Aristotle and the Secrets of Life

Aristotle #4

by Margaret Doody, Maps on End Papers (Illustrator)

The year is 330 B.C. Macedonian Alexander the Great has conquered Asia Minor, but with his armies now far from Athens, supporters of Athenian independence are beginning to agitate and plot against him. The climate is especially dangerous for foreigners, like Aristotle who taught Alexander the Great when he was a teenager, and those suspected of befriending foreigners, like Stephanos. A series of threats persuade the two that they had better leave the mainland for a while. Both find acceptable excuses: Aristotle must transport a sick student home to Rhodes, while Stephanos needs to locate a relative of his bride-to-be, Philomela, to clear up an inheritance dispute.

With a varied cast of travelers they set sail across the Aegean to the sacred Isle of Delos, to Mykonos and beyond to the coast of Asia Minor. There they will soon be caught up in investigating conspiracy and murder. But first they need to survive life on the high seas where storms and piracy honour no man, not even the greatest philosopher who ever lived.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Historical Mystery, Historical, Fiction, Crime

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Aka Margaret Anne Doody

Margaret Anne Doody (born 1939) is a professor of literature at the University of Notre Dame, and helped found the PhD in Literature Program at Notre Dame (http://www.nd.edu/~litprog). She served as its director from 2001-2007. Joseph Buttigieg has since become director.

Although historical detective stories are now a flourishing genre, with Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis being particularly prominent in the field of detective stories set in classical antiquity, back in 1978, when Aristotle Detective was first published, Doody was something of a pioneer in the genre. Recently she has added four more to the series featuring Aristotle as a 4th Century B.C. detective.There is also a novella, Anello di bronzo (Ring of Bronze), currently available only in Italian.

Doody's "Aristotle" books and are published in Italy by Sellerio editore, which also produced a translation of The Alchemists. In France the mystery novels are published by 10/18. They are also available in Spanish, Portuguese and Greek; individual novels have recently been appeared in Polish and Russian.

Reviews

[Fabrizio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il lettore conosce bene il significato di queste parole di Umberto Eco: “Chi non legge, a 70 anni avrà vissuto una sola vita: la propria. Chi legge avrà vissuto 5000 anni: c'era quando Caino uccise Abele, quando Renzo sposò Lucia, quando Leopardi ammirava l'infinito... perché la lettura è un'immortalità all'indietro”.
Ecco, se leggete i libri di Margareth Doody che hanno per protagonista Aristotele e il suo amico Stefanos, vivrete delle rilassanti, meravigliose avventure nella Grecia classica rivivendo i miti e le leggende che sono i fondamenti stessi della civiltà occidentale. La piacevole trama “poliziesca” è solo un pretesto, come in questo “Aristotele e il mistero della vita”, per intraprendere anzitutto un viaggio culturale tra le isole greche in compagnia del grande Filosofo senza disdegnare di mangiare formaggio e olive all’ombra di una vite di fronte al mar Egeo, lungo le seicento pagine di questo libro che si leggono in un solo fiato. Eh si… ha ragione Umberto Eco! Che cosa meravigliosa è la lettura…

[Zsuzsanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book we are reminded that Aristotle was also a natural philosopher. Not as good as the earlier books in the series. I thought the most interesting part of this novel was the beginning, set in Athens. But then maybe I am prejudiced by having been dragged along to sailing trip in Greece! Also, the mystery is less obvious / coherent in this one.

[Gabriele Siino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, a little heavier than the previous two adventures of Aristotle. The story goes abroad from Athens, stopping in various islands. Good to read and full of details about the Greek society of that time.

[Pamela Bronson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first three books in this series, but this one had some horrific events involving a child. I'm not too easily triggered, but it made me decide not to go on with the series (though I did finish the book.) They were somewhat hard to get anyway.

[Giulia Pescini]

Aristotele e il

[Fco. Salvador · Rating 3 out of 5]

Narrada en primera persona desde la perspectiva de Estéfano, un joven ateniense, en el pasado alumno de Aristóteles.

Diversos motivos llevan a Estéfano y a Aristóteles hacia las islas Cícladas y las costas de Jonia. Esta historia, bastante más larga que las anteriores de la serie (Aristotle Detective y Aristotle and Poetic Justice), hace un tratamiento muy extraño en el género: los crímenes (primero diversos sacrilegios, luego un rapto, poco después un asesinato y finalmente el encuentro con unos piratas) no son investigados en absoluto, y en un largo capítulo final los dos protagonistas realizan un repaso de toda la historia, incluyendo esta vez todos los detalles que antes habían quedado ocultos.

[Antonella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo episodio precede quello dei Miseri di Eleusi che ho già letto, come l'altro mi è piaciuto molto.
Un connubio tra cultura e racconti noir eccellente che induce sia a riflettere sulle opere del grande filosofo Aristotele che stimola la curiosità su un mondo così lontano eppure ancora così affascinante

[Vanlilith · Rating 5 out of 5]

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