Ebook: Heldentaten, Heldenträume: Zur Analytik des Politischen im Drama um 1800 (Goethe – Schiller – Kleist)

The political dramas of Goethe, Schiller, and Kleist articulate an early theory of charismatic authority by modeling heroes as figures that reflect the relationship between politics and emotionality. This study shows that the three authors’ texts analytically revolve around the irrational and affective aspect of heroization. They thereby create literary representations of how the heroic emerges out of the collective imaginary.