Eros at the Banquet: Reviewing Greek With Plato’s Symposium

Pratt (classics, Emory U.) presents a textbook to be used in a second-year course that serves as a bridge between first-year Greek and the reading of demanding Greek texts, a transitional stage she has observed to be particularly difficult for students. She has edited passages from Plato's dialogue Symposium, removing or altering passages and words that would frustrate beginners in Greek, and includes review exercises for each to practice first-year grammar and build vocabulary. Altogether the readings comprise about a third of the dialogue, which is still far too much for a non-intensive one-semester course, but she does include the rest of the text so instructors can use their favorite bits if they want to. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)