MICHAEL KOHLHAAS. This story by Heinrich von Kleist was published as the first of his Erzahlungen, (Stories") (1810), after a frarnent of the story had been issued in a periodical, Phcrbus, two years before. Michael Kohlhaas, an upright and highly respected horse-dealer, is wantonly wronged by a young nobleman; after fruitless efforts to obtain jus tice from the legally constituted authorities, he resolves to take matters into his own hands, even in rebellion against the social order which has failed to afford him protection. With pathetic obstinacy he still insists upon the simple terms of his original claim, even after the forces which he has gathered about him have engaged in a kind of civil war. Ultimately he gains his contention, recompense for his loss and the punish ment of the privileged offender, but he himself suffers death as a penalty for crimes committed while seeking justice in his own way. The outlines of the story Kleist took from the career of Hans Kohlhase (executed in 1540), which was probably familiar to him both by oral tradition and through the chroni cles of Hafftitz and Leutinger. But Kleist
used the artist's prerogative and altered the material at will, creating the characters anew, and supplying the substance with an ethical problem. Through a sense of personal wrong, following his own conception of justice, a man of spotless integrity becomes a criminal and an outlaw. The problem of so-called folk-justice, which is here illustrated, has been notably treated elsewhere in German literature, con spicuously in Ludwig's Kleist followed his historical source in introducing Martin Luther into the story of his hero, and presents a firmly drawn portrait of the German reformer. The story is a masterpiece of nar rative skill; it is all narrative, without de scription of people or of places, without com ment or sentiment; it moves forward with the simplicity of a chronicle, one event following another in tragic and inevitable succession. 'Michael Kohlhaas) is one of the most power ful stories in the whole range of German fic tion. It was translated into English by Fran ces H. King in 'The German Classics' (Vol. IV).