Heinrich Von Kleist: Three Plays

The three plays in this volume illustrate Kleist''s genius and versatility. Includes: Prince Friedrich von Homburg, a tautly plotted clash of love, honor, and obedience to State; The Broken Pitcher, which one him acclaim for his crisp dialogue and robust humor; and Ordeal by Fire, the most colorful, atmospheric play of its time to have a female protagonist.

Heinrich von Kleist (1771 - 1811), one of Germany’s most gifted and versatlie writers, was a classic misfit: a wayward and tragic genuis finally driven to suicide by repeated frustrations in art and life. Nevertheless, his seven plays and eight masterly stories won him enduring posthumous fame as ’first of the moderns’. Noel Clark’s translations of classic plays from Polish, French, Dutch and German have been widely staged and critically acclaimed. His translations of Stanislaw Wyspianski’s The Wedding, Fredro’s Revenge, The Annuity and Virgin’s Vows and Vondel’s Lucifer are also published by Oberon Books (Absolute Classics). He has been awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Polish Order of Merit for his services to Polish Literature.