The Plays of Heinrich von Kleist: Ideals and Illusions

by Seán Allan

• ISBN13: 9780521025041
• ISBN10: 0521025044
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a new and accessible study of the plays of Kleist (1777'1811), who ranks with Goethe and Schiller amongst nineteenth-century authors and who has been a major influence on contemporary German writers. Seán Allan examines Kleist's critique of the aspirations of both Enlightenment and Romantic metaphysics, notably his suggestion that the pursuit of 'transcendent' ideals of perfection constitutes a formidable obstacle to genuine progress in human affairs. In so doing, he offers resolutions of a number of long-running controversies in Kleist criticism, as well as summarizing the state of research on all the plays. The book includes discussion of two plays usually neglected by scholars - Das Käthchen von Heilbronn and Die Hermannsschlacht. All quotations are given in both German and English and full references are given to published English translations of Kleist's works as well as to the German originals.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
A note on the translations	x
Abbreviations	xi
Chronology of Kleist's life and works	xiv
1 Introduction
I THE YOUNG KLEIST	13	(64)
2 The quest for 'Glück'	15	(37)
3 Die Familie Schroffenstein	52	(25)
II VIRTUE ASSAILED	77	(62)
4 Der zerbrochne Krug	79	(28)
5 Amphitryon	107	(32)
III FICTIONS OF FEMININITY	139	(58)
6 Penthesilea	141	(37)
7 Das Käthchen von Heilbronn	178	(19)
IV KLEIST AND THE NATIONAL QUESTION	197	(73)
8 Die Hermannsschlacht	199	(24)
9 Prinz Friedrich von Homburg	223	(37)
10 Conclusions	260	(10)
Notes	270	(32)
Select bibliography	302	(12)
Index	314