The Georg B羹chner Prize is the highest literary honor for German language writers, and the full extent of B羹chner's influence��rom Gerhardt Hauptmann to Christa Wolf, Max Reinhardt to Robert
Wilson, Alban Berg to Tom Waits��efies cataloging.
When Georg B羹chner died in 1837 at the age of twenty-three, he left behind a small and heterogenous body of work, most of it unpublished: three plays, a novella, a political pamphlet, a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 B羹chner's introduction to On Cranial Nerves. Each text is accompanied by explanatory annotations.
The editor's introduction examines the complexities of B羹chner's short life and how they informed his writing. The volume also contains ten illustrations.
��ontexts��includes B羹chner's correspondence with the people who knew him best, impressions of B羹chner from a fellow medical student, excerpts from B羹chner's diary, the wanted poster calling
for B羹chner's arrest for political conspiracy as well as the real-life inspirations his novella, Lenz, and his best-known play, Woyzeck.
For ease of reference, ��riticism��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 Danton's Death are reprinted, including John Houseman's remarks on Orson Welles's staging. Finally, the
speeches of four winners of the Georg Bu穡chner Prize��aul Celan, Christa Wolf, Heiner M羹ller, and Durs Gr羹nbein��re reprinted in their entirety.
A Chronology of B羹chner's life and work and a Selected Bibliography are also included.
