Cheap DVDs, books, CDs & Games

Search:

The Marquise of O: And Other Stories (Classics)

By: Heinrich Von Kleist
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
ISBN: 0140443592
ISBN-13: 9780140443592
Released: 29 Jun 1978
RRP: £9.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

'The Tales' - By: , 17 Feb 2006
"The world of alll these stories is an unpridictable one, a world of dislocated casuality on which inexplicable factors intrude & in which sanity is poised on the brink of destruction. They are the work of a rationalist tormented by his loss of faith in Reason & desparately searching for certainity, for an order which is not 'gebrechlich'. In Kliest's life this search could only fail; the only imposable order was that of his art, an order of words, the strange patterns of his three or four dramatic masterpieces, the electrifiying articulated structures of his narrative prose.."

You can tell from reading these stories that they have been translated to english as best as is possible ( although the translators say it still doest do it absolute justice ) & from reading the dense introduction that the translators know what there talking about. Although they are alll written to the same incredible standard, my personal favorite has to be The Power of Music, although i cant properly put into words why, such is its subtility of context ( maybe when im more experienced il beable to do justice to it ) but put bluntly its to show the Christian's lack of understanding of the term 'natural causes', & it does this amazingly to the extent that it could be interpreted either way almost equallly. A close second would be The Founderling & the Betrothal of Santo Domingo, then Micheal Kohlass.
The only problem i have with the book is its title & cover, they should have published this collection of stories under the title in which Kliest published them, 'The Tales'; it could then have a much nice look. All in alll i highly recomend it, theres probably no story writer as intense & masterly as Kliest.