Novellen heinrich von kleist biography

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (October 18, 1777 – November 21, 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, and short story writer. He was the first among the great German dramatists of the nineteenth century. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.

A reading of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, which systematized the epistemological doubt of Rene Descartes, throwing into doubt the certainty of human knowledge, caused Kleist to abandon the rationalism of the Enlightenment in favor of emotionalism.

Heinrich von Kleist - New World Encyclopedia

In this regard, Kleist was a precursor to Romanticism. He had the Romantics' predisposition toward extreme states of consciousness; his works were a precursor to those of Sigmund Freud and the unconscious.

Life

Kleist was born of aristocratic descent at Frankfurt an der Oder, on October 18, 1777. After a scanty education, he entered the Pru Heinrich von Kleist - Textarchiv RIM