Late eighteenth-century German literature was dominated by men. Women were discouraged from reading and scorned as writers, but the attempt to exclude did not always succeed. This study combines archival research, literary analysis, and statistical evidence to give a sociological-historical overview of the conditions of women's literary production.
"German women writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been the subject of feminist literary critical and historical studies for around thirty years. This volume, with contributions from an international group of scholars, takes stock of what feminist literary criticism has achieved in that time and reflects on future trends in the field. Offering both theoretical perspectives and individual case studies, the contributors grapple with the difficulties of appraising 'non-feminist' women writers and genres from a feminist perspective and present innovative approaches to research in early women's writing. This inclusive and cross- disciplinary collection of essays will enrich the study of German women's writing of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and contribute to contemporary debates in feminist literary criticism. Anna Richards is Lecturer in German at Birkbeck College, University of London. Helen Fronius is College Lecturer in German at Keble College, University of Oxford."--Provided by publisher.
Explores both constants and changes in representations of warlike and violent women in German culture over the past six centuries.