
Lessing's Laocoon
Semiotics and Aesthetics in the Age of Reason
David E. Wellbery(Author)
Cambridge University Press
Published on 18. June 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-521-10939-0 (ISBN)
Description
This study analyses the emergence of aesthetic theory in eighteenth-century Germany in relation to contemporary theories of the nature of language and signs. As well as being extremely relevant to the discussion of literary theory, this perspective casts much light on Enlightenment aesthetics. The central text under consideration shows that the extended comparison of poetry and the plastic arts contained in that major work of aesthetic criticism rests upon a theory of signs and constitutes a complex and global theory of aesthetic signification. His analysis of Laocoon is preceded by chapters which establish the underlying structure and influence of the Enlightenment metasemiotic - that is, the place and function of the sign concept in the culture of the early eighteenth century. As an important reinterpretation of Lessing's Laocoon and of the development of German aesthetic theory, this book will be of special interest to students and scholars of German literature. Moreover, as a significant chapter in the history of semiotics, it will be read with profit by all those concerned with the history of literary criticism and aesthetic theory.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
410 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-10939-0 (9780521109390)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/1984
Cambridge University Press
€58.19
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Previous edition
Book
03/1984
Cambridge University Press
€58.19
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Content
Introduction; 1. The Framework of Enlightenment semiotics: Christian Wolff; 2. Semiotics and aesthetics in the work of Baumgarten, Meier and Mendelssohn; 3. Lessing's Laocoon; Concluding Remarks: Enlightenment aesthetics from the standpoint of today; Notes; Index.