(Donovan) Paul - The Epicuriana - 2020

    I've had my eyes on this book for a few months now thanks to working in the book industry for a bit ;) but I've paid little attention to it since but decided that it should be at least archived on here. It's another fictional book regarding Epicurus, and perhaps I'm being too harsh but it wasn't my cup of tea, far too dramatic and focused on Timocrates as opposed to other philosophies, something you could expect given references from Laertius and how well-versed his students. Though too its credit it was far better than the dialogue in Imaginary Conversations but its no A Few Days in Athens.

    https://www.the-epicuriana-a-novel.com

    “If the joys found in nature are crimes, then man’s pleasure and happiness is to be criminal.”

    Charles I saw that listed on one of Hiram's posts. Mr. Donovan has obviously put a lot of effort into this but I don't yet have a read on it.

    I got far enough before I was put off by seeing this:


    I believe we have previously identified this (either in conversation here or at Facebook) as a spurious quote which cannot be documented as having been stated by Epicurus, and which has a much more Stoic than Epicurean sound. If the preface is going to start out with something that is not documented, and which has a stoic ring to it, then I don't know how much more time I want to invest in it.

    I also don't think this bodes well:

    I will happily stand corrected if someone reads further and concludes differently.