Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811)

I read this book for the first time about 10 years ago; I remember having liked it, but not much else about it. However, Heinrich von Kleist's "The Marquise of O and Other Stories" impressed me enough for me to hold onto my paperback copy. Now having read this collection for the second time, I found all of these stories to be engaging and absorbing; consequentially, I have such renewed respect for this author -- Particularly for the compelling characters that people his work. Regarding Kleist's style: while humour can come into play in these tales [i.e. in "The Marquise of O"] Tragedy is obviously Kleist's forte -- It can be too much to bear. Heavy, harsh and shadowy reality abounds within this author's work; the author's style could be described as gothic [as in "The Beggarwoman of Locarno"]. Kleist's characters are inevitably cursed, or at the very least -- Frowned upon by fate. And if not that, then his evil-imbued antagonists prove to be too strong a match for those "good people" with whom they come into conflict [i.e. Count Jakob Rotbart of "The Duel" brings to mind Shakespeare's "Richard III"]. In "Michael Kohlhaas", the desire to be right / thirst for revenge, combined with bad luck / karma -- Turns the snowballing effects of Kohlhaas' self-sabotage into a fatal downward spiral. Finally, the story that proves to be the most heartbreaking is "The Betrothal of Domingo", which was written in 1811, the final year of Kleist's brief time on the planet; I believe that "The Betrothal of Domingo" actually foreshadows the murder-suicide pact with which Kleist ended his life.… (more)

Irreligious, perverse, and shocking even to this day. Von Kleist's discontent with the social structures of his time—most especially the church, the law, and the vagaries of community life—makes his tales perhaps more politically rich than his contemporary Hoffmann, although both are equally skillful in plumbing the depths of the human psyche when it comes to matters of love, survival, family, and even gender.

Von Kleist's style is very proto-modernist: his paragraphs run on for pages with no apparent reason for when they begin and when they end; his pacing is subjectively approached rather than objectively obsessed; and he often begins his stories by telling his reader the endings.

Absurdism runs rampant through these pieces. The title story involves a widowed Marquise who takes out an advertisement in the newspaper, searching for the man who apparently—although she has no memory of this—impregnated her. This kind of illogical and paradoxical situation is at the heart of most of von Kleist's work: "The Earthquake in Chile" turns an exiled pair of lovers into heroic figures in an apocalyptic setting ruled by no seeming authority; however, von Kleist seems to suggest that the imposing orders of the church and the law are so pervasive in their hold on mankind that mankind wreaks the same violence if left with no punitive action from high above.

This is also the case in "Michael Kohlhaas" where the protagonist takes the law into his own hands after repeated attempts to bring legal action against a man who is terrorizing the community. This kind of Kafkaesque critique of the law is also carried out to the extreme limits of surrealism, rendering reality as nightmarish in much the same way Kafka would do later. Of the shorter pieces collected here, "The Foundling" is the strongest and seems to speak to the same examination of reality versus fantasy in Hoffmann's "The Sandman." However, it is in the longer tales that von Kleist is able to enlarge his canvas and allow his oddly distorted syntax and phrasing to loop in and out of sense and nonsense most elegantly.… (more)

German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer Heinrich von Kleist (1777 – 1811) mixed with figures such as Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, founders of the Romantic Movement in Germany, and could himself be considered one of the movement’s representatives – albeit an eccentric one. An encounter with Kant’s philosophy in 1801 shaped Kleist’s subsequent literary career, but also had a tragic influence on his life. He interpreted Kant’s view as implying the impossibility of ever establishing an objective truth and this led him into the dark alleys of an existential crisis from which he never fully recovered. He would eventually die by his own hand, in a murder-suicide planned with his then lover Henriette Vogel.

The novella The Marquise of O- is possibly the best-known Kleist’s writings – it is available in several editions and translations (around half a dozen in English alone) and has also been turned into a film by Eric Röhmer (winner of the 1976 Cannes Festival Gran Prix Spécial) and a modern movie adaptation by Pappi Corsicato (Il seme della discordia, which participated in the 2008 Venice Film Festival).

Written in 1808, The Marquise of O- is set during the Napoleonic Wars and is based on a barely believable premise allegedly inspired by “a true incident whose location has been transferred from north to south”:

In M--, an important town in Northern Italy, the widowed Marquise of O—, a woman of impeccable reputation and mother of well-brought-up children, made it known through the newspapers that she had inexplicably found herself in a certain condition, that the father of the child she would bear should make himself known, and that out of regard for her family she was resolved to marry him.

The identity of the father is strongly hinted at from the very first pages of the novella, but what to the reader may seem obvious, remains a “mystery” to the Marquise until late in the book, and provides the narrative drive for the novella.

In Kleist’s prudish times, The Marquise of O— was condemned as an immoral. In our #metoo present, the novella is equally problematic, if for different reasons. It is based on an episode of rape, leading to some uncomfortable questions about the relationship between victim and perpetrator. And yet, it would be wrong to dismiss The Marquise of O— as an outdated, misogynist work because it clearly isn’t. From the theatrical cast of five – the Marquise, her parents, her brother and the Russian officer who wants to marry the Marquise – it is the mother and daughter who are portrayed more favourably. They are honourable and resourceful in a patriarchal world of bungling men. The novella is, ultimately, an enigmatic work, permeated with the same ambiguity Kleist (via Kant) perceived in the world around him.

What may also seem strange to the modern reader is the narrative voice – the novella is recounted throughout in the third person, but it portrays the thought processes of each of the characters, often creating the same “modern” effect as a first-person narrative.

In other words, The Marquise of O— is a story of its time, but also one which keeps raising questions today. For readers who, like me, are new to this novella, the edition recently issued as part of the ever-dependable Pushkin Classics series is a recommended choice. The new translation by Nicholas Jacobs is idiomatic and readable yet close to the text. Jacobs also provides an introduction to Kleist’s life and work, a biographical note and suggestions for further reading.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2019/11/Heinrich-von-Kleist-marquise-of-o.htm...… (more)