Spartakus Lessing

Through the analysis of one of Heiner Müller's most enigmatic plays, the essay aims to show how the great German writer developed a radically critical reading of the history of modern German literature and culture. The failure of Lessing's project to compose a tragedy on Spartacus means the interruption of an alternative line of German literature, in which those who were excluded from the official tradition imposed by the dominant culture could have found a voice.