"Collected here for the first time in one volume, four key Platonic dialogues-the Ion, the Protagorus, the Gorgius and the Phaedrus - serve as an important introduction to the productive ambiguities of Platonic thought on rhetoric and language. In her introduction to the volume, editor Jean Nienkamp considers Plato's views on language, genre, and writing, and outlines the critical issues involved in the study of Platonic thought on rhetoric and poetics.

Readers are invited to participate in the dialogues as vital philosophical conversations about issues that animate contemporary rhetorical and literary thought today."--BOOK JACKET.