The Young Schiller

Friedrich Schiller, the "James Dean of 1782," the original tormented artist, the sexy hothead who made girls sigh. The premiere of his drama "The Robbers"? Cheers in rock-concert decibels, a tumultuous event that breathes the spirit of change sweeping through feudal society. Schiller, author of the "Ode to Joy" immortalized by Beethoven, of "Don Carlos" and countless other plays, poems, essays, stories, histories. A literary monument. But a monument must be built. Schiller begins early, with "The Robbers" at 22. His youth: a story of struggles. With his father, his superiors, with discipline. Poverty, illness, self-destruction. He rebels, is arrested, flees. Pride and arrogance. An obsessive need to write. At the court of Mannheim, a trio emerges: the beautiful young actress Katharina, the established court author Iffland, the raging, reckless talent Schiller. Iffland, who writes for the present, and Schiller, who writes for posterity. An intense rivalry fought with words and won by Iffland. But the ultimate victory is Schiller's, and he will find it in Weimar. But that is another story…