Writing on March 22, 1801, to his fiancée, Wilhemine von Zenge, Heinrich von Kleist described in painstaking detail the collapse of his vision of the universe. He had believed until then (he was twenty-four at the time) that human beings were capable of building a secure and virtuous life by acquiring knowledge that reflected the coherence of reality and perception, of self and world. The previous three years, following his release from the army, Kleist had occupied himself with the study of mathematics, physics, and philosophy. He had disdained a career of easy preferment in the military for the arduous pursuit of philosophic and moral self-understanding, training himself to think clearly and act virtuously. In this undertaking he was behaving as an exemplary offspring of his class and station.

Born on October 18, 1777, into a noble family that had produced generations of Prussian generals, Kleist was expected either to serve in the army or to work for the Prussian state. He tried the first, but after six years, during which time he rose from corporal to second lieutenant in the cavalry, he determined to abandon the boredom and tyranny of army life. Returning from the military, Kleist formulated the first of his many life plans, describing to an old teacher and then to his sister, Ulrike, his optimistic quest for moral excellence and the achievement of happiness. He decided to eschew the family’s call to practicality, to earning a livelihood, establishing his presence at the Prussian court,