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Encyclopedia entry: Kleist, (Bernd Wilhelm) Heinrich Von
- Article from:
- The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
- Author:
Copyright© The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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Kleist, (Bernd Wilhelm) Heinrich Von
(1777–1811), German dramatist, born into a Prussian military family, who was himself in the army and saw active service. In 1799 he resigned his commission in order to devote himself to literature and philosophy; but he failed to achieve his ambitions and committed suicide. His first play,
Die Familie Schroffenstein
(1804), was a
fate drama
involving the destruction of two feuding families;
Die Hermannsschlacht
, a patriotic drama written in 1808 but not performed until 1871, dealt with the defeat of the Romans by Arminius, and was intended to serve as a warning to Napoleon;
Penthesilea
, written at about the same time and produced in a shortened ...