Heinrich von Kleist Books

Kleist is the great, dark shadow of the German literary world. Born into a military Prussian family, he chose a literary career over the glory, order and ritual of his ancestors. He became a poet instead of an officer. He wandered from city to city, in search of a home, of solitude, a place to cultivate himself and his literary talents. He worried his friends with his demonic thoughts on suicide. He had a morose character and yet he was equally passionate. Stefan Zweig suggested he suffered from being continually extreme in everything he did, "always the superlative".

This collection of stories is not to be dismissed. "Michael Kohlhaas" is perhaps the quintessential piece; a tale of revenge and the price of vengeance, it is a universal story, appealing to our earthly desire for an "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth". Kleist creates a world of corruption of conflict. The reader wants revenge for the protagonist but how far can one man go to attain justice? What does he lose, what does he gain?

"The Earthquake in Chile" is another disturbing tale. In the wake of a natural disaster, we learn nothing changes the minds and mindsets of people. The earth shakes but the evil of humankind remains deeply rooted.

"The Betrothal in Santo Domingo" - One could see it as the companion piece to the above. In a world of war and rebellion, who can one trust?

"The Beggarwoman of Locarno" is perhaps the most subtle and haunting of ghost stories. Not only does it revel in the mysterious but it is a morality tale revealing the foibles and flaws of a darkened human spirit.

Kleist never became a high ranking officer in the Prussian military but he saw the world falling apart all around him. His stories are a reflection of the dark times he witnessed within his time and within his psyche.

These stories by Heinrich Von Kleist give great meaning to the adjective "Kleistian".

His prose is almost poetry and every sentence can be a roller coaster of intensity: from the Duke who in the matter of a line or two, goes from being on top of the world, to an arrow "pierc[ing] him just below the breastbone"; from Jeronimo Rugera who is a just about to hang himself in a Chilean prison until a whole city shakes in an earthquake and his fate changes forever. From the Justice of Michael Kohlhaas, to the thieves and miscreants who conspire against the church of St. Cecilia, who are brought to their knees by the power of the organ- these are stories of fate.

And that fate comes swiftly and blindsides the reader with confounding emotions and a new insight into a world turned upside down. This work was probably a product of Heinrich Von Kleist's own life of highs and lows, and the brilliance in between.

Buy the book, read these stories, you will come away spinning... but enlightened.

I absolutely refuse to believe that I am the first person to review this book. It being one of the most innovative and (truly) groundbreaking collection of short stories in the German literary canon, and influencing massively such big shots (probably with lots more reviews) as Kafka and Deleuze, you will forgive a little cognitive dissonance on my part. So, that being noted, I'll just reiterate what all the other reviewers have already said:
Kleist balances on a fragile strand of (in)sanity that slides lengthwise throughout these stories, not a one of them failing to reinvent the wheel--not only formally but substantively, as it behooves us readers to admit on the double. Don't let the cover fool you either... I did, for a long time, and there should be a dead lady's freaked-out ghost surrounded by three brothers with empty eyes, chanting the 'gloria in excelsis,' all backed by a burning castle with mutilated horses. I'm referring specifically to three stories in this collection---and only three---but there are far more mind-benders, crude and massive explosions of language, and just ouright amazing plots to all of them, that my skimpy comments can do no sort of justice to them. But that's o.k., because you can look at all the other reviewers for more informative responses.
Truly disturbing, truly maddening, truly genius. Kleist notoriously blew his brains out in 1811, after shooting another woman in an altogether fitting (yes, fitting...read and see why) suicide pact formed by Kleist in order to stick one last finger up at the world that had robbed him of his "lifeplan" as a rational youth. The world, that is, responsible for his "madness" (yeah right) and these stories, which clearly many of us have taken great pleasure in absorbing. The world, responsible for his funked up play Penthilesia, which Goethe avoided like the plauge, and for which Kleist had to be physically restrained from challenging the man to a duel.
If so many people hadn't reviewed this already, I tell you, I may have agreed with him about this absurd world. Thank God he was wrong!

RE Tieck: Stupendous masterpieces !!!! Tieck's Phantasus, wow !!! Ludwig Tieck is a genius of highest order - this stuff is supreme German gothic dark romantic. Mind-boggling & spirit crushing hard-core stories that delve darkly into the unconscious; paranoia, retribution, the mind-destroying power of nature, dreams, spells of enchantment, madness...
Exquisite dark words of magic and vision; insane depth hidden, disguised as "fairy-tales" !!
Highly unique; pure genius !!!, A hundred million stars....
(unfortunately I don't speak German; Tieck's works are so hard to find in English - I had to search through obscure translations of out of print books in libraries to find some of his tales. What atrocity, what shame, what crime !!!! Translators from German, translate all Tieck's works to English (and all other languages), his tales are world heritage !!! ...in the meanwhile, my fellow seekers, find a copy of Thomas Carlyle's German translations & check out "The Trusty Eckart"...)

Also Heinrich von Kleist & E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Get everything from all these three guys you can find...
You won't regret it. (you won't find "complete works" published in English & sadly there is plenty of neglected gems - e.g. I found Hoffmann's "The Story of Serapion" (wow!!!) in an out-of-print collection called "Great Short Stories of the World"... Also out-of-print is "An Abyss Deep Enough": Kleist's letters & anecdotes; definitelly worth checking out... )

...
I wonder what happened in Germany at that time?? I mean, such splendid dazzling brilliance !!!! What were these guys smoking ???
How could they write such lucid & vivid narrative prose, and with such merciless & brutal intensity, reminiscent of LSD-induced revelations ???
Wow !!

Michael Saidak

I have an obession with this moment in cultural history. Unfortunately, I do not speak German, so a lot of the goodies I crave can be hard to come by... As for this little book, the Kleist stories are pretty available, and Hoffmann isn't too too difficult to find, although I, for one, hadn't read these particular stories. It was the Tieck that attracted me to this book, and boy, they are goodies. Anyway, if you are curious about this sort of lore, this is a great place to start, it's diverse and still gives you a general idea of what these kooks were up to. The intro is helpful for the uninitiated, as well. And for advanced players, you get Tieck, who is rarely translated into English for those of us who are too lazy to learn German. If you like moody-gloom 19th Century cheeze, you'll love this stuff, trust me.

I got the book fairly quickly and was happy that it was in perfect condition. Overall I am very happy with my purchase.

The eminent modern story of a man who suffers injustice, and takes the law in his own hands to do himself justice, for the man who did him wrong, has friends in high places.
He seeks revenge by establishing a private army, gets the support of the population and becomes a threat for the whole establishment. The outcome is brutal.

The story develops as an unstoppable stream of first, verbal, then, violent clashes.
Kleist cleverly heightens the tension by using sophisticated legal advisers (Luther) and coincidences.

A compelling read about the theme 'justice/injustice'.