Private Lives, Public DeathsIn Private Lives, Public Deaths, Jonathan Strauss shows how Sophocles tragedy Antigone crystallized the political, intellectual, and aesthetic forces of an entire historical momentfifth century Athensinto one idea: the value of a single living person. That idea existed, however, only as a powerful but unconscious desire. Drawing on classical studies, Hegel, and contemporary philosophical interpretations of this pivotal drama, Strauss argues that