Heinrich von Kleist facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Heinrich von Kleist
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| Born | Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist 18 October 1777 Frankfurt (Oder), Prussia |
| Died | 21 November 1811 (aged 34) Kleiner Wannsee, Berlin, Prussia |
| Occupation | poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer |
| Nationality | German |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable works | The Broken Jug, The Marquise of O, Michael Kohlhaas, Penthesilea, The Prince of Homburg |
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Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 1777 – 21 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, The Broken Jug, Amphitryon and Penthesilea, and the novellas Michael Kohlhaas and The Marquise of O.
The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him, as was the Kleist Theater in his birthplace Frankfurt an der Oder.
Contents
Life
Kleist was born into the von Kleist family in Frankfurt an der Oder in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. After a scanty education, he entered the Prussian Army in 1792, served in the Rhine campaign of 1796, and retired from the service in 1799 with the rank of lieutenant. He studied law and philosophy at the Viadrina University, and in 1800, a subordinate post in the Ministry of Finance at Berlin.
In the following year, Kleist's roving restless spirit got the better of him, and procuring a lengthened leave of absence, he visited Paris, then settled in Switzerland. There, he found congenial friends in Heinrich Zschokke and Ludwig Wieland (1777–1819), son of the poet Christoph Martin Wieland; and to them, he read his first drama, a gloomy tragedy, The Schroffenstein Family (1803).
In the autumn of 1802, Kleist returned to Germany; he visited Goethe, Schiller, and Wieland in Weimar, stayed for a while in Leipzig and Dresden, returned to Paris. Returning in 1804 to his post in Berlin, he transferred to the Domänenkammer (department for the administration of crown lands) at Königsberg. On a journey to Dresden in 1807, Kleist was arrested by the French as a spy; he remained a close prisoner of France in the Fort de Joux. On regaining his liberty, he proceeded to Dresden, where, in conjunction with Adam Heinrich Müller (1779–1829), he published the journal Phöbus in 1808.
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In 1809 Kleist went to Prague, and ultimately settled in Berlin. He edited (1810/1811) the Berliner Abendblätter.
Literary works
His first tragedy was The Schroffenstein Family (Die Familie Schroffenstein). The material for the second, Penthesilea (1808), queen of the Amazons, is taken from a Greek source. More successful than either of these was his romantic play, Käthchen of Heilbronn (Das Käthchen von Heilbronn) (1808), which retained its popularity for many years.
In comedy, Kleist made a name with The Broken Jug (Der zerbrochne Krug) (1808), while Amphitryon (1808), an adaptation of Molière's comedy, received critical acclaim long after his death. Of Kleist's other dramas, Die Hermannsschlacht (1809) is a dramatic work of anti-Napoleonic propaganda, written as Austria and France went to war. It has been described by Carl Schmitt as the "greatest partisan work of all time". In it he gives vent to his hatred of his country's oppressors. This, together with the drama The Prince of Homburg (Prinz Friedrich von Homburg oder die Schlacht bei Fehrbellin), which is among his best works, was first published by Ludwig Tieck in Kleist's Hinterlassene Schriften (1821). Robert Guiskard, a drama conceived on a grand plan, was left a fragment.
Kleist was also a master in the art of narrative, and of his Gesammelte Erzählungen (Collected Short Stories) (1810–1811), Michael Kohlhaas, in which the famous Brandenburg horse dealer in Martin Luther's day is immortalized, is one of the best German stories of its time. The Earthquake in Chile (Das Erdbeben in Chili) and St. Cecilia, or the Power of Music (Die heilige Cäcilie oder die Gewalt der Musik) are also fine examples of Kleist's story telling as is The Marquise of O (Die Marquise von O). His short narratives influenced those of Kafka and the novellas of the Austrian writer Friedrich Halm. He also wrote patriotic lyrics in the context of the Napoleonic Wars.
Philosophical essays
Kleist is also famous for his essays on subjects of aesthetics and psychology.
Death
Kleist died together with his lover, Henriette Vogel, who was terminally ill, on 21 November 1811.
Works
- 1803-1807: Der zerbrochne Krug
- 1807: Amphitryon
- 1807: Das Erdbeben in Chili
- 1808: Die Marquise von O....
- 1808: Die Hermannsschlacht
- 1808: Penthesilea
- 1808: Das Käthchen von Heilbronn or Die Feuerprobe.
- 1810: Das Bettelweib von Locarno
- 1810: Die heilige Cäcilie oder die Gewalt der Musik. Eine Legende
- 1810: Über das Marionettentheater
- 1811: Der Findling
Adaptations
Operas
- Der Prinz von Homburg (1960), composed by Hans Werner Henze
- Der zerbrochne Krug (1968/69), composed by Fritz Geißler
- Penthesilea (1927), composed by Othmar Schoeck
- Penthesilea (2015), composed by Pascal Dusapin
Films
- Wie zwei fröhliche Luftschiffer (Like Two Merry Aeronauts, 1969), 85 min; written and directed by Jonatan Briel; DFFB Production. The film depicts the last three days of Kleist's life.
- Michael Kohlhaas – der Rebell (1969), directed by Volker Schlöndorff
- San Domingo (1970), directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
- Earthquake in Chile (1975), directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms
- The Marquise of O (1976), directed by Éric Rohmer based on Kleist's Die Marquise von O
- Heinrich (1977), directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms; about the author
- Ragtime (1981), directed by Miloš Forman and based on a novel of the same title by E. L. Doctorow; contains a subplot which follows closely the story of Michael Kohlhaas
- Heinrich Penthesilea von Kleist (1983), directed by Hans Neuenfels; intercuts rehearsals and discussions of that play
- Die Familie oder Schroffenstein (1984), directed by Hans Neuenfels
- Il principe di Homburg (1997), an Italian adaptation of Prinz Friedrich von Homburg oder die Schlacht bei Fehrbellin directed by Marco Bellocchio
- The Jack Bull (1999), directed by John Badham; loosely based on Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas
- Il seme della discordia (2008), directed by Pappi Corsicato; a modern Italian adaptation of Kleist's Die Marquise von O
- Kohlhaas oder die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Mittel (2012), a German film directed by Aron Lehmann; loosely based on Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas.
- Amour Fou (2014), directed by Jessica Hausner, nominated in the Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival 2014, with Christian Friedel playing Heinrich and Birte Schnoeink playing Henriette. The film purports that Henriette does not in fact suffer from any type of tumour but that her symptoms have psychological causes.
- Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2014), directed by Arnaud des Pallières; with Mads Mikkelsen as Kohlhaas
Images for kids
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Kleist Monument in Frankfurt (Oder)
See also
In Spanish: Heinrich von Kleist para niños
