Introduction: Political Readings of Die Räuber

IN ACT 1, SCENE 2 OF Schiller's Die Räuber, Roller, a member of the wouldbe robber band, responds to Spiegelberg's recruitment plan with one of his own:

It might seem odd that a band that will shortly cast its social lot in favor of robbery, rape, and murder would consider professional paperback or almanac writing. And Roller's proposal may be a joking reply to Spiegelberg's animated enthusiasm, but Spiegelberg refers to it again soon thereafter. It would seem that Roller's idea is more than a mere robber witticism. In fact, the passage—in particular the Latinate import “rezensiertet” as a “Mode”—points to tectonic shifts in publishing, the public sphere, and civil society that were afoot at the time of Schiller's famous play, written in 1781 and premiering in 1782. Roller's proposal deliberately references social and political changes that both circulate around the play and are articulated by it. Such references link the robber band to emergent social and political categories that underpin much of the play's action.