No Place on Earth (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Christa Wolf
- First Published: 1979
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Livre à clef
- Time of Work: June, 1804
- Setting: An estate near the German town of Winkel on the Rhine
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction, Philosophical realism, Biographical fiction, Character study, Alternate history
- Subjects: Gender roles, Authors or writers, Nineteenth century, Art or artists, Alienation, Poetry or poets, Feminism, Conformity, Enlightenment, Germany or German people, Romanticism, Parties
- Locales: Germany
Characters Discussed
Heinrich von Kleist (HIN-rihkh fon klist), a writer and dramatist, twenty-six years old, the orphaned son of an impecunious Prussian noble family. Kleist is unable to harmonize the need to find a socially acceptable occupation with his desire to write. His constant sense of guilt and melancholy, his slowness of speech, and his uneasiness in the presence of others are symptomatic of his conviction that there is for him “no place on earth.” He frequently entertains thoughts of suicide. At the time of the story, he is recuperating from mental and physical...
[The entire page is 1134 words long]
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