Platonism of Walter Pater

As a teacher of Plato in Oxford's Literae Humaniores Walter Pater was informed by philosophy from his earliest essays to his last book. <em>The Platonism of Walter Pater</em> examines Pater's deep engagement with Platonism throughout his career. It overturns his reputation as a superficial aesthete known mainly for his 'Conclusion' to <em>The Renaissance</em> to reposition his contribution to literature and the history of ideas. <p/>In his criticism and fiction including his studies on myth Pater was influenced by several of Plato's dialogues. <em>Phaedrus</em> <em>Symposium</em> <em>Theaetetus</em> <em>Cratylus</em> and <em>The Republic</em> informed his philosophy of beauty history myth knowledge ethics language and style. As a philosopher critic and artist Plato embodied what it meant to be an author to Pater who imitated his creative practice from vision to expression. For Pater Platonism was also a point of contact with his contemporaries including Matthew Arnold and Oscar Wilde offering a means to take new measure of their literary relationships. <p/>Using the interdisciplinary critical tools of Pater's own educational milieu which combined literature philosophy and classics <em>The Platonism of Walter Pater</em> repositions the importance Pater's contribution to literature and the history of ideas.<br>