The Persistence of Bias in German Eighteenth-Century Studies

Summary

IN MY RECENT book on German women novelists around 1800, I argue that a canon of German literature around 1800 exists, whether scholars desire it or not. O ptimists might counterargue that there are multiple canons, multiple methods by which titles are selected. A more pessimistic view would look at the field of German studies and see the persistence of a gendered, not to say sexist lens, despite at least three waves of change brought on by feminist literary critics and theorists. O pinion is certainly divided. I n this think piece, I take the pessimistic view that yes, we have a canon and despite inroads and new research, it unfortunately skews persistently toward male bias. I put forth this viewpoint in hopes of stimulating discussion and contributing actively to positive change in the field. To support my opinion, I argue as a scholar for other scholars and begin by looking back at the same relevant issues of canonicity and period themselves and measure both how times have changed and how they have not, comparing the specific case of women authors in German literature to more general developments in the humanities overall.

In 1783, Sophie von La Roche published the passage below in her journal, Pomona für Teutschlands Töchter, addressing her readers directly, speaking as a woman to women about women:

Ich hoffe meine Leserinnen sind mit mir zufrieden, daß ich sie vorerst mit den Verdiensten unsers Geschlechts bekannt mache, weil ich sie dadurch ihre eigene [sic] Fähigkeiten näher kennen lehre, und vielleicht den edlen Ehrgeitz erwecke, auch in ihrer Art und nach ihren Umständen Vorzüge des Wissens und der Beschäftigungen zu erwerben.1

I hope that my readers are satisfied with me, in that I shall first make them familiar with the accomplishments of our sex, because through this, I can make them aware of their own capabilities, and perhaps arouse in them the noble ambition to acquire the advantages of knowledge and of occupation, each in her own way and according to her situation.

Here, in the context of a think piece for the Goethe Yearbook, I wish to draw attention to multiple aspects of La Roche's direct apostrophe of her readers and the passage overall.