Georg Büchner

Born Oct. 17, 1813, in Goddelau; died Feb. 19, 1837, in Zürich. German writer. Son of a doctor; brother of the philosopher L. Büchner.

At the universities of Strasbourg and Giessen, where he studied medicine and natural science, Büchner became fascinated with the ideas of the Great French Revolution and Utopian socialism. While a member of the revolutionary Society of the Rights of Man, Büchner enlisted peasants and artisans into the organization. The words “Peace to the huts, war on the palaces!” that open The Hessian Provincial Deputy, a proclamation Büchner wrote in 1834, were heard for the first time in Germany. After the organization was disbanded, Büchner lectured at the University of Zürich. Büchner’s first work is a realistic drama Danton’s Death (1835), in which the French Revolution is shown in its historical greatness and contradictions. The comedy Leonce and Lena, which was published in 1839, combines mild humor with irate satire directed toward the German dwarf states. In his best play, Woyzeck (1837), Büchner showed the social oppression and the awakening of class consciousness among the working people. The short story Lenz (1839) expresses Büchner’s aesthetic views. Although he was a materialist with regard to his world view, he opposed Schiller’s idealization of images and his romantic subjectivism.