Georg Buchner

Georg Büchner (October 17, 1813 – February 19, 1837) was a German dramatist, natural scientist, and political revolutionary. His body of work, like his life, is brief but exceptional, and it is greatly respected in Germany and worldwide. Most famous for his unfinished play WOYZECK, which was later to become the libretto for Alban Berg’s atonal opera WOZZECK, Büchner wrote pessimistic, concise prose deeply critical of the contemporary nobility and ruling classes. The son of a physician, Büchner studied natural science. During his studies in Gießen, he established a secret revolutionary society and published a pamphlet on social injustice. To escape arrest, he fled to Strasbourg, where most of his literary output occurred, including his two other plays, DANTONS TOD and LEONCE AND LENA. Büchner died of typhoid shortly after completing his dissertation, leaving behind only three known dramatic works and a short story, "Lenz."