The study proceeds on the following premise: in his apprentice years (1963-1975) the young Botho Strauß (b. 1944) elaborated a poetics centering around historical theatre reality and focussing on a reflective linguistic critique of the ideologies and epistemologies operative between public and mass media in the context of the student revolution. The discussion traces the development of the student Botho Strauß with reference to examples of his narrative prose (1963), theatre criticism (1967-1970), and dramaturgic writing (1970-1975). In so doing it charts his progress from student prose-writer to theatre critic, theatre critic to dramatic adviser, and finally from dramatic adviser to freelance writer.