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KLINGER, FRIEDRICH MAXIMILIAN VON (17...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 847 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KLINGER, See also:FRIEDRICH See also:MAXIMILIAN VON (1752–1831) , See also:German dramatist and novelist, was See also:born of humble parentage at See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main, on the 17th of See also:February 1752. His See also:father died when he was a See also:child, and his See also:early years were a hard struggle. He was enabled, however, in 1774 to enter the university of See also:Giessen, where he studied See also:law; and See also:Goethe, with whom he had been acquainted since childhood, helped him in many ways. In 1775 Klinger gained with his tragedy See also:Die Zwillinge a See also:prize offered by the See also:Hamburg See also:theatre, under the auspices of the actress Sophie See also:Charlotte See also:Ackermann (1714–1792) and her son the famous actor and playwright, Friedrich See also:Ludwig See also:Schroder (1744–1816). In 1776 Klinger was appointed Theaterdichter to the " Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft " and held this See also:post for two years. In 1778 he entered the See also:Austrian military service and took See also:part in the Bavarian See also:war of See also:succession. In 178o he went to St See also:Petersburg, became an officer in the See also:Russian See also:army, was ennobled and attached to the See also:Grand See also:Duke See also:Paul, whom he accompanied on a See also:journey to See also:Italy and See also:France. In 1785 he was appointed director of the See also:corps of cadets, and having married a natural daughter of the empress Catharine, was made praeses of the See also:Academy of Knights in 1799. In 1803 Klinger was nominated by the See also:emperor See also:Alexander See also:curator of the university of Dorpat, an See also:office he held until 1817; in 1811 he became See also:lieutenant-See also:general. He then gradually gave up his See also:official posts, and after living for many years in See also:honourable retirement, died at Dorpat on the 25th of February 1831. Klinger was a See also:man of vigorous moral See also:character and full of See also:fine feeling, though the See also:bitter experiences and deprivations of his youth are largely reflected in his dramas. It was one of his earliest See also:works, See also:Sturm and Drang (1776), which gave its name to this See also:literary See also:epoch.

In addition to this tragedy and Die Zwillinge (1776), the See also:

chief plays of his early See also:period of passionate fervour and restless " See also:storm and stress " are Die neue See also:Arria (1776), Simsone Grisaldo (1776) and See also:Stilpo and See also:seine Kinder (178o). To a later period belongs the fine See also:double ragedy of See also:Medea in Korinth and Medea auf dem Kaukasos (1791). In See also:Russia he devoted himself mainly to the See also:writing of philosophical romances, of which the best known are Fausts Leben, Taten and Hollenfahrt (1791), Geschichte Giafars See also:des Barmeciden (1792) and Geschichte Raphaels de Aquillas (1793). This See also:series was closed in 18o3 with Betrachtungen and Gedanken fiber verschiedene Gegenslande der Well and der Literatur. In these works Klinger gives See also:calm and dignified expression to the leading ideas which the period of Sturm and Drang had bequeathed to German classical literature. Klinger's works were published in twelve volumes (1809-1815), also 1832–1833 and 1842. The most See also:recent edition is in eight volumes (1878–188o) ; but none of these is See also:complete. A selection will be found in A. Sauer, Sturmer and Dranger, vol. i. (1883). See E. See also:Schmidt, See also:Lenz and Klinger (1878); M.

See also:

Rieger, Klinger in der Sturm- and Drangperiode (188o) ; and Klinger in seiner Reife (1896).

End of Article: KLINGER, FRIEDRICH MAXIMILIAN VON (1752–1831)

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