Citation

Ebisch-Burton K. Ger. Life Lett. 2002; 55(3): 235-247.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1468-0483.00227

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel, in the days before their suicide, exchanged two letters which have come to be known in Kleist scholarship as the Todeslitanei. The article argues that both letters attempt to exploit the possibilities of poetic language to represent the beloved in a diversity of images, an undertaking in which Henriette Vogel appears to outdo Kleist. She seizes on Kleist's invitation to reply to his text and in replying develops innovatively the form he initiates, introducing a structure of thematic 'strands' woven through the text which varies Kleist's structure of linear groups of images and breaking down conventional structures and associations in her individual images. The article suggests, in the light of the close comparison made possible by the interaction of Kleist's and Vogel's letters to form a single, two-authored text, a reconsideration of Hélène Cixous's assessment of Kleist as a successful producer of écriture féminine and the recognition of Vogel as co-author of Kleist's last poetic work. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.

Language: en