Ueber Laokoon
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"Ueber Laokoon" (1798) is an essay by Goethe on the Laokoon.
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Excerpts
- “The serpent has not yet bitten; it is biting only now, in the soft part of the body, above and slightly behind the hip... the body shudders and contracts, its shoulders tense, causing the chest to jut out, while the head bends towards the afflicted side; and as the burden of the preceding action or situation is revealed to us in the immoblized legs and flailing arms, there arises a unique complex of contrary states: of confrontation and flight, activity and passivity, strain and slackening — combinations that might well be possible under no other circumstances.”
- “To grasp the sculptor's intent it helps to walk a good distance away from the statue, shut one's eyes, and then quickly open and close them again, setting the whole work in motion. This almost gives one the fearful impression that the group has completely changed. It leads me to think of the statue as it stands as fixed lightning, as a wave halted and turned to stone in its rush against the shore.”[1]
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