SOURCE: "Erzählungen I: 'Michael Kohlhaas, ' 'Die Marquise von O . . . ,' 'Das Erdbeben in Chili,'" in Desire's Sway: The Plays and Stories of Heinrich von Kleist, Wayne State University Press, 1983, pp. 76-88.

In the following excerpt, McGlathery examines the theme of sexual sublimation in Michael Kohlhaas, "Die Marquise von O . . . ," and "Das Erdbeben in Chili. "

Of the three stories which fill this volume of collected tales that Kleist published in 1810, only "Die Marquise von O . . ." obviously concerns sexual shame or guilt. This fact is especially surprising because all three tales were begun or finished in Kleist's middle period, between the writing of Der zerbrochne Krug and Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, when erotic psychology was most clearly his dominant interest. The departure from that focus is only superficial, however, for on closer inspection one finds that Michael Kohlhaas and "Das Erdbeben in Chili," are love stories...