Book excerpt: The impact of Heinrich von Kleist unfolds between precise depictions and moral extremes. Crystallized in words, his characters appear as paradigms of human fallibility. Their passions and obsessions, their inadequacies and longings are captured in a writing style that reveals its influence even in novels and plays of the twentieth century. This volume takes the literary reception of Kleist as one of its focal points and, furthermore, considers the author's oeuvre and his life on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his death.