Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Passion and Prejudice: Toward a New Literary Canon for the German Novel
- 1 An Anglophile Fräulein and Her Epistolary Emotions: Die Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771)
- 2 Reading for Pleasure vs. Reading for Pain: Julchen Grünthal: Eine Pensionsgeschichte (1784)
- 3 Sympathy for the Sublime: Das Blütenalter der Empfindung (1794)
- 4 The Legitimacy of Passionate Narrative and the Metanarrative of Anonymity: Agnes von Lilien (1796)
- 5 Monstrous Pathos and the Agony of Female Influence: Die Honigmonathe (1804)
- 6 Adultery Rewarded: Women’s Emotions and Men’s Indignity in Frauenwürde (1818)
- Conclusion: Great Books, Or: The Laurel Wreath as a Mixed Blessing
- Appendix A Publication Information and Plot Summaries, Chronologically Listed
- Appendix B Biographies of the Novelists
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Monstrous Pathos and the Agony of Female Influence: Die Honigmonathe (1804)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Passion and Prejudice: Toward a New Literary Canon for the German Novel
- 1 An Anglophile Fräulein and Her Epistolary Emotions: Die Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771)
- 2 Reading for Pleasure vs. Reading for Pain: Julchen Grünthal: Eine Pensionsgeschichte (1784)
- 3 Sympathy for the Sublime: Das Blütenalter der Empfindung (1794)
- 4 The Legitimacy of Passionate Narrative and the Metanarrative of Anonymity: Agnes von Lilien (1796)
- 5 Monstrous Pathos and the Agony of Female Influence: Die Honigmonathe (1804)
- 6 Adultery Rewarded: Women’s Emotions and Men’s Indignity in Frauenwürde (1818)
- Conclusion: Great Books, Or: The Laurel Wreath as a Mixed Blessing
- Appendix A Publication Information and Plot Summaries, Chronologically Listed
- Appendix B Biographies of the Novelists
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
“Heirathen? Alles, nur das nicht; eine so kalte, langweilige Episode in sein Freudenleben schieben: nein, das ging nicht.”
—Friederike Unger, Albert und Albertine (1804)[Marry? Anything but that; to insert such a cold and tiresome episode into one's joyous life: no, that would not work.]
“Z. weiß, daß ich nicht aus Liebe heirathe; ich habe nie auf ein anderes Glük gerechnet, als das ich andern geben könnte.”
—Therese Huber, Sophie(1798)[Z knows that I am not marrying for love; I have never counted on any kind of happiness other than what I can give to others.]
THE WORDS OF THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY ring so familiar they are virtually formulaic. The phrase: “till death us do part” comes from the English Book of Common Prayer's marriage liturgy. The German form is equally familiar: “bis der Tod euch scheidet.” And the active verbs of both languages (“to part” and “scheiden”) imply that death may separate the married partners but not necessarily end the marriage. In either language, it expresses a solemn declaration of commitment based, presumably, on love, one of the major themes of this study because of its inextricable relationship to inner emotion. Codified and externalized, marriage is the traditional conclusion to love in comedic literary texts. Of the four preceding novels treated in this study, both the Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim and Agnes von Lilien end with happy marriages. While the other two, Julchen and Blütenalter, also conclude with marriages, the dénouements of these novels are less neat and tidy. In the next novel of emotion to be accorded the status of a great book, marriage is again the focus, but it produces a tragic conclusion. This fifth novel focuses simultaneously on the binding promises of solemn marriage and the intense emotions of love upon which marriage is predicated, and it portrays the gender-specific differences from the bride's and groom's perspectives. Marriage binds both partners until death. In Caroline Fischer's sweetly titled novel, Die Honigmonathe (The Honeymoon), death rings loudly, constantly reminding the newlyweds of emotional suffering and fear. Ultimately, death becomes a welcome if violent means to end the destructive emotions that are occasioned by an overly passionate marital relationship.
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- Great Books by German Women in the Age of Emotion, 1770-1820 , pp. 138 - 165Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022