Heinrich von Kleist is German dramatist, among the greatest of the 19th century. Poets of the Realist, Expressionist, Nationalist, and Existentialist movements in France and Germany saw their prototype in Kleist, a poet whose demonic genius had foreseen modern problems of life and literature.
Background
Kleist was born into the von Kleist family, an ancient Prussian aristocratic family that had deep roots in the military having produced eighteen generals (and one poet, Ewald von Kleist). Kleist was born into the von Kleist family in Frankfurt an der Oder in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. After a scanty education, he entered the Prussian Army in 1792, served in the Rhine campaign of 1796, and retired from the service in 1799 with the rank of lieutenant. Having grown up in military surroundings, Kleist became dissatisfied with the career of an army officer, which had been chosen for him, and resigned his commission after “the loss of seven valuable years”.
Education
Von Kleist studied law and philosophy at the Viadrina University and in 1800 received a subordinate post in the Ministry of Finance at Berlin. For a time he studied law and mathematics, but his reading of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant destroyed his faith in the value of knowledge. Kleist is also famous for his essays on subjects of aesthetics and psychology which, to the closer look, show a keen insight into the metaphysical questions discussed by philosophers of his time, such as Kant, Fichte and Schelling.
Career
Von Kleist never quite settled into work with the civil service, instead he underwent what he called his Kant-Crisis in 1801 and took off to spend some time with his half-sister in Paris where he experienced a deep unhappiness that led him to Switzerland where he imaged he could settle down with Wilhelmine on a small farm. In 1804 he returned to his post in Berlin and was transferred to the Domänenkammer (department for the administration of crown lands) at Königsberg. Von Kleist resigned during training, however, and left for Dresden, where he hoped to continue writing, but was arrested by the French and imprisoned for six months as a spy.
Views
A life with a plan.
In the spring of 1799, the 21-year-old Kleist wrote a letter to his half-sister Ulrike in which he found it "incomprehensible how a human being can live without a plan for his life" (Lebensplan). In effect, Kleist sought and discovered an overwhelming sense of security by looking to the future with a definitive plan for his life. It brought him happiness and assured him of confidence, especially knowing that life without a plan only saw despair and discomfort.