Publisher's Synopsis
Laokoon and How the Ancients Represented Death is a book written by German philosopher and critic, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. The book is a critical analysis of the famous sculpture Laoco������n and His Sons, which depicts the Trojan priest Laoco������n and his two sons being attacked by sea serpents. Lessing examines the sculpture from various angles, including its historical and cultural context, its artistic techniques, and its symbolic significance. He argues that the sculpture represents the ancient Greek view of death as a release from the suffering of life, and that the figures of Laoco������n and his sons are meant to embody the idea of heroic sacrifice.The book also includes a broader discussion of how the ancient Greeks and Romans represented death in their art and literature, and how these representations differed from those of later cultures. Lessing's analysis is not only a valuable contribution to the study of art history, but also a fascinating exploration of the human experience of mortality and the ways in which we have sought to represent it throughout history.1914. This volume contains two works by the critical genius Lessing. His writing is peerless in its comprehensiveness, its keenness and depth; but this was particularly true of the drama. Laokoon deals with the limits of poetry and painting and it may be said that the great era of German literature commenced with these works. Laokoon, in its style, in its subtlety and clearness, in its breadth of intellectual vision, was a treatise that the likes of which had never been seen before.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
