Quotes from work
Leonce and Lena

Georg Büchner

Leonce and Lena is a play by Georg Büchner which is considered a comedy, but is actually a satire veiled in humor. It was written in the spring of 1836 for a competition 'for the best one- or two-act comedy in prose or verse' sponsored by the Stuttgart publisher Cotta. However, Büchner missed the submission deadline and the play was returned to him unread. It was premiered almost 60 years later, on May 31, 1895, in an outdoor performance by the Munich Company Intimes Theater, directed by Ernst von Wolzogen and with the involvement of Max Halbe and Oskar Panizza, illustrating the fact that Büchner only gained prominence as a writer in the 20th century.

“The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever.”

Georg Büchner Leonce and Lena

Act II.
Leonce and Lena (1838)

“And for tired eyes every light is too bright, and for tired lips every breath too heavy, and for tired ears every word too much.”

Georg Büchner Leonce and Lena

Und müden Augen jedes Licht zu scharf, und müden Lippen jeder Hauch zu schwer, Lächelnd. und müden Ohren jedes Wort zu viel.
Act II.
Leonce and Lena (1838)