Performance and Femininity in Eighteenth-Century German Women's Writing: The Impossible Act (Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History)

281 Pages·2006·0.97 MB·English

by  Wendy Arons

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Performance and Femininity in
Eighteenth-Century German
Women’s Writing
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“PalgraveStudiesin Theatre and Performance History” is a series devoted to the best
of theatre/performance scholarship currently available, accessible and free of jargon.
It strives to include a wide range of topics, from the more traditional to those
performance forms that in recent years have helped broaden the understanding of
what theatre as a category might include (from a variety of forms as diverse as the
circus and burlesque to street buskers, stage magic, and musical theatre, among many
others).Although historical, critical, or analytical studies are of special interest, more
theoretical projects, if not the dominant thrust of a study, but utilized as important
underpinning or as a historiographical or analytical method of exploration, are also
of interest. Textual studies of drama or other types of less traditional performance
texts are also germane to the series if placed in their cultural, historical, social, or
political and economic context. There is no geographical focus for this series and
works of excellence of a diverse and international nature, including comparative
studies, are sought.
The editor of the series is Don B. Wilmeth (EMERITUS, Brown University),
Ph.D., University of Illinois, who brings to the series over a dozen years as editor of
a book series on American theatre and drama, in addition to his own extensive expe-
rience as an editor of books and journals. He is the author of several award-winning
books and has received numerous career achievement awards, including one for sus-
tained excellence in editing from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.
Also in the series:
Undressed for Successby Brenda Foley
Theatre, Performance, and the Historical Avant-gardeby Günter Berghaus
Theatre, Politics, and Markets in Fin-de-Siècle Parisby Sally Charnow
Ghosts of Theatre and Cinema in the Brainby Mark Pizzato
Moscow Theatres for Young Peopleby Manon van de Water
Absence and Memory in Colonial American Theatreby Odai Johnson
Performance and Femininity in Eighteenth-Century German Women’s Writing
byWendy Arons
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Performance and Femininity
in Eighteenth-Century German
Women’s Writing
The Impossible Act
Wendy Arons
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PERFORMANCEANDFEMININITYINEIGHTEENTH-CENTURY
GERMANWOMEN’SWRITING
© Wendy Arons,2006.
All rights reserved.No part of this book may be used or reproduced in
any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in 2006 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 and
Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire,England RG21 6XS
Companies and representatives throughout the world.
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St.Martin’s Press,LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan
Ltd.Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States,United
Kingdom and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the
European Union and other countries.
ISBN-13:978–1–4039–7329–0
ISBN-10:1–4039–7329–6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arons,Wendy.
Performance and femininity in eighteenth-century German
women’s writing :the impossible act / by Wendy Arons.
p.cm.—(Palgrave studies in theatre and performance history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–7329–6 (alk.paper)
1.Women authors,German—18th century.2.German literature—
Women authors—History and criticism.3.German literature—
18th century—History and criticism.4.Performance in literature.
5.Femininity in literature.I.Title.II.Series.
PT167.A75 2006
830.9(cid:2)928709033—dc22 2005056606
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd.,Chennai,India.
First edition:October 2006
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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For Roy, Toby, Mike, Avalon, and Leda
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x
Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1
1. “Sophie” and the “Theater” 15
2. Performance as Power: The History of Lady
von Sternheim 49
3. The Performance of a Lifetime: Karoline
Schulze-Kummerfeld 75
4. Antitheatricality and the Public Woman:
Marianne Ehrmann’s Amalie: A True Story in Letters 111
5. The Eye of the Beholder: Elise Bürger’s “Aglaja” and
F. H. Unger’s Melanie, the Foundling 145
6. Play’s the Thing: Sophie Mereau’s “Marie”
and “Flight to the City” 187
Conclusion 207
Notes 223
Bibliography 239
Index 263
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x
Acknowledgments
It is a pleasure, after these many years of working on this book, to
be able to thank publicly the institutions, colleagues, and friends
who have provided invaluable assistance to me along the way. For
support for this project in its earliest stages, I am grateful to the
University of California at San Diego for a dissertation-year fellow-
ship that freed me from the burdens of teaching writing so that
Icould write myself. As a faculty member at the University of Notre
Dame, I have been fortunate to receive several grants from the
Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts in
Letters in support of this project; in addition, the University provided
me with a sabbatical leave, and the Department of Film, Television,
and Theatre arranged for a course reduction during a critical year of
writing. Final, crucial archival work for this manuscript was made
possible by a Merian Fellowship from the Erfurt Transatlantic Research
Program, which gave me the opportunity to work with the handwritten
memoirs of Karoline Schulze-Kummerfeld at the Thüringisches
Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar and conduct research into eighteenth-
century theater at the Schloßbibliothek Gotha. For the assistance of
the staff at these archives as well as at the Anna-Amalie-Bibliothek
and the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, I am forever grateful. This book
would also not have been possible without the heroic and cheerful
assistance of Ken Kinslow and the Interlibrary Loan staff at the
University of Notre Dame, who tracked down the endless lists of
secondary literature I submitted online and helped extend loan
periods when I needed more time with material. Margaret Porter and
Robert Kusmer spared me a trip to Germany by obtaining a microfiche
copy of Schulze-Kummerfeld’s “Hamburg Manuscript,” which is
now part of the collection at the Hesburgh Library at Notre Dame;
my gratitude to them both.
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Acknowledgments ix
Many colleagues have either read and commented on my work or
provided timely advice about the project. Todd Kontje and Katherine
Shevelow introduced me to the field of eighteenth-century women’s
writing, encouraged me to follow what started out as a fanciful idea,
and helped shape and guide this project in its earliest phase. Judith
Halberstam, James Carmody, and Winifred Woodhull helped me to
see a broader argument in my work and to articulate its historical
significance. Several members of Women in German have not only
served as mentors in the field but have also read and given feedback
on this project at various stages, in particular Jeanine Blackwell,
Cindy Brewer, Susan Cocalis, Marjorie Gelus, Marjanne Goozé,
Nancy Kaiser, Susanne Kord, Ursula Mahlendorf, Katrin Sieg,
Liliane Weissberg, and Susanne Zantop. For generously taking the
time to read and comment on my manuscript I am grateful to my
colleagues Don Crafton, Julia Douthwaite, Peter Holland, Robert
Norton, and Pam Wojcik. I also owe thanks to people who shared
their expertise along the way: Ruth Dawson, Lesley Walker, and
Denise Della Rossa all responded to requests for assistance in locating
primary texts; and Mary Frandzen unhesitatingly transcribed several
pages of Schulze-Kummerfeld’s manuscript for me, in the process
also teaching me how to read what I had taken to be indecipherable
scribbles. Unless otherwise noted, all the translations from the
German in this book are mine; I was greatly assisted in that effort by
a circle of colleagues who stepped in to help me with difficult passages
or confirm my rendition of a phrase. For their quick and thorough
responses, I thank Cindy Brewer, Jan Hagens, and especially Kirsten
Christensen. Any errors in the translations are, of course, my own.
Robert Goulding, Sara Maurer, Margaret Meserve, and Emily Osborn
not only helped shape the final draft of each chapter through their
incisive comments, but also provided emotional and psychological
support: through their eyes I finally saw myself as the author of a
book. Finally, this book would not be what it is today without the
meticulous editorial guidance of Lisa Harteker, who asked the tough
questions that needed to be asked and refused to accept lazy answers.
I also thank Don Wilmeth for encouraging me to submit this book
to his series, and Melissa Nosal, Emily Leithauser, and Julia Cohen at
Palgrave for shepherding me through the publication process.