Heinrich von Kleist's 'Poetology of the Extreme' in the Light of Freud and Aristotle

Author: Brown, Hilda Meldrum

Source: Publications of the English Goethe Society, Volume 78, Numbers 1-2, March 2009 , pp. 22-31(10)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

Kleist has often been regarded as a writer whose works are characterized by irrationality and emotional extremes, a judgement which has been variously deplored and celebrated. Not surprisingly, therefore, they have attracted a variety of interpretations derived from the ideas of Sigmund Freud, most recently in the wake of Lacan's 'return to Freud' and the application of his readings of Freud to literary criticism. A rather different poetological development has been to link Freudian with Aristotelian ideas based on the Poetics, using the shared territory occupied by the concept of anagnorisis (recognition). My essay pursues this approach by focusing specifically on the theme of denial (and its close relation, delusion), a major feature of Freud's theory of defence mechanisms which, I propose, operates for Kleist as a counterpart to the Aristotelian hamartia (tragic flaw). I argue that the combination of these ingredients initiates a distinctive and highly original progression towards anagnorisis and determines the outcomes in the works selected. This hypothesis is tested against the evidence of two major dramas, a tragedy and an averted tragedy, and is complemented by the transposition of the same combination into the narrative mode as demonstrated in a major Erz�hlung.

Keywords: RECOGNITION; DENIAL; ARISTOTLE; FREUD; KLEIST; DELUSION; POETOLOGY

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/174962809X399742

Affiliations: St Hilda's College, Oxford, UK

Publication date: 2009-03-01

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