Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger

Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (born February 17, 1752, Frankfurt am Main [Germany]—died March 9, 1831, Dorpat, Estonia) was a dramatist and novelist, a representative of the German literary revolt against rationalism in favour of emotionalism known as the Sturm und Drang movement. Indeed, it took its name from his play Der Wirrwarr, oder Sturm und Drang (1776; “Confusion, or Storm and Stress”).

The reckless, rebellious style of Klinger’s early life seems the very embodiment of Sturm und Drang in its simpler interpretation. His numerous plays, written at top speed and in the fury of inspiration, are usually built around a Promethean hero, but they lack probability, psychological depth, and dramatic form. Many of their scenes and incidents are borrowed from Shakespeare. The best of these works, Die Zwillinge (1776; “The Twins”), like Schiller’s Die Räuber (“The Robbers”), deals with a favourite theme of the period, the enmity of brothers.

After touring for a few years as theatre poet with a troupe of actors, Klinger in 1780 entered the Russian army and rose eventually to the rank of general. He married a natural daughter of the empress Catherine, filled several important posts, and was curator of the University of Dorpat (1803–17). In his later years, having outgrown the angry resentment of his early period, he wrote two tragedies on the Medea theme and a cycle of nine romances that express a Rousseauan longing for simplicity and idyllic nature.