Heinrich von Kleist Biography

Dromo's Den

KLEIST, Heinbich von (1777–1811). A talented German dramatist, born in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, Oct. 18, 1777, the son of a Prussian officer. Left an orphan at 11, he entered the army at 16; left it in 1799; studied history, literature, and philosophy; obtained a civil post which he lost after the battle of Jena (1806); and during the next five years; in an environment of literary indifference and national disgrace, produced several dramas of great merit and greater promise. The full realization of his powers he denied himself and Germany by killing Henriette Vogel, the wife of a Berlin merchant, and himself by a mutual agreement. The tragedy took place at Wannsee, near Potsdam, Nov. 21, 1811. Kleist's dramas still hold the stage. Der zerbrochene Krug (1811), portraying German village life, is regarded by many as the best one-act comedy in German. Noteworthy also are his tragedies, Die Familie Schroffenstein (1803), Amphitryon (1807), Penthesilea (1808), and the posthumously printed Prinz von Homburg (1821), the romantic drama Käthchen von Heilbronn (1810), and the patriotic Hermannsschlacht (1821). Kleist wrote also a volume of Erzählungen (1810-11), among them the masterly story Michael Kohlhaas (1810); a few poems; and parts of another tragedy, Robert Guiscard. Kleist's fame ripened slowly. During his lifetime only Der zerbrochene Krug and Käthchen von Heilbronn were put on the stage. He emulated Shakespeare and the Greeks. His Works were first collected incompletely (3 vols., Berlin, 1826).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 283.