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8 min readThe Eftsoons Letter Issue #7: A Return to Aristotle and Why
K. B. Middleton Issue #7 July 11, 2026 A Return to Aristotle and Why The Poetics, Mimesis, and the Justification for Genre Fiction ↓ All literary theory we currently have today originates at some point with Aristotle’s Poetics. From the time of its rediscovery in Europe after the Crusades to the mid-19th century, Aristotle’s mimetic theory held sway in the literary world as the golden standard for evaluating, analyzing, and appreciating literature. What makes Poetics the golden standard has...