Friedrich Maximilian Klinger (1752–1831)

This play is a tragedy, but the emotions of the characters are displayed in such an exaggerated way and the language is so pompous that it almost seems like a comedy at times.

The central character is Malchen, the wife of a kind but boring envoy. She has an affair with another man whom she has loved for years. There are two side plots as well: There is a third man who also loves Malchen and tries to be close to her, and there is another couple who are not allowed to love each other. On top of show more that there are numerous intertextual references (e.g. Lessing, Shakespeare, Richardson, Rousseau) and sentiments upon sentiments.
The play shows the restrictions of life at the time, and the conflict between duty and passion, between obligation and what is perceived as real life - something that Klinger felt in his own life as well while he juggled being a freedom-loving writer and a military man following a career at the Russian court.

To be honest, I only came to grips with the text after I had already read half of the play, but then it really was fun and I rooted for the main character, which, this being a tragedy, of course came to nothing.

Apparently Klinger was immensely productive throughout his life but his works are not read anymore, although the Sturm und Drang literary movement is named after one of his works. I must say that reading one work by him seems to be enough to me, although I am glad that I persevered and read this one. show less

Ein paar Momente sind ganz gut beobachtet und sehr interessant.