Heinrich Leopold Wagner's play
Die Kindermörderin[
The Child Murderess, 1776] is one of the more important examples of
bürgerliches Trauerspiel(domestic tragedy), especially because of its controversial reception history that sheds light on the German literary scene in the 1770s. Printed anonymously in the same year that two other
Sturm und Drangtragedies were published – J. M. R. Lenz'
Die Soldaten[
The Soldiers] and F. M. Klinger's
Die Zwillinge[
The Twins] –
Die Kindermörderingave rise to half a dozen reprints and a substantially revised version for the Berlin stage, before Wagner put his name to the title page (1777). Until this point, rumor had it that Lenz was the play's author since he had treated the very same theme – the seduction of a middle-class girl by an officer…
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Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Die Kindermörderin". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21644, accessed 21 November 2024.]
