The Origin of German Tragic Drama (German: Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels) was the postdoctoral major academic work (habilitation) submitted by Walter Benjamin to the University of Frankfurt in 1925, having been initially conceived in 1916 and embarked upon in the summer of 1923, though it was not published until 1928. The book is a study of German drama during the baroque period and was meant to earn Benjamin the qualification of university instructor. Warned of the certainty of the work’s rejection, Benjamin withdrew it from consideration. In spite of this early rejection, the book was rediscovered in the second half of the 20th century and has come to be considered a highly influential piece of philosophical and literary criticism. Source: Wikipedia (en)