Literary critics have interpreted Georg Buechner over the years as an unflagging revolutionary, closet Christian and extreme nihilist. This study offers readings of his work and argues that Buechner was aesthetically ahead of his time because of his idealist premises and aspirations.

Unflagging revolutionary, closet Christian, extreme nihilist? Different periods and critics have interpreted Georg B "uchner in a variety of ways. Although he died when only twenty-three - an age at which Goethe had not yet even written Werther - B "uchner's handful of works count amongst the greatest achievements of modern German writing, and seem to speak with ever greater power and immediacy. This is the first major new study of B "uchner in English for nearly twenty years, and it includes original readings of works such as Dantons Tod , Leonce und Lena , and Woyzeck . Showing the plays in a new light, John Reddick provocatively argues that B "uchner was aesthetically so far ahead of his time mainly because he was seriously behind the times in his essentially idealist premisses and aspirations. Beyond any particular interpretation, however, Reddick seeks above all to make the reader more fully alive to the sheer vitality of B "uchner's extraordinary oeuvre. This book is intended for scholars, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of German literature, especially that of the nineteenth century, and the work of B "uchner.