Who wrote the two-part Lulu drama Pandora’s Box, first published as a play in 1904?

Frank Wedekind wrote the two-part Lulu drama Pandora’s Box, first published as a play in 1904. It forms the second part of his theatrical treatment of Lulu, following Earth Spirit.

Wedekind was a German playwright whose works often challenged bourgeois morality and conventional sexual attitudes. His Lulu plays center on a socially disruptive woman whose relationships expose hypocrisy, desire, exploitation, and violence.

The drama is connected to the Pandora figure through its themes and title, but it is not an ancient Greek adaptation in plot or setting. Lulu is a modern theatrical character created by Wedekind. The mythological reference functions as a symbolic framework for danger and fascination.

The play later inspired major adaptations, including Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 film Pandora’s Box and Alban Berg’s opera Lulu. Because the film and opera are better known to some audiences, Wedekind is occasionally mistaken for their director or composer rather than their source playwright.