A Companion to the Works of Heinrich von Kleist (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1571131779 ISBN 13: 9781571131775

Publisher: Camden House, 2003

Synopsis

For over 150 years, Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) has been one of the most widely read and performed German authors. His status in the literary canon is firmly established, but he has always been one of Germany's most contentiously discussed authors. Today's critical debate on his unique prose narratives and dramas is as heated as ever. Many critics regard Kleist as a lone presager of the aesthetics and philosophies of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century modernism. Yet there can be no question that he responds in his works and letters to the philosophical, aesthetic, and political debates of his time. During the last thirty years, the scholarship on Kleist's work and life has departed from the existentialist wave of the 1950s and early 1960s and opened up new avenues for coming to terms with his unusual talent. The present volume brings together the most important and innovative of these newer scholarly approaches: the essays include critically informed, up-to-date interpretations of Kleist's most-discussed stories and dramas. Other contributions analyze Kleist's literary means and styles and their theoretical underpinnings. They include articles on Kleist's narrative and theatrical technique, poetic and aesthetic theory, philosophical and political thought, and insights from new biographical research. Contributors: Jeffrey L. Sammons, Jost Hermand, Anthony Stephens, Bianca Theisen, Hinrich C. Seeba, Bernhard Greiner, Helmut J. Schneider, Tim Mehigan, Susanne Zantop, Hilda M. Brown, and Seán Allan. Bernd Fischer is Professor of German and Head of the Department of German at Ohio State University.

About this title

About the Author:

Professor and Chair of German, Ohio State University.

Review:

This volume... succeeds in providing insight into the rich complexity of Kleist's writings and ... bears testimony to the continued relevance of his oeuvre today. GERMAN QUARTERLY This volume is a stimulating study that contains much that will arouse the reader's interest and that promises to pave the way for further exciting probes into Kleist's remarkable contemporary oeuvre. SEMINAR

About this edition

• Publisher: Camden House
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1571131779
• ISBN 13: 9781571131775
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264
• Editor: Fischer Bernd