Heinrich von Kleist

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...By his own admission Kleist acknowledges this as a reworking of the Moliere play. It is not as funny as Kleist’s other comedy “The Broken Jug” but nevertheless addresses Kleist’s favourite topic of the crisis of knowledge which arose out of his apathy to Kantian philosophy. It concerns Jupiter and Mercury who disguise themselves as the servant and lover of Alkmene on earth and attempt to seduce her. The result is a destabilising of human identity and knowledge which, like a comedy of errors, produces comic situations. It is entertaining but a little too close to his philosophical ideas to be a deeply rewarding read.... Read review

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...This is one of Kleist’s later narratives and one of his least shocking. The medieval tale concerns a duel between where one man nearly dies and the other is merely scratched. As time rolls on the scratch turns into a lethal infection and this character justly dies and the other miraculously recovers from his serious injuries. The people see this as a sign of God justly presiding over the duel, but Kleist highlights this as merely a random occurrence and thereby shows the people, who fated with an arbitrary event, seek to justify it by assigning God to it.... Read review

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...The story opens with a marchioness publishing a newspaper article saying that she is pregnant and she knows not by whom. Kleist then goes on to explain that she was saved in war from being raped by a band of Turks by a Russian soldier, she consequently fainted. It turns out that he raped her whilst she was passed out. The Russian count eventually comes forward and they have a happy family afterwards. Kleist shows here how a man can be both chivalrous and treacherous in the same moment. The story is a little long but still has a pleasantly surprising twist in the tail. One of the favourite’s for Kleist scholars.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful