German Feminist Writings

by Patricia A. Herminghouse (Editor), Magda Mueller (Editor)

Overview

This collection is organized in five part: Education for Girls and Women; Women and Work; Women and Politics; Issues of Gender; and Women in Art and Literature. It includes more than 90 excerpts by some 50 women writers. Among the author included are Annette von Droste-Hnlshoff (1797-1848), Fanny Lewald (1811-1889), Louise Otto-Peters (1819-1895), Marie Freirfrau von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Hedwig Dohm (1833-1919), Helene Lang (1848-1930), Lily Braun (1865-1916), Rosa Luxemburg (1870-1919) and many more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826412812
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/01/2001
Series:	German Library , #95
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Patricia A. Herminghouse is on the editorial board of The German Library and teaches at the University of Rochester. Magda Mueller teaches in the department of foreign languages, California State University, Chico.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Patricia A. Herminghouse and Magda Mueller
 
EDUCATION FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN
 
Authors - Nantchen Gockingk, Dorothea von Schlozer, Dorothea Christiane Leporin, Amalie Holst, Betty Gleim, Louise Otto-Peters, Luise Buchner, Fanny Lewald, Hedwig Dohm, Helene Lange, Alice Salomon, Gertrud Baumer, Bertha Pappenheim, Ika Hugel-Marshall
 
WOMEN AND WORK
 
Authors - Louise Otto-Peters, Louise Dittmar, Fanny Lewald, Hedwig Dohm, Adelheid Popp, Amalie Seidl, Lily Braun, Grete Lihotzky, Susanne Suhr, Gertrud Baumer, Katharina Groning
 
WOMEN AND POLITICS
 
Authors - Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, Louise Otto-Peters, Mathilde Franziska Anneke, Fanny Lewald, Hedwig, Dohm, Marie Goegg, Lida Gustava Heymann and Anita Augspurg, Helene Lange, Kathe Schirmacher, Adelheid Popp, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Bertha von Suttner, Gabrielle Reuter, Alice Salomon, Helke Sander, Ulrike Maria Meinhof, Christina Thurmer-Rohr, Frigga Haug
 
ISSUES OF GENDER
 
Authors - Sidonie Hedwig Zaunemann, Fanny Lewald, Louise Aston, Mathilde Franziska Anneke, Louise Dittmar, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Lily Braun, Hedwig Dohm, Anna Rueling, Adele Schreiber, Helene Stocker, Kathe Kollwitz, Alice Schwarzer, Marielouise Janssen-Jurreit, Silvia Bovenschen, Karola Bloch, Monika Treut, Margarete Mitscherlich, Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, Luise F. Pusch, Chong-Sook Kang
 
WOMEN IN ART AND LITERATURE
 
Authors - Annette von Droste-Hulshoff, Sophie von La Roche, Fanny Lewald, Rosa Mayreder, Lou Andreas-Salome, Lily Braun, Marieluise Fleißer, Irmtraud Morgner, Silvia Bovenschen, Angelika Mechtel, Gabriele Dietze, Jutta Bruckner, Elisabeth Lenk, Sigrid Weigel, Ginka Steinwachs, Libuse Monikova, Verena Stefan, Anna Mitgutsch

Editorial Reviews

"An expansive collection this anthology is an important addition for research libraries." Library Journal, March 1, 2001

From the Publisher

The Socialist government of the former East Germany provided women with what liberal feminists in Western democracies presumably want: affordable childcare, legalized abortion, and equal employment opportunities. In her lucid, lively study of feminist East German authors, Martens (German, Univ. of Virginia) shows why these offerings were not enough. According to Marxist doctrine, gender inequality would vanish with the abolition of a class system. Yet important East German women like novelist Christa Wolf insisted on women's difference rather than celebrating the abstract ideals of absolute equality as promulgated by the Socialist state. Since it was forbidden to question the overriding significance attributed to class struggle, feminism never became a popular movement in East Germany, and women's literature passed government censors only when it treated women's issues as a secondary concern. Martens explains that East German feminist writing had to resign itself to pointing out the apparently "contradictory" instances of inequality that remained under socialism. Nonetheless, East German feminist writers could draw on a range of precursors. Some of their work is now usefully available in an expansive collection edited by Herminghouse and Mueller. These writings, including those by well-known figures such as Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, and Bertha Pappenheim (Freud's famous patient "Anna O."), cover concerns ranging from education, work, and politics to art and literature. Regrettably, the editors, who have published collections of works by German women writers like Ingeborg Bachmann, chose to exclude early feminist male-authored texts by Friedrich Engels, Johann Bachhofen, and August Bebel that Martens holds significant for an understanding of feminism anywhere. Still, this anthology is an important addition for research libraries, while Martens's book is recommended for academic libraries and specialized collections in women's writing. Ulrich Baer, New York Univ. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Spanning 250 years and representing a range of opinion, 97 essays address issues of cultural and historical significance for the feminist movement in Germany. These include: women's education, work, politics, gender, and representations of women in art and literature. Among the authors included are Anneke, Dohm, von Droste-H<:u>lshoff, von Ebner-Eschenbach, Lewald, Luxemburg, Mitgutsch, Moltmann-Wendel, Morgner, Otto-Peters, and Rueling. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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