Heinrich von Kleist

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was born 18 October 1777 into minor Prussian nobility, but the military life expected of him couldn't hold. He turned to writing and produced a run of works that wouldn't fit the age: plays like The Prince of Homburg, Penthesilea, The Broken Jug, and novellas including Michael Kohlhaas and The Marquise of O — all marked by psychological extremity and formal daring that baffled contemporary audiences. Recognition came late and thin. On 21 November 1811, at thirty-four, he and a terminally ill female friend walked to the shore of the Wannsee; he shot her, then h…