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The Plays of Heinrich von Kleistby Sian Allan |
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Cambridge University Press, 1996
Hardback. ISBN: 0521495113
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. Séan 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 summarising 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.
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