SOURCE: Madland, Helga Stipa. “Lenz and the Question of Madness.” In Image and Text: J. M. R. Lenz, pp. 1-16. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi, 1994.

In the following essay, Madland considers whether or not Lenz suffered from schizophrenia or another sickness, or whether he feigned illness. She also contends that Georg Büchner's fictional account of Lenz's madness is granted too much credence.

“Lenz lenzelt noch bei mir.”¹

Of all the events in Lenz's personal and literary life, it was his January 1778 mental breakdown that left the deepest imprint on literary history. All biographical accounts mention this unfortunate incident, and many report that Lenz was mentally ill during the remainder of his life. Yet the most influential document on which literary history has based its perception of Lenz's madness is neither a report by a contemporary observer of the sick Lenz, nor Lenz's own description of his illness, nor an...