The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist: A Critical Bilingual Edition

Volume 2: The Betrothal in St Domingo, The Beggarwoman of Locarno, The Foundling, St Cecilia or The Power of Music, The Duel.

Series: 

Author:
Johannes Contag
Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) is one of Germany’s pre-eminent writers, and his works have remained as captivating and thought-provoking as ever. Although translated into English previously, this is the first scholarly, bilingual edition of Kleist’s stories, wherein his dictional idiosyncrasies are rendered closely and systematically. Comprehension is aided by lexical, intertextual and translational annotations, and individual story commentaries offer historical context and interpretational starting points. This second of two volumes is based on Kleist’s collection Erzählungen. Zweiter Theil (1811) and includes an introduction to Kleist’s Anglophone reception and to the stories’ previous translations, as well as a detailed appendix that outlines Contag’s own translational processes.
Copyright Year:
2026
E-Book (PDF)
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74237-6
Publication:
27 Oct 2025
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-74236-9
Publication:
30 Oct 2025
Cover The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist: A Critical Bilingual Edition

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Johannes Heinrich Contag has worked as a translator for 25 years. He holds a PhD. in Literary Translation and has published on Kleist previously. Contag also lectures in Sound Engineering, and in his spare time composes orchestral accompaniments to silent films.
Preface
Abbreviations

1 Introduction: Kleist in English
 1.1 Anglophone Kleist Reception
 1.2 Relevant Translation Theory
 1.3 Commonalities with 19th-c. English Prose Style
 1.4 Previous Translations of Kleist’s Stories

2 The Betrothal in St Domingo
 2.1 The Betrothal in St Domingo (II/ViSD)
 2.2 Commentary: The Betrothal in St Domingo

3 The Beggarwoman of Locarno
 3.1 The Beggarwoman of Locarno (II/BvL)
 3.2 Commentary: The Beggarwoman of Locarno

4 The Foundling
 4.1 The Foundling (II/dF)
 4.2 Commentary: The Foundling

5 St Cecilia or the Power of Music
 5.1 St Cecilia or the Power of Music (II/HC)
 5.2 Commentary: St Cecilia or the Power of Music

6 The Duel
 6.1 The Duel (II/dZ)
 6.2 Commentary: The Duel

Appendix: On Kleist's Writing
Bibliography
Index
University and faculty libraries, academic institutes; professors, researchers, lecturers, post- and undergraduate students in German Studies, Translation Studies and European Language Studies; collectors, bibliophiles and connoisseurs of historical German literature
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Publisher:
Brill
Language:
English
Pages:
xii, 341 pp.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004742376

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