EINE UNBEACHTETE REZENSION ZUM ERSTEN BAND DER ERZÄHLUNGEN (1810) HEINRICH VON KLEISTS

Abstract

The earliest review, hitherto almost unknown, of the first volume of Heinrich von Kleist's Erzälungen (1810) appeared in a Berlin newspaper. While sharing a predominantly positive assessment of this volume with other contemporary critics, the anonymous reviewer is the only one to appraise it in terms of the rhetorical theory of stylistic levels and to allude to a source for Kleist's Die Marquise von O . . . . The anecdote he refers to may turn out to be unknown to Kleist researchers. A preliminary survey of collections of anecdotes published around 1800 has not yet led to the discovery of the text which Kleist allegedly adapted for his story. However, already a consideration of narrative conventions of this genre may open up new possibilities for the interpretation of Die Marquise von O . . . .