The unfortunate Georg Büchner devoted his most important play to the “Woyzeck case”, the story of the Leipzig soldier, barber, maid, bookbinder, and tailor who, in 1821, murdered the woman with whom he lived, although known by the pseudonym Johanna. Widow Woost. The Woyzeck case is not far from the prototype of the infamous man Foucault made, as the pivotal event in the development of German law was the first in procedural history to suggest insanity as a possible mitigation when considering the commission of a crime. It spawned notable manifestations such as Alban Berg’s opera of the same name or Werner Herzog’s film of the same name that would become famous after Discipline and Punish.
Admiration for the character of Woyzeck expands further in W., a novel by Swedish writer Steve Sem-Sandberg about the life of this honest murderer whose existence is halfway between that of the spiritually poor and that of the spiritually poor. Set within the framework of son del arroyo and an ambitious literary revival that deals with both the formal aspects of the process and the rigorous reconstruction of the life of the future that is carried out, it bears witness to an unquestionable interest, not just in content. history, but also in relation to its literary concreteness, it is highly admirable and daring. From this point of view, Sem-Sandberg’s virtue is to transcend the judgmental heart of the hapless Woyzeck, displaying a palette of facts, gestures, and behavior that admirably illuminates the central figure. Thus, at the end of this investigation into the dramatic material conditions of an unfortunate man’s existence, it is not essential that only a causal relationship be established between those circumstances and the act by which Woyzeck was convicted. Sem-Sandberg’s writings shed light on other interests beyond the plausible collusion between misery and disaster, such as the Swedish novelist’s pages devoted to Woyzeck’s experience as a soldier in the Napoleonic wars that shaped moments of undeniable literary greatness.
Undoubtedly the most moving part of the novel lies in Woyzeck’s quest for self-knowledge, his always desperate, confused, and often inconsistent struggle to arrive at a credible diagnosis of his condition as a man in pain. Woyzeck’s dedication to deserving a dignified life, and his ambition to achieve compassion and compassion that are so human, make his figure an admirable work on the tear of a being who is helpless when it comes to intelligence and material goods, so not to those who suffer like him. She lacks compassion, empathy, and a certain talent for beauty. It is here that Sem-Sandberg’s work earns the space it deserves, in this solitary analysis of a wounded person’s privacy.