Kleist's Aristocratic Heritage and Das Kathchen von Heilbronn

Kleist was an important dramatist at the beginning of the nineteenth century and Käthchen was one of his greatest stage successes. Reeve presents a brief outline of the Kleist family involvement in the Prussian aristocracy and Kleist''s reactions to his background. He also surveys the literary critics'' attempts to come to terms with Käthchen, noting a revisionist trend which associates Kleist wit...