The article investigates the previously unresearched work of Daniel Kehlmann. Kehlmann, a renowned contemporary novelist, has written only four plays, making him a novice in the area of drama. Until now, his dramatic endeavours have been rather overlooked by the researchers in theatre studies; yet, his plays fit in the paradigm of the contemporary theatre, for which G. Poschmann suggests the term 'critical use of dramatic form'. This article focuses on Kehlmann's plays Ghosts in Princeton and The Journey of the Lost. Such thematic focus is explained by the fact that the aforementioned plays differ from the rest of Kehlman's dramatic work by the critical use of historical subject matter, thus posing as an organic whole.