Heinrich von Kleist - Crisis and creative overcoming

Heinrich von Kleists life was shaken repeatedly by negative life-events, finally he committed suicide in his last life-crisis (1811). His work was mostly understood as descriptions of negative life-events and failed-being. In this article it will be shown that in at least two,"crises" Kleists work can be understood as a creative overcome of those. Kleist shows in his "Essay to Find a Sure Way to Happiness" (1799) his way of solving his "Soldier-Crisis" (1798), a depressive episode. In "The Broken Jug" (1802 - 1805) he shows the implications of a philosophical problem experienced in his "Kant-Crisis" (1801) and offers chances to overcome this particular crisis, which still seems to be an actual problem of ourselves. Though his crises must be understood as depressive episodes, at least the,"Kant-Crisis" with its connections to philosophical and artistical matters seems to be more complicated than a simple depressive syndrome. Kleist formulates his basic life-experience, to be repeatedly shaken by "crises" respectively depressive episodes and the necessity to overcome each in a new way of living.