Michael Kohlhaas

Michael Kohlhaas is a novella by the German author Heinrich von Kleist, based on a 16th-century story of Hans Kohlhase.

From this history Kleist fashioned a novella that dramatized a personal quest for justice in defiance of the claims of the general law and the community.

In spite of support of a friendly politician and personal engagement of his wife (who is struck down by a guard in her attempt to deliver a petition to the Elector of Saxony and later dies of her injuries), he remains unsuccessful.

Together with seven men he destroys the castle of the Junker, who in the meantime has fled to Wittenberg, and slaughters the remaining servants (including an infant).

The Elector of Brandenburg manages to have Kohlhaas released, but since in the meantime Saxony has informed the Kaiser in Vienna, the ruling families in Berlin feel this threat to the authority of the aristocracy must be handled with severity.

Through his lawyer, he is informed that his suit against the Junker has been successful, and is presented with compensation for the injuries of his hired man and shown the horses, now well-fed and healthy.

The story of Michael Kohlhaas had an influence on E. L. Doctorow's 1975 novel Ragtime, which uses similar plot elements and has a protagonist named "Coalhouse Walker".

[8] The theatrical work Kohlhaas [it] (1990) by Italian playwright and actor Marco Baliani is a direct adaptation of Kleist's book.

[9] Fredric Jameson references Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas in his 1991 book, Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.

[10] The 1999 play Közellenség (Public Enemy) by Hungarian writer István Tasnádi [hu] tells the story of Kohlhaas from the viewpoint of the two black horses.

[11][12] In German-speaking medical circles, the term "Kohlhaas syndrome" has been adopted widely to indicate a personality type exhibiting a compulsive need of being right.