Plato's Symposium: A Translation by Seth Benardete with Commentaries by Allan Bloom and Seth Benardete

In this review I will compare 5 translations of Plato's Symposium:1. Alexander Nehamas & Paul Woodruff (Hackett Pub Co, 1989).2. Benardete (University of Chicago Press, 2001).3. R.E. Allen (Yale University Press, 1993).4. Shelley's Translation (St Augustine Press, 2002)5. Sharon (Focus Publishing/R.Pullins Co, 1997)I have given all translations 5 stars for their own unique perspectives. Each of these editions has its own strengths and weaknesses, and because of this, none of this edition is complete in itself. Inevitably, if you are serious in undertaking this work, you need to pick up more than one edition. I will give a recommendation on which one to use, at the end of this review.Symposium consists of a series of speeches on love (Eros), culminating in Socrates' and then Alcibiades'. What I am looking for is, first, ease of understanding the central concept of the book, this is obtained through different types of translations. My bias is toward a translation that is fluid, natural, and conveys the concept in a straight forward way. Second, I am also looking for helpful insights and philosophical explanations of some key thoughts. You get this from the quality of commentary/notes as part of the book.Both Sharon's and Nehamas' editions are similar in their lucid, straightforward, and current translations. I find that these 2 editions to be the best and easiest in understanding the text. On the translation side, I give these 5 stars. However, the commentaries in both editions are basic, and unsatisfying in my mind. For this, I give 4 stars.Benardete's edition has a superb commentaries both written by him and another (which is the gem here) written by Allan Bloom. You may or may not like Bloom's style, but he does give you a lot of background especially in ancient Greek pederasty culture, and valuable insights in each of the speeches. I give this a 5 star. I will recommend buying this book just for those 2 commentaries. On the translation itself, however, I am not a fan of Benardete's style. I have commented this in other reviews for his other translations, especially the "Sophist". For some reason, I find it more complex, long winded, and harder to understand. For this I give this edition translation 4 stars only.Allen's edition is superb for both translation and commentaries; this is a 5 star book for me.Finally, on Shelley's translation: this is a unique edition for a couple of reasons. It is a translation of a masterpiece work, by a master in literature himself, Percy Shelley. So, you are reading not only Plato's works, but also a work by one of the most influential literary figure in the English world. Secondly, there is an extensive commentary by David O'Connor, not only on the Symposium, but also on Shelley's process and motivation of doing the translation. A superb edition.My final recommendation: pick up either Sharon or Nehamas' book (personally I prefer Sharon's, it is beautifully done) for the translation, and then pick up Stanley Rosen's "Plato's Symposium" for the commentary (I have a separate review for this superb book). However, if you must read 1 and only 1 book, I would stay with Allen's.

Bought this specifically for Blooms “Ladder of Love” and was not disappointed, 5/5.While Jowett remains the best, this translation of the Symposium, is a wonderful read and it is nice to have a “new” translation to compare with others.The reason you buy this book though, is for Blooms commentary.Asking us to square with truth as we explore the justifications of our thoughts and behaviors, Allan Blooms sharp, critical analysis is assertive, thought provoking, and introspective.

What this book contains:- Bernadete's translation of the Symposium (54 pages)- Bloom's essay on the Symposium, "The Ladder of Love" (122 pages)- Bernadete's essay, "On Plato's Symposium" (20 pages).This is a difficult book to review, as I don't have the specialist knowledge required to assess the quality of the translation or truly appreciate the essays. So with that in mind, the Symposium as translated here is very readable and has some interesting ideas to ponder. The essays were far less enjoyable and provided only limited assistance with understanding the text. Bloom's essay, with its sweeping generalisations and failure to define terms, did not convince.As this edition is described as having two commentaries, I was expecting it to lay out the context (historical, philosophical and literary) of the Symposium in detail, but it doesn't; some information can be picked up here and there within the essays, but nowhere near enough for those unfamiliar with ancient Athens. This isn't the edition for novice readers like me.Four stars for the translation.

This is a wonderful translation that stays as close to the Greek as one could expect from a 'readable English' translation. Off-tone idioms are kept to a minimum, giving the text an authentic Greek feel. I would call the added essays a grab bag. I'm not a fan of Bloom's ranging, presumptuous style, but it does lead to a variety of stunning observations I might have otherwise missed. Benardete has a similar habit of expanding on the text itself, but he's more reigned in. Prepare to disagree with them often, and the commentaries will prove very useful.

Plato's Symposium is my favourate among his works. The book is in a very good shape when I got it.

Nice set

Well, the Benardete translation was better than Penguin, and though I haven't completed the Bloom essay, I'm enjoying it and really you can't beat Bloom at the Plato game. Looking forward to reading the Benardete essay as well.

school requirement

Bought it, haven’t read it, but the cover go hard 🔥