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Friedrich Schiller was a dramatist and poet for the ages, an important aesthetic theorist, and among Germany's first historians. But he left few works of literary prose behind - seven short tales and fragments, almost all from early in his career - and although they include some of his most resonant in his own time, they are largely overlooked today. Several of the pieces - which include The Ghost-Seer, A Magnanimous Act from Most Recent History, The Criminal of Lost Honor: A True Story, A Curious Example of Female Vengeance, Duke Alba at Breakfast at Castle Rudolstadt, Play of Fate: A Fragment of a True Story, and Haoh-Kiöh-Tschuen - have never before appeared in English translation. But they are a seminal link in the evolution of the then-nascent German novella. They exhibit the anthropological curiosity and moral confusion that made Schiller's first drama, The Robbers, a sensation, demonstrating an original artistry that justifies consideration of scholars and students today, on the eve of the 250th anniversary of his birth. New translations of the seven works appear here together with introductory critical essays. Contributors: Jeffrey L. High, Nicholas Martin, Otto W. Johnston, Gail K. Hart, Dennis F. Mahoney; Translators: Francis Lamport, Ian Codding, Jeffrey L. High, Ellis Dye, Edward T. Larkin, Carrie Ann Collenberg. Jeffrey L. High is associate professor at California State University Long Beach A magnanimous act from most recent history (1782) -- A remarkable example of female revenge (taken from a manuscript by the late Denis Diderot) (1785) -- The criminal of lost honor. a true story (1786) -- The Duke of Alba's breakfast at Rudolstadt Castle in the year 1547 (1788) -- Game of fate. A fragment of a true story (1789) -- The spiritualist. From the Memoirs of Count von O* (1789) -- The philosophical dialog from The spiritualist (1789) -- Haoh-Kiöh-Tschuen (The tale of a perfect match) (1800-1801) -- (A fragment of) A true story (from most recent history): the Truth in Schiller's literary prose works / Jeffrey L. High -- Playing with the rules: Schiller's experiments in short prose fiction, 1782-1789 / Nicholas Martin -- Diderot and Schiller's "revenge": from Parisian parody to German moral education / Otto W. Johnston -- True crime and criminal truth: Schiller's "The criminal of lost honor" / Gail K. Hart -- Der Geisterseher: a princely experiment or, the creation of a "spiritualist" / Dennis F. Mahoney
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