Playwright. Kleist was born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, and served briefly in the Prussian army before studying law and philosophy. Kleist's works for the stage, including "Der Zerbrochene Krug" and "Prinz Friedrich von Homburg", are often performed in German-speaking theatres, and he is widely accepted as the most significant dramatist of German Romanticism. Typically, he shows individuals in crisis who are unable to find solutions. His eight novellas depict a world of absolutes where happiness is subverted by our inability to distinguish what is really true from what merely appears to be true, and by the impossibility of predicting future events. Kleist's personal life was itself a search for happiness which he never achieved, and he eventually shot himself in a suicide pact with his friend Henriette Vogel.
Playwright. Kleist was born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany, and served briefly in the Prussian army before studying law and philosophy. Kleist's works for the stage, including "Der Zerbrochene Krug" and "Prinz Friedrich von Homburg", are often performed in German-speaking theatres, and he is widely accepted as the most significant dramatist of German Romanticism. Typically, he shows individuals in crisis who are unable to find solutions. His eight novellas depict a world of absolutes where happiness is subverted by our inability to distinguish what is really true from what merely appears to be true, and by the impossibility of predicting future events. Kleist's personal life was itself a search for happiness which he never achieved, and he eventually shot himself in a suicide pact with his friend Henriette Vogel.
Bio by: Graham Fellows
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