carolina. She teaches political theory at Cornell.
