Kleist's Endings — '(Die Fortsetzung folgt)'

Author: Engberg-Pedersen, Anders¹

Source: Publications of the English Goethe Society, Volume 78, Numbers 1-2, September 2009 , pp. 81-88(8)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

This essay considers Kleist's construction of endings in the four novellas Michael Kohlhaas, Der Zweikampf, Das Erdbeben in Chili and Der Findling. It is argued that Kleist seizes upon the ending as a significant locus of narration in order to revise traditional conceptions in epistemology, jurisprudence, and hermeneutics. In critical dialogue with the Aristotelean theory of tragedy, especially with his views on probability and peripeteia, these texts constitute 'prospective narratives' in which the endings, rather than closing the novellas, sustain the temporal sequence and foil any attempt at a final judgment about knowledge, justice or literature. The four novellas thereby trace an outline of a Kleistian poetics.

Keywords: KLEIST; NARRATIVE; EPISTEMOLOGY; POETICS; ENDINGS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/174962809X399797

Affiliations: 1: Harvard University, USA

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