It wasnt performed until 65 years after kleists death, in 1876. Set during the trojan war, it rejects both the enlightenment vision of ancient greece as a seat of reason and the dramatic unities and fiveact structure of neoclassical tragedy, instead. But when penthesilea, the amazon queen, clashes with greek hero achilles, the war grinds to a halt for the two of. Maurice sendak the passionate drama of achilles and penthesilea, queen of the amazons. They describe penthesilea, this strange amazon warrior, as a crazed woman who cant settle on an alliance. Cambridge university press, feb 7, 20 drama 2 pages.
Vollstandige neuausgabe mit einer biographie des autors. Erste auffuhrung einer bearbeitung im mai 1876 in berlin. This was a world and a literary culture unprepared for kleists savage imagination. They blast into the midst of the trojan war, confusing greeks and trojans alike and for a moment forcing those enemies into a terrified alliance.
Driven to suicide at the age of 34, he left behind him seven extraordinary plays. Includes glossy pictorial dust jacket, with drawings by maurice senda. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. In kleists penthesilea, however, achilles is slain by penthesilea. Robert graves, the greek myths, 164a, penguin books, harmondsworth. During kleists lifetime, goethe, sensing in the younger man his greatest rival, carefully withheld from him the endorsement that would have established his reputation. He studied law and philosophy at the viadrina university and in 1800 received a subordinate post in the ministry of. Penthesilea is one of my favorite texts, period, in any language. The amazons, a fierce race of female warriors, have a sacred tradition. With elisabeth trissenaar, hermann treusch, verena peter, lieselotte rau.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. It was long considered among others by goethe as unplayable. I enjoy books in various genres, but especially literary. Kleist s obscure and complex early 19thcentury play is here translated by guggenheim fellow agee in blank verse, a more formal version than martin greenbergs translation five plays, yale univ. As i was reading klests tragic play, i kept thinking about ovids imagery in.
From its very beginnings kleists tragedy penthesilea has been a troubling and. Kleists penthesilea goethes iphigenie dunkle schwester. Sep 23, 2014 penthesilea was an amazonian queen from greek mythology. Oct 01, 2004 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Erste auffuhrung des originaltextes erst 1892 in munchen. His 1808 verse drama penthesilea one of eight works he wrote for the stage not only broke the rules of aristotelian tragedyit takes place without traditional acts in 24 consecutive scenesbut also contested the prevailing goethean view of classical antiquity. Quintus smyrnaeus explains more fully than pseudoapollodorus how penthesilea came to be at troy.
Odysseus and other greek warriors are the first to appear on stage in the drama. And the language is difficult and metric in the original, from a writer who was also capable of very light comedies. This was a world and a literary culture unprepared for kleist s savage imagination. When she realizes that she and her pack of dogs have. Penthesilea by kleist and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Penthesilea was an amazonian queen from greek mythology. Published 1998 by michael di capua books, harpercollins in new york. Penthesilea had killed hippolyta with a spear when they were hunting deer. Based on the figure from greek mythology, penthesilea, queen of the amazons, kleist wrote this tragedy in 1808. An army of amazons sets out to conquer greek heroes for the purpose of stocking their womens state with new female offspring. One could argue, as john ellis does, that kleists drama is a play. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Ein preussisches schicksal, piper verlag, munich 2004 isbn 3492046517.
The drama opens on the battlefield before the gates of troy, where the. An army of amazons sets out to conquer greek heroes for the purpose of. After a scanty education, he entered the prussian army in 1792, served in the rhine campaign of 1796, and retired from the service in 1799 with the rank of lieutenant. Thus begins a tragedy of love in a world governed by the rules of war. One of many famous amazonian queens, penthisileas story is one of fierce dedication to being a warrior, and a tragic death at the hands of achilles.
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