La narrativa de Heinrich von Kleist como referente para el estudio de la literatura mundial: un análisis comparado

Abstract

La presente tesis propone un estudio de los textos narrativos de Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) desde la perspectiva de su proyección internacional con el objetivo de resolver una de las carencias más acuciantes en las investigaciones sobre este autor: la de la recepción de su obra en los países de habla no alemana. Pese a tratarse de un escritor canónico para la germanística, su valoración en su propia patria ha estado históricamente condicionada por factores literarios, biográficos (entre los que destacan los detalles de su suicidio y su supuesta enemistad con Goethe, que ya entonces era el referente indiscutible de las letras alemanas) y políticos que han repercutido también en el extranjero; en este sentido, el activismo con el que se opuso al régimen de Napoleón y su encendida defensa de la necesidad de constituir un Estado alemán han motivado una fama de autor nacionalista que, a priori, compromete el proyecto de tender puentes entre su obra y los sistemas literarios foráneos...This dissertation will explore the narrative texts of Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) taking into account its international repercussion, in order to solve one of the most pressing matters within this author’s research: the reception of his work in countries in which German is not spoken. Even though Kleist is a canonic writer for German studies, his value within his own country has been influenced by political, literary, and biographical factors (including details about his suicide, as well as his alleged hostility towards Goethe, who was, even then, a paragon for Germanic literature) that have affected his reception in other countries. In that sense, Kleist’s activism against the Napoleonic regime and his fiery defense of a German state has motivated an understanding of the author as nationalistic that, at first, may seem to be counterproductive for the purposes of this dissertation. However, the number of translations that his works have, as well as their being referenced by several authors across the globe, has never ceased to grow since the last half of the 20th Century, which makes Kleist a paradigmatic example of how a cosmopolitan attitude is not required to be distributed internationally.