Georg Büchner
German playwright who died at 23 but left three plays that anticipated naturalism, expressionism, and the absurd by half a century. Woyzeck, left unfinished, is among the most performed and studied plays in the world. His compressed, fragmented dramaturgy was generations ahead of its time.
Works
- WoyzeckTragic play of a poor soldier's descent into madness and violence
- Danton's DeathPolitical drama during French Revolution examining power and idealism
- Leonce and LenaRomantic comedy about two idle princes searching for adventure
- The Hessian MessengerPolitical pamphlet advocating peasant uprising against oppression
- On Cranial NervesScientific treatise on anatomy of the cranial nerves
- The Hessian CourierRevolutionary political manifesto calling for social change