Georg Büchner, Woyzeck

Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.4.1: German-language Writing and Culture: Germany, 500-present.
Vol. editors: Gerhard P. Knapp (University of Utah), Jennifer Marston William (Purdue University), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jill E. Twark (East Carolina University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1836 - 1837

Places

Germany (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

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Woyzeck

(the title was supplied by later editors) was most likely begun in summer of 1836 when Büchner lived in exile in Strasbourg. Upon the author's death in 1837, the text remained unfinished. The four extant drafts (the exact sequence of the manuscripts has been much debated in research) are sufficient for performance and reading. They were first published in 1878 in a flawed edition as “Wozzeck”, a performance arrangement was premiered in 1913.

Woyzeck

is considered the seminal and foremost social drama in German literature and altogether Büchner's most influential work. It had an enormous impact on Naturalism, Expressionism and on many modernist and post-modernist authors, and it inspired, next to Alban Berg's opera

Wozzeck

, a number of musical adaptations and films.

With his

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2312 words

Citation: Knapp, Gerhard P.. "Woyzeck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10376, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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