Der russische Kohlhaas? A. V. Suchovo-Kobylin unter Verdacht

A comparison of parallel stories in two cultures, in this case two remarkable legal cases, reveals much about both cultures' specific characteristics by highlighting the narratives' differences and similarities. This study compares one of German literature's most important novellas, Heinrich von Kleist's , with the "Russian Kohlhaas" Suchovo-Kobylin to investigate their proposed similarity. While doing so, it draws on Suchovo-Kobylin's diary, his contemporaries' testimonies, legal documents and archival material to reevaluate the life and work of the wrongly forgotten leading Russian dramatist of the nineteenth century, whose two-hundredth anniversary will pass on September 17, 2017. Both Suchovo-Kobylin's court case, in which he was a murder suspect, as well as corruption in Russia, which was for the first time so vehemently criticized, remain unresolved.