Bøger af Georg Büchner

"Georg Büchner's three surviving dramatic texts show the playwright wrestling with divergent styles in a struggle to convey his bleak worldview. …Sean Graney reveal[s] much the same process. Both artists want to build on centuries-old theatrical traditions yet shred the niceties of conventional theater to expose life's raw nerves… …Graney exploits his trademark techniques-stark design, inflated acting, self-reflexive presentation-to create an explosive, richly unpleasant affair.… Büchner poured every ounce of his cynicism into Prince Leonce, whose absurd battle with boredom fuels LEONCE UND LENA. Leonce can find nothing better to do with his days than spit on a rock 365 times in a row, convinced that human beings `fall in love, marry, and multiply out of boredom, and finally they die out of boredom.' His childish father has betrothed him to the Princess Lena, a plan that will greatly interfere with Leonce's commitment to idleness.… Since Büchner is satirizing the theatrical conventions of his day, she's earnestly trying to become a fairy-tale princess, spouting poetic rhapsodies about flowers and dragonflies-while wrestling with the realization that `there are people who are unhappy, incurably so, simply because they exist.' For this play Büchner drew heavily on the conventions of commedia dell'arte, then a nearly 300-year-old tradition of stock rustic characters in cartoonish, often ribald situations. Graney transforms the genre into menacing farce, inflating the characters' passions to such volatile extremes that they often quake as though ready to explode." Justin Hayford, The Chicago Reader

Dantons død udspiller sig i et par uger op til Dantons henrettelse den 5. april 1794. Rædselsherredømmet i Paris og rivaliseringen mellem to af revolutionens førere, Robespierre og Danton, er på sit højeste.Stykket stiller det endnu aktuelle spørgsmål: hvor meget frihed skal der ofres i lighedens navn? Robespierre hævder, at alle mennesker er lige, og mener, at det er legitimt at henrette enhver, der står i vejen for dette højere mål, mens Danton er desillusioneret over de barbariske tilstande, som er resultatet af den revolution, der begyndte med så høje og idealistiske mål. Han tror modsat Robespierre, at det er på tide at standse blodsudgydelser og skabe en ny samfundsorden, hvor enhver kan leve i fred og passe sit eget. Men han er et nemt offer for Robespierre og det letfængelige folk: han har penge, og lever tilbagetrukkent i luksus og foretrækker at tilbringe tiden med skøger og spil fremfor at deltage i det politiske liv og han og hans tilhængere bliver efter en summarisk og illusorisk rettergang guillotineret sammen med flere af sine tilhængere den 5. april 1794.Georg Büchner (1813-1837) nåede kun at gøre Dantons død, det første af hans skuespil, færdigt inden sin tidlige død som 23-årig. Alligevel nåede han at sætte sine spor i verdenslitteraturen med dette skuespil og det ufuldendte Woyzeck. Begge opføres stadig over hele verden, for de spørgsmål, de behandler, er stadig aktuelle.

With its hair-raising on-rush of scenes and vivid dramatisation of complex, visionary characters, Danton's Death has a claim to be the greatest political tragedy ever written.

Buchner is often considered the father of modern German drama, and "Woyzeck"was his most influential work. Beneath the utter simplicity of itsbasic story, there are complex themes of human motivation, victimisation, guilt, class, and the meaning and nature ofexistence. This edition incorporates recent research and full Introduction and Notes."

Few writers have transformed literature and theater so dramatically. Based on Henry J. Schmidt's translations of The Hessian Messenger, Danton's Death, Lenz, Leonce and Lena, and Woyzeck.

George Duchner died in 1837 at a tragically early age, and his three works for the stage remained virtually unknown for half a century. Today all three, especially Danton''s Death, his great play about the French Revolution are performed regularly. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The complete collection of Buchner's plays in one volume

The NHB Drama Classics series presents the world's greatest plays in affordable, highly readable editions for students, actors and theatregoers. The hallmarks of the series are accessible introductions (focussing on the play's theatrical and historical background, together with an author biography, key dates and suggestions for further reading) and the complete text, uncluttered with footnotes. The translations, by leading experts in the field, are accurate and above all actable. The editions of English-language plays include a glossary of unusual words and phrases to aid understanding.Woyzeck is one of the most performed and influential plays in German theatre. A modern classic that remains frighteningly relevant today.Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is bullied by his superiors and starved by the regiment's doctor in the name of scientific experiment. His only pleasures in life are his lover Marie and their innocent young son. But when Woyzeck learns that Marie has been unfaithful with the regiment's handsome Drum Major, he murders his lover in a fit of rage and hopelessness.Based on a real-life murder trial that took place in Germany in the 1820s, the play was written in 1837 but not staged until 1913.This edition, translated by Gregory Motton, includes an introduction by Kenneth McLeish, a chronology and suggestions for further reading.

Collected in this volume are powerful dramas and psychological fiction by the nineteenth-century iconoclast now recognized as a major figure of world literature. Also included are selections from B chner's letters and philosophical writings.