The Rehearsal of Revolution: Georg Büchner's Politics and His Drama Dantons Tod

Front Cover
P. Lang, 1995 - History - 214 pages
Georg Büchner was one of the most radical revolutionaries of his time, but his drama Dantons Tod is often interpreted as an expression of political disillusionment because of its focus on the corruption and collapse of the French Revolution. This study shows that the failure of the French Revolution was a central theme of ideological controversy amongst the increasingly communist-orientated French republicans of the early 1830s. In the context of Büchner's close relationship with this movement, Dantons Tod is seen as a distinctive contribution to the doctrinal and operational debate on the extreme left. This book demonstrates how Büchner's dramatization of history served to develop and clarify his own revolutionary perspectives, not to put them in doubt.

From inside the book

Contents

Providence and HeroWorship
22
Living History
34
The Student of Revolution
46
Copyright

7 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1995)

The Author: Terence Michael Holmes (born 1942) studied at the University of Southampton and has been a Lecturer in German at the University of Wales, Swansea since 1966. His publications include articles on Goethe, Schiller, Keller, and Brecht, as well as a series of contributions to the Georg Büchner Jahrbuch.