The rehearsal of revolution

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.