Kleist, Heinrich von (hīn`rĭkh fən klīst), 1777–1811, German dramatic poet. He is one of the most evocative and disturbing of the German Romantic writers. Kleist served (1792–99) in the Prussian army and led an unhappy life that ended in suicide. His comedies include Der zerbrochene Krug (1806, tr. The Broken Pitcher, 1961) and Amphitryon (1807), after Molière. Among his passionate tragedies is Penthesilea (1808). Käthchen von Heilbronn (1810) is a tale of chivalry; his masterpiece is The Prince of Homburg, (1821, tr. 1956), a historical tragedy. Kleist's terse, dynamic style and his sense of conflict—between reason and feeling, divine law and human law—are also evident in his novellas. Best known of these is Michael Kohlhaas (1810–11, tr. 1967) and The Marquis of O (1810–11, tr. 1978).

Bibliography

See the biography by J. Maas (1983); studies by W. Silz (1961), J. Gearey (1968), J. M. Ellis (1979).

Kleist, (Bernd) Heinrich (Wilhelm) von

(born Oct. 18, 1777, Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg—died Nov. 21, 1811, Wannsee, near Berlin) German writer. He served seven years in the Prussian army, and his work first attracted attention when he was in prison accused as a spy. The grim and intense drama Penthesilea (1808) contains some of his most powerful poetry, and The Broken Pitcher (1808) is a masterpiece of dramatic comedy; they were followed by Katherine of Heilbronn (1810), Die Hermannsschlacht (1821), and The Prince of Homburg (1821). In 1811 he published a collection of eight masterly novellas, including Michael Kohlhaas, The Earthquake in Chile, and The Marquise of O. Embittered by a lack of recognition, he ended his unhappy life in a joint suicide with a young woman at age 34. He is now considered the first of the great 19th-century German dramatists, and his disturbing and densely written fictions are widely admired by writers.