The Marquise of O and Other Stories (34 page)

1777
18 October
: Bernd Wilhelm Heinrich von Kleist is born in Frankfurt-an-der-Oder. He is the eldest son of the military officer (Captain) Joachim Friedrich von Kleist and his second wife Juliane Ulrike von Kleist, née von Pannwitz. Heinrich has four siblings: Friederike, Auguste, Leopold and Juliane; he also has two half-sisters, Wilhelmine and Ulrike, from his father's first marriage. Ulrike (1774–1849) would remain close to him throughout most of his life.

The young Kleist is taught by his private tutor Christian Ernst Martini, who recognizes Kleist's curiosity and intellectual drive. He later describes Heinrich as a ‘nicht zu dämpfenden Feuergeist' (an undampable mind of fire).

1788
18 June
: Death of his father. Heinrich is sent to Berlin, where he is educated together with his cousins Wilhelm von Pannwitz and Ernst von Schönfeld by the Huguenot preacher Samuel Heinrich Catel.

1792
1 June
: Kleist joins the Guard Regiment at Potsdam as a lance-corporal (Gefreiter-Korporal).

1793
3 February
: Death of his mother.

1793–5
Kleist takes part in the Prussian Rhine campaign against Napoleon. In a military camp at Mainz he reads Christoph Martin Wieland's
Sympathies
, a philosophical work which conveys an optimistic Enlightenment world view. Kleist later describes in a letter how he had read Wieland's work with great enthusiasm and that it had had a formative influence on his own idealistic thinking as a young man. Poem:
The Higher Peace
.

1797
7 March
: Promotion to the rank of lieutenant.

1798
Kleist's first piece of philosophical writing,
Essay
concerning the Sure Way to Find Happiness and Enjoy It without Blemish, Even Amid Life's Gravest Tribulations
(for his friend Otto August Rühle von Lilienstern).

1799
After having repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the career of an army officer (cf. his letter to Martini, 18 and 19 March 1799) Kleist voluntarily resigns his commission.

10 April
: Matriculation at the University of Frankfurtan-der-Oder. Until July 1800 Kleist attends lectures on natural law, mathematics, physics, cultural history and Latin.

1800
Engagement to Wilhelmine von Zenge.

August–October
: Journey to Würzburg with his friend Ludwig Brockes. In his letters Kleist makes oblique references to the purpose of this journey, which continues to be a matter of considerable debate among Kleist scholars. For some, Kleist's remarks suggest that he was suffering from phimosis and intended to undergo specialist treatment at Würzburg; others have seen evidence of Kleist's involvement in industrial espionage; others still have supposed that Kleist was seeking contact with the freemasons in an attempt to find support for his further education.

November 1800–March 1801
: Kleist resides in Berlin and takes part in the session of the Technical Deputation, a state-run Prussian institution responsible for overseeing factories and the development of new technology.

1801
‘Kant-Krise' (Kant crisis): In a letter to Wilhelmine von Zenge dated 22 March Kleist expresses a feeling of disillusionment after his encounter with the ‘new so-called Kantian philosophy' (
neuere sogenannte Kantische Philosophie
). He describes himself as having lost his belief in the value of education and knowledge and as suffering from a crisis of uncertainty. Kleist abandons his studies and travels with Ulrike via Dresden to Paris.

July–November
: Ulrike and Kleist stay in Paris. A vivid description of his experiences in Paris can be found in his letter to Luise von Zenge (16 August 1801).

End of November
: Journey to Frankfurt-am-Main, where Kleist and Ulrike part. Kleist continues his journey to Basel and Bern.

1802
Switzerland: From April onwards Kleist lives on the small island of Delosea at Thun in the hope of leading a quiet country life. Wilhelmine cannot be persuaded to join him. Kleist works on his first drama,
The Ghonorez Family
(an early version of
The Schroffenstein Family
). Beginnings of
Guiscard
and
The Broken Jug
.

May
: Kleist breaks off the engagement to Wilhelmine.

July to August
: Stay in Bern. Illness.

October
: Journey to Jena and Weimar together with Ulrike and Ludwig Wieland, the son of Christoph Martin Wieland.

November
: First edition of
The Schroffenstein Family
(anonymously published by Geßner in Bern).

Christmas with the Wieland family in Ossmannstedt.

1803
January–March
: Stay with the Wielands in Ossmannstedt. Work on
Robert Guiscard, Amphitryon
and
The Broken Jug
. Wieland's daughter Luise feels strongly attracted to Kleist.

March–April
: Stay in Leipzig.

April–July
: Stay in Dresden.

July–October
: Journey with Ernst von Pfuel to Bern, Thun, Milan, Geneva and Paris. After a long struggle with his work on
Guiscard
Kleist makes a final attempt to finish the drama in September. He burns the manuscript at the end of October.

Journey from Paris to St Omer on the northern coast of France, where Kleist tries to join the French army as it is about to invade England. Physical and psychological breakdown. Kleist is sent back to Prussia by the Prussian envoy Lucchesini.

1804
9 January
: Debut performance of
The Schroffenstein Family
at Graz. Kleist stays for about four months with Dr Georg Wedekind at Mainz in order to recover from his breakdown. In the meantime, several sojourns in Paris.

June
: Returns to Berlin. Kleist is threatened with a charge
of high treason on account of his application for foreign military service. In his defence he refers to temporal mental instability, but nonetheless requests employment in the civil service.

1805
January
: Employment at the ministry of finance.

May
: Kleist moves to Königsberg in order to pursue his studies further. He works for the administrative services (
Domänenkammer
) and attends lectures at the university on economics and political science (
Finanz- und Staatswissenschaften
) given by Christian Jakob Kraus. The essay
On the Gradual Formation of Ideas in Speech
probably dates from this period. Begins his work on the first version of
Michael Kohlhaas
.

1806
Work on
The Broken Jug
and, during the summer, on
Penthesilea
.

August
: Kleist is ill again and suffers bouts of depression.

Mid August
: Leave of absence for medical reasons. Final leave from civil service.

October
: Defeat of the Prussian army at Jena and Auerstedt; collapse of the Prussian state.

Kleist finishes his drama
Amphitryon
and the novella
Jeronimo and Josephe
(which is later published as
The Earthquake in Chili)
.

1807
With two other former officers Kleist travels from Königsberg through the French occupied areas to Berlin, where he is arrested by the French on suspicion of spying. As a prisoner of war he is brought to the camp Fort de Joux and later to Châlons sur Marne, where he works on
Penthesilea
and
The Marquise of O
—.

May: Amphitryon
is published by C. Arnold in Dresden.

July
: Kleist returns to Dresden after his release from captivity. He associates with the city's intellectual and artistic circles and makes the acquaintance of the romantic philosopher and conservative political thinker Adam Müller, with whom he publishes
Phöbus
, a journal for the arts.

Work on
Käthchen of Heilbronn
.

First publication of
Jeronimo and Josephe
.

1808
January
: Kleist sends his recently finished
Penthesilea
to Goethe and receives a critical response.

Parts of Kleist's works are published in the
Phöbus
(a fragment of
Penthesilea, The Marquise of O—
, parts of
The Broken Jug
, the
Guiscard
fragment, extracts from
Kätchen of Heilbronn
and the beginning of
Michael Kohlhaas).

March
: The first staging of
The Broken Jug
by Goethe at Weimar is a failure. Kleist strongly resents Goethe for having distorted his play and allegedly even expresses the wish to challenge him in a duel.

July
: The full-length
Penthesilea
is published by Cotta in Tübingen. The Phöbus project gets into financial difficulties.

Kleist works on his political play
Die Herrmannsschlacht
, which he finishes in December. He hopes that it will stimulate national feelings against foreign (French) rule.

1809
First half of the year
: Kleist writes patriotic poems and political essays.

March
: Last issue of the
Phöbus
.

April
: Kleist travels with the historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann to Prague and Znaim. In Prague he approaches the Austrian resistance party and plans the edition of an anti-Napoleonic journal (
Germania
). Political essay supporting the Austrian resistance,
On the salvation of Austria
(
Über die Rettung von Österreich
).

1810
End of January
: Journey to Berlin after a short stay at Frankfurt-am-Main.

March
: Four stagings of
Kätchen of Heilbronn
in Vienna.

In the course of this year Kleist finishes an early version of
The Prince of Homburg
and works on a second, extended version of
Michael Kohlhaas
.

September
: The first volume of the Tales (
Michael Kohlhaas, The Marquise of O—, The Earthquake in Chili
) is published by Reimer in Berlin and is presented at the Leipzig book convention.

October–April
: Kleist edits Berlin's first popular daily newspaper,
Berliner Abendblätter
.

1811
February
: Publication of
The Broken Jug
by Reimer in Berlin.

March
: Last issue of the
Abendblätter.

May/June
: After the failure of the
Abendblätter
project Kleist's financial situation becomes increasingly desperate. He appeals to the king for a regular pension, but in vain.

June
: Suggests that Reimer publish
The Prince of Homburg
. Reimer refuses.

August
: Publication of the second volume of the Tales (
The Betrothal
in
Santo Domingo, The Beggarwoman of Locarno, The Foundling, St Cecilia or the Power of Music, The Duel
).

October
: Kleist's family at Frankfurt-an-der-Oder refuses to lend him further financial support.

November
: Kleist and Henriette Vogel, who is suffering from incurable cancer, plan to commit joint suicide.

21 November
: On a small hill overlooking the Wannsee, a lake close to Potsdam, Kleist first shoots Henriette Vogel, then turns the gun upon himself.

Editions

Heinrich von Kleist,
Brandenburger
(1988–1991:
Berliner
)
Ausgabe
, ed. Roland Reuß, Peter Staengle (Basel, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1988–).

Heinrich von Kleist,
Sämtliche Werke
, ed. Helmut Sembdner, 2 vols., 9th edn (Munich, 1993).

Heinrich von Kleist,
Sämtliche Werke und Briefe
, 4 vols., (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1987–97).

General

Brown, Hilda Meldrum,
Heinrich von Kleist: The Ambiguity of Art and the Necessity of Form
(Oxford, 1998).

Ellis, John,
Heinrich von Kleist: Studies in the Character and Meaning of his Writings
(Chapel Hill, NC, 1979).

Graham, Ilse,
Heinrich von Kleist: Word into Flesh: A Poet's Quest for the Symbol
(Berlin and New York, 1977).

Nobile, Nancy,
The School of Days: Heinrich von Kleist and the Traumas of Education
(Detroit, MI, 1999).

Schmidt, Jochen,
Heinrich von Kleist: Die Dramen und Erzählungen in ihrer Epoche
(Darmstadt, 2003).

Stephens, Anthony,
Heinrich von Kleist: The Dramas and Stories
(Oxford and Providence, RI, 1994).

On the Stories

Allan, Séan,
The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist: Fictions of Security
(Rochester, 2001).

Dietrick, Linda,
Prisons and Idylls: Studies in Heinrich von Kleist's Fictional World
(Frankfurt-am-Main, 1985).

Dyer, Denys,
The Stories of Kleist
(London, 1977).

Fischer, Bernd,
Ironische Metaphysik: Die Erzählungen Heinrich von Kleists
(Munich, 1988).

Hinderer, Walter (ed.),
Kleists Erzählungen: Interpretationen
(Stuttgart, 1998).

Marx, Stefanie,
Beispiele des Beispiellosen: Heinrich von Kleists Erzählungen ohne Moral
(Würzburg, 1994).

Michael Kohlhaas

Allen, Seán, ‘“Der Herr aber, dessen Leib du begehrst, vergab seinem Feind”: The Problem of Revenge in Kleist's
Michael Kohlhaas', Modern Languages Review
, 92 (1997), 630–42.

Bogdal, Klaus-Michael,
Heinrich von Kleist: Michael Kohlhaas
(Munich, 1981).

Grathoff, Dirk, ‘Michael Kohlhaas', in
Kleists Erzählungen: Interpretationen
, ed. Walter Hinderer (Stuttgart, 1998), 43–66.