Abstract
In ancient Greek, ἀρχή (arche), means “origin,” “logical source,” “the keep of a castle/fort/city—a place of safety,” “principle,” et al. My aim at using this name for these novels is to return to the idea of building principles. Out of what do we create a narrative whole—the stoicheia in Plato’s Theaetetus? These structural units are the devices by which the novel can communicate its fictive narrative message.
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Notes
- 1.
One famous example of the breadth of this term is in the first sentence of the Christian Gospel of John, “Έν ἀρχή ἧν ὁ λόγος” In the beginning (as principle, deductive/inductive starting point) was the word (story, or account of).
- 2.
I have set this out with my personal worldview imperative and shared community worldview imperative in various venues. See: Michael Boylan, Basic Ethics, 3rd edition (London and New York: Routledge, 2021); and A Just Society (Lanham, MD and Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004); Morality and Global Justice (Boulder, Co: Westview, 2011); and Natural Human Rights: A Theory (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
- 3.
The Iliad and Odyssey both employ 24 books, while the Aeneid and Paradise Lost stick with 12. Fielding’s Tom Jones splits the difference and brings forth 18 books.
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Boylan, M. (2022). Preface to Part Three: What Is the Aim of the Archē Novels?. In: Teays, W. (eds) Reshaping Philosophy: Michael Boylan’s Narrative Fiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99265-1_11
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