A reprint of the J M Dent edition of 1997. Heinrich von Kleist was born and grew up in the Enlightenment and died in a suicide pact in 1811, aged only thirty-four. He left behind him literary works which are among the most disturbing and amusing of any produced in that revolutionary and romantic period. He is a modern writer: in the characters and situations he created we recognise our own aspirations and anxieties. Selected Writings includes a translation, with notes, of Kleist's best known plays, stories, and essays.