The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist: Fictions of Security (review)

318 Book Reviews tion, that Ufe itsetf is dependent on the "excitabUity power." On this basis, Brown postulated the prescription of stimulants or sedatives (wine or opium) to increase or decrease excitation as a treatment of physical disorders. "Brownianismus " found a strong center of support Ui Bamberg, especiaUy under the advocacy of Dr. Andreas Röschlaub. ScheUing had origUiaUy been critical of Brown's doctrine, but under Röschlaub's influence, rethought his position, reworking his Naturphilosophie, especiaUy with regard to the theory of excitabUity (die Erregungstheorie ), in which galvanism may be envisaged as a bridge whereby the universal forces of nature pass over into sensibiUty, irritabUity and formative urge. Ui turn, it was the appUcation of Brown's medical principles that led Sendung to treat Auguste with opium, probably causing her death. In addition to its numbered essays, Romantische Liebe und romantischer Tod includes Ulustrations, facsimiles of several documents, and a bibUography. It does, however, lack an index. Romantische Liebe und romantischer Tod is the 48th volume in Bamberg's Fussnoten zur Literatur series, and represents a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Jena Cftcle and this important chapter in German romanticism. With its focus on a Rousseauistic conception of the chUd and chUdUke unity of culture and nature, it is perhaps appropriate that the Jena Circle should have been so moved by the death of Auguste. In turn this comprehensive treatment of Auguste Ui her fuU context itsetf exemplifies the spirit of that romanticism, truly a romantic life and death. Armstrong Atlantic State University Thomas L. Cooksey Sean AUan, The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist: Fictions of Security. Rochester , NY: Camden House 2001. 237 pp. Uncertainty, coincidence, and narrative contradiction define Kleist's works, leading "critics to regard interpretation as a futile activity and turn theft attention instead to the formal qualities of the works" (9). AUan counters this seemingly futile Une of scholarship, and presents a reading of Kleist's noveUas, or "MoraUsche Erzählungen," which highUghts the moral complexities of Kleist's characters, as a means to illustrate how society influences characters' moral decisions . Even though AUan does not beüeve Kleist overtly resorts to moral didactics , he does propose Kleist's noveUas offer a critique of the lack of individual moral autonomy—a critique designed to prompt the reader to question institutionaUzed conceptions of value and truth. AUan argues Kleist's characters suffer from this inabiUty to question modes of social conditioning. His argument appears to suggest the characters' lack of moral autonomy and ethical conviction offers the reader a chance to forego such mistakes at an interpretive level and in life in general. Allan draws upon Kleist's own theories of education to substantiate his thesis. In particular, he employs Kleist's idea of universal contradiction, by which pupUs learn moraUty not from models of absolute, perfect moraUty, but rather from examples of conflicted and flawed moral constitutions. Therefore , rather than depicting heroic models of absolute moraUty, AUan claims Kleist's characters exemplify mauvaise foi—a misplaced faith in social conventions , and a tragic UiabUity to accept responsibiUty for one's actions. AUan further maintains mauvaise foi infects individuals and societies alike. He asserts this moral flaw is rooted in Kleistian societies that exist and perpetuate theft hegemony via absolute ideas such as "perfect justice," "satanic wickedness," and "infaUible female virtue" (221). As AUan's study proposes, when these metaphysical bulwarks are caUed into question, violence and patriarchal oppression emerge to reassert the status quo. Goethe Yearbook 319 AUan divides his study into four categories: justice and revenge, revolution and social change, the nature of evU, and art and reUgion. In each category AUan emphasizes how mauvaise foi drives individuals, figures of authority, states, and the general populace or "folk" to substitute moral autonomy for communaUy and culturally accepted values and definitions of "good" and "evU." The first chapter outÃ-ines Kleist's ideological and theoretical development concerning art, science, society, morals, and education. AUan regards Kleist's troubled relationship with society as an outsider, his dissatisfaction with post-revolutionary France, and the Enlightenment's glorification of utilitarian reason over imagination as the motivating influences forming his theory of aesthetics: a glorification of...