Aesthetics

This work by Lithuania’s most important philosopher Vasily Sesemann (1884-1963) is a European classic. Having been published in Lithuanian for the first time in 1970 (though written much earlier) it has now finally become accessible to an international public. Sesemann’s Aesthetics is not only an extremely useful introduction to the discipline of aesthetics; it also engages in stimulating analyses of a whole range of subjects that remain of interest for the contemporary reader. Sesemann explains in a clear and systematic way almost all problems linked to aesthetic production and perception, providing inquiries into, for example, philosophical problems of space, tectonicity in architecture, and film. Sesemann’s personal philosophical vision of aesthetic experience as well as of the ambiguity of aesthetic form makes this book a must for specialists in German and Eastern European interwar philosophy as well as in Russian Formalism. At the same time, it is an inspiring source for all people who are interested in art, its interpretation, and the relation between aesthetics and art history. Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, the author of Vasily Sesemann: Experience, Formalism, and the Question of Being (Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2006)