"No amount of wisdom could possibly make sense of the mysterious verdict which God intended through this duel."
A new translation of a key work by one of European literature's most important early writers.
One of the few novellas written by the master German playwright, "The Duel" was considered by Thomas Mann and others to be one of the great works of German literature. The story of a virtuous woman slandered by a nobleman, it is a precise study of a subject that fascinated von Kleist: That people are sometimes seemingly punished for their very innocence.
This Is A Melville House "HybridBook"
HybridBooks are a union of print and electronic media: Purchasers of this print edition also receive Illuminations--additional curated material that expand the world of Kleist's novella through text and illustrations--at no additional charge.
To obtain the Illuminations for "The Duel "by Heinrich von Kleist, simply scan the QR code (or follow a url) found at the back of the print book, which leads to a page where you can download a file for your preferred electronic reading device.
Illuminations for "The Duel" by Heinrich von Kleist contain:
Writings by:
Paul the Deacon - J.G. Millingen - Sir Walter Scott - Johann Ludwig Uhland - Miguel de Cervantes - Andrew Lang - John Carl Blankenagel - Louis and Regis Senac - Alfred Hutton - Fiore de Liberi and a collection of the twelve laws of chivalry.
Full-color illustrations from:
Gerhard von Kugelgen - Johannes Gehrts - Jorg Breu Jungere and Pauls Hector Mair - Achilles Emperaire - George Muhlberg
Also included is The Duelist's Supplement - "The Art of Dueling: How To Shoot and Slash Your Way To Satisfaction" which includes an entire facsimile scan of Fior de Liberi's "Flower of Battle."
The Art of The Novella Series
Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

A reprint of the J M Dent edition of 1997. Heinrich von Kleist was born and grew up in the Enlightenment and died in a suicide pact in 1811, aged only thirty-four. He left behind him literary works which are among the most disturbing and amusing of any produced in that revolutionary and romantic period.

In a Northern Italian town during the Napoleonic Wars, Julietta, a young widow and mother of impeccable reputation, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. This follows an attack on the town's citadel, in which several Russian soldiers tried to assault her before she was rescued by Count F-, at which point she fell unconscious. Thrown out of her father's house, Julietta publishes an announcement in the local newspaper stating that she is pregnant and would like the father of her child to make himself known so that she can marry him.

What follows is an ambiguously comic drama of sexuality and family respectability. One of Kleist's best-loved works, The Marquise of O- is an ingenious and timeless story of the mystery of human desire, and Nicholas Jacobs's new translation captures the full richness of its irony.