Christian Dietrich Grabbe

Christian Dietrich Grabbe , 1801-36, German dramatist and journalist. Critical of "Shakespearomania," Grabbe strove for a national German drama and wrote original, poetic historical tragedies. Hannibal (1835) and Hermannsschlacht [Hermann's battle] (1838) depict the genial individual shattered by others' lack of understanding. Napoleon (1831), Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung (1822; tr. Comedy, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning, 1955), and Don Juan und Faust (1829) are among his other notable works.

Bibliography: See studies by R. A. Nicholl (1969) and C. D. Grabbe (1972).

Grabbe, Christian Dietrich (1801–36), German poet and dramatist who with Büchner was the most notable playwright associated with the ‘Young Germany’ movement in the early 19th century. His grotesque satirical play Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung (Joke, Satire, Irony, and Deeper Significance), written in 1822 but not produced until 1892, is now seen as a forerunner of the Theatre of the Absurd. The first of his plays to be produced was the ambitious Don Juan und Faust (1829), in which he strove to emulate both Mozart and Goethe; it has some striking scenes, as has his Napoleon (1835) which, though consisting of little more than a series of sketches loosely strung together in the style of the Sturm und Drang movement, was the first German drama in which the mob was the main character. Grabbe left several unfinished plays and his Hermannschlacht, written in 1836, was not produced for 100 years; he led an unhappy, harassed life and died young. He was later made the hero of a play, Der Einsame (The Lonely One, 1925) by Hanns Johst.