Georg Buchner: The Major Works

The Georg Bchner Prize is the highest literary honor for German language writers, and the full extent of Bchners influencefrom Gerhart Hauptmann to Christa Wolf, Max Reinhardt to Robert Wilson, Alban Berg to Tom Waitsdefies cataloging. When Georg Bchner died in 1837 at the age of twenty-three, he left behind a small and heterogenous body of work, most of it unpublished: three plays, a novella, a political pamphlet, a dissertation, medical lectures, and letters. Matthew Wilson Smith has newly translated Bchners introduction to On Cranial Nerves. Each text is accompanied by explanatory annotations. The editors introduction examines the complexities of Bchners short life and how they informed his writing. The volume also contains ten illustrations. Contexts includes Bchners correspondence with the people who knew him best, impressions of Bchner from a fellow medical student, excerpts from Bchners diary, the wanted poster calling for Bchners arrest for political conspiracy as well as the real-life inspirations his novella, Lenz, and his best-known play, Woyzeck. For ease of reference, Criticism is topically arranged by work and includes assessments by, among others, Laura Ginters, Victor Brombert, Bertolt Brecht, Henry Schmidt, Andrew Webber, Rainer Maria Rilke, and George Steiner. Three accounts of important productions of Dantons Death are reprinted, including John Housemans remarks on Orson Welless staging. Finally, the speeches of four winners of the Georg Bchner PrizePaul Celan, Christa Wolf, Heiner Mller, and Durs Grnbeinare reprinted in their entirety. A Chronology of Bchners life and work and a Selected Bibliography are also included.