Lulu Plays

Two of Wedekind's most seminal plays, &quote;Earth Spirit&quote; and &quote;Pandora's Box&quote; both focus on the actions of the young heroine Lulu, who embodies both animal sensuality and waif-like innocence, as she escapes a life on the streets, receives a society education, marries, takes on various lovers, becomes a dancer in a revue, is imprisoned for murder, and encounters Jack the Ripper. When &quote;Earth Spirit&quote; was premiered Leipzig in 1898, Wedekind was vilified and persecuted for advocating unfeigned sexual pleasure and making his heroine a heartless whore. &quote;Death and Devil&quote; and &quote;Castle Wetterstein,&quote; the other plays that make up this volume, are essentially extensions of and complementary to the Lulu tragedies.