| Description |
Georg Büchner's oeuvre contains an extraordinary number of biblical quotations. Although previous research has traced the origins of various quotations and analyzed the contextualization of select quotations, a comprehensive investigation of the author's employment of biblical quotations is still lacking. In this study biblical quotations throughout Büchner's oeuvre are identified chronologically, classified according to their function (support or introduce an argument, aesthetically enhance the text, or function as self-referential elements) and type (direct, modified, indirect quotation or allusion), and examined in the context of each individual work. As became evident in the earlier stages of research for this study, the utilization of biblical quotations in Der Hessische Landbote, the author's first text and an unintentional collaboration with Friedrich Ludwig Weidig, follows a distinct pattern. First, biblical allusions demonstrate the people's socioeconomic division, then they create both a Christ- and an Anti-Christ figure, and finally, they advocate political change in form of a violent revolution. As this study from there on demonstrates, each of Büchner's subsequent texts utilizes a variation of this general pattern of biblical quotation employment modified to fit its genre, its aesthetics, and its particular strategy. Consequently, the divisions of mankind demonstrated may be - depending upon the text - political, psychological or even physical, there may be a Christ-figure, an Anti-Christ figure or both, and the resulting call for change may be political, social, or economic. It is shown that this tripartite pattern of biblical quotation employment evolved considerably throughout Büchner's oeuvre, mirroring the author's own evolving reception of the contemporary debate between an emerging materialist philosophy and the prevailing idealist discourse in philosophy and in science. This broader study of biblical quotations - demonstrating the repeated division of mankind, the introduction of a Christ-figure, and the call for social change - reveals both the author's consistent adherence to a pattern - despite diverse genres and themes - and his ability to utilize the Bible's versatility to fit each particular genre and theme. |
