The Dance of Death

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.4

Word count: 7.6K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Der Totentanz by Hans Ganz and Hans HolbeinAuthor: ,Language: German, Class: NE: Fine Arts: Print media, Release Date: Dec 9, 2007

Editor's review

This book sets Hans Ganz's text alongside Hans Holbein's classic Dance of Death images and belongs to the print-media category of fine arts. Its value lies not in a general historical survey but in giving readers direct access to the iconographic tradition of the Dance of Death motif from the late Middle Ages into the early modern period: skeletons dance with figures from every social rank, order is overturned, and status is leveled. For Chinese readers, it is an opportunity to approach European visual culture through original German-language material; it is short and well suited as an introductory sample for image studies. Reading requires a slower pace, comparing image and text, and noting costumes, props, and ordering in the pictures, which often imply social hierarchy and moral admonition. As a public-domain eBook, layout and image clarity depend on the specific edition, so reading on a larger screen or in printed form is recommended. It is better treated as research material or themed reading than as casual entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying European images and ideas of death from the Middle Ages to the early modern period
Students and teachers of art history and print history
Enthusiasts of Holbein's woodcut illustration tradition
Readers who need original German-language material for themed reading

Not a good fit for

General readers looking only for light stories or fiction
Readers without basic German reading ability and without a parallel translation
Beginners expecting systematic art-historical explanation and detailed annotations

Reading tips

Look through all the plates first, then read the text, noting correspondences and discrepancies between image and text.
Keep pen and paper to list the social identities shown and observe how death enters each one.
Read alongside public-domain material on European death-themed prints to build an image genealogy.
Read on a larger screen or after printing so the woodcut lines and details are clear.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in German or Chinese?

According to the information, the book is in German and is a public-domain eBook. Chinese readers without German will find the text difficult; it is advisable to first approach the theme through the plates and reference materials, then decide whether to go deeper into the text.

What is the Dance of Death theme mainly about?

The motif typically shows skeletons leading figures of every rank in a dance, expressing the moral admonition that all are equal before death and that worldly status and wealth will pass away. This book presents text and image material around that theme; the exact contents depend on what the edition actually includes.

Is it suitable as a course text for art history?

It can be used as supplementary material for a themed course, especially for discussing iconographic traditions and the circulation of prints. But it is not a systematic textbook and lacks modern scholarly annotation and introduction, so teachers need to supply background and interpretive frameworks themselves.

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