“The character sketch is a genre that is descriptive by nature, and that today reads as a little sociological, a little literary, and more than a little comic.”

When reading this Aeon article on David Hume and Literature I came across Theophrastus’ and his work Characters. Perhaps we have already crossed paths briefly, but for some reason I was... See more

Theophrastus, Aristotle’s successor at the Lyceum, who around 371-287 BCE decided to write Characters , a collection of 30 brief sketches depicting various moral failings in late 4th-century Greek society. No positive types, just vice after vice rendered in vivid, uncomfortable detail. It’s essentially a moral mirror cast in comic form, and reading... See more