Heinrich von Kleist - Crisis and creative overcoming

Heinrich von Kleists life was shaken repeatedly by negative life-events, fi nally he committed suicide in his last life-crisis (1811). His work was mos tly understood as descriptions of negative life-events and failed-being. In this article it will be shown that in at least two,"crises" Kleists work c an be understood as a creative overcome of those. Kleist shows in his "Essa y to Find a Sure Way to Happiness" (1799) his way of solving his "Soldier-C risis" (1798), a depressive episode. In "The Broken Jug" (1802 - 1805) he s hows the implications of a philosophical problem experienced in his "Kant-C risis" (1801) and offers chances to overcome this particular crisis, which still seems to be an actual problem of ourselves. Though his crises must be understood as depressive episodes, at least the,"Kant-Crisis" with its con nections to philosophical and artistical matters seems to be more complicat ed than a simple depressive syndrome. Kleist formulates his basic life-expe rience, to be repeatedly shaken by "crises" respectively depressive episode s and the necessity to overcome each in a new way of living.