Zur schreibenden Frau im Barock : Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg : sozialhistorische Produktionsbedingungen und ihre literarische Bewältigung

This is an examination of the position of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633--1694) with regard to contemporary societal gender-paradigms, which were the conditions under which she produced her literary work; these same conditions are also reflected in her texts.The first chapter includes a methodological discussion and establishes the importance of applying a socio-historical approach in order to better understand the situation of women in the Baroque period, and of Greiffenberg in particular, in order to answer the question, how it was possible for the author to write and publish at a time that generally excluded women from such activities.The second chapter provides a brief biography of Greiffenberg and a review of secondary literature, with the main focus on the positioning of the poet within patriarchal society.The socio-historical framework includes the religious, social, and legal position of women. These include: the hierarchy of power based on gender-roles, definitions of women in marriage, educational paradigms, as well as characteristics typically attributed to women. An analysis of the moral and theological view of women, as outlined by Martin Luther and presented in sermons by Johann Michael Dilherr, evaluates the general conditions for women during the Baroque period and the specific position of Greiffenberg (chapter three). With a similar aim in mind, chapter four examines the genre of "Hatisvaterliteratur" through the example by Wolfgang Helmhard von Hohberg.This provides a framework for the investigation of Greiffenberg's expressions of her views regarding gender politics. She made the restrictions placed on women a topic in both her published and unpublished texts. She also developed strategies to overcome these restrictions. She found the courage to act against the proscribed role for women by defining her writing as God's will and thus based her profession on a higher authority. She also affirmed the gender-paradigms, while at the same time transgressing their boundaries, whereby she was able to negotiate the roles of both a woman and a publishing writer at a time when one identity conflicted with the other (chapters five and six)

Die Rezeption Bettine von Arnims in der Literaturgeschichtsschreibung des 19ten Jahrhunderts

In this thesis, I analyze literary histories published between 1845 and 1914 to demonstrate a pattern of reception regarding the works of Bettine von Arnim. I will ask how this writer was able to express her radical social-political attitude in writing--relatively unscathed by the repressions of restoration. It will be apparent that a female political author, considered less of a risk to society, faced fewer dangers of censorship than her male counterparts. At the same time, 19th century definitions of Bourgeois women's behavior also served to marginalize her work. She was called a "child" not to be taken seriously, placed in the shadow of men (Goethe, Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim), and her life was generally considered before her work. This placement of the woman outside the realm of the important, her construction as other, caused her exclusion from the canon