In his lifetime, Christian Dietrich Grabbe made unsuccessful attempts at acting and directing in Berlin, made enemies of poet Heinrich Heine and Romantic writer Ludwig Tieck, held a minor functionary post in his hometown,was unhappily married, was fired from his job for negligence, lived in poverty, made additional influential enemies while attempting to work as a freelance writer, and died young from alcoholism and tuberculosis.
So why recount such a failed existence? Because in addition to what we've enumerated previously, Christian Dietrich Grabbe was a German dramatist whose plays presaged the Expressionism of Brecht and of the early classic films of his native Germany, even though he had lived and died nearly a century earlier.
To find out more, consider buying Christian Dietrich Grabbe: His Life and His Works by Maurice Edwards. It's one of the latest publications from the QCC Art Gallery Press.
