Kleist, Heinrich Von

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).

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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.

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Kleist, Heinrich Von 

Born Oct. 18, 1777, in Frankfurt an der Oder; died Nov. 21, 1811, in Wansee, near Potsdam. German writer.

In the tragedies The Schroffenstein Family (published in 1803), Robert Guiskard (a fragment was preserved), and Penthesilea (1805–07; published in 1808) and in the drama Käthchen of Heilbronn, or Trial by Fire (1807; published in 1810), Kleist sought to combine elements of verisimilitude with the irrational and pathological in the actions of his protagonists. The comedy The Broken Pitcher (published in 1811) contains elements of social satire.

On the eve of the movement of liberation against Napoleon’s France, Kleist turned to national problems in verse, drama (The Warrior’s Battle, 1808; published in 1821), and the pamphlet (The German Catechism, 1809). At the same time, Kleist remained faithful to the Prussia of the Junkers, whose past he glorified in the drama Prince Friedrich of Homburg (1810; published in 1821). Kleist’s Short Stories (1810–11) are tensely dramatic and avoid any romantic idealization of the characters. The most important of the short stories is “Michael Kohlhaas” (1810).

Kleist’s legacy is the focus of pointed ideological debate. Marxist literary scholarship attempts to elucidate the humanistic tendencies characterizing his best works.

WORKS

Werke, vols. 1–2. Weimar, 1961.
In Russian translation:
P’esy. Moscow, 1962.
Dramy, Novelly. Moscow, 1969.

REFERENCES

Mering, F. “Kleist.” In his book Literaturno-kriticheskie stat’i, vol. 1. Moscow-Leningrad, 1934.
Berkovskii, N. Ia. “Kleist.” In the book Nemetskaia romanticheskaia povest’, vol. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1935.
Heinrich von Kleist. Darmstadt, 1967.

L. E. GENIN