Lauren Nossett – författare

The Virginal Mother in German Culture presents an innovative and thorough analysis of the contradictory obsession with female virginity and idealization of maternal nature in Germany from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Lauren Nossett explores how the complex social ideal of woman as both a sexless and maternal being led to the creation of a unique figure in German literature: the virginal mother. At the same time, she shows that the literary depictions of virginal mothers correspond to vilified biological mother figures, which point to a perceived threat in the long nineteenth century of the mother's procreative power.Examining the virginal mother in the first novel by a German woman (Sophie von La Roche), canonical texts by Goethe, nineteenth-century popular fiction, autobiographical works, and Thea von Harbou's novel Metropolis and Fritz Lang's film by the same name, this book highlights the virginal mother at pivotal moments in German history and cultural development: the entrance of women into the literary market, the Goethezeit, the foundation of the German Empire, and the volatile Weimar Republic. The Virginal Mother in German Culture will be of interest to students and scholars of German literature, history, cultural and social studies, and women's studies.

The Virginal Mother in German Culture presents an innovative and thorough analysis of the contradictory obsession with female virginity and idealization of maternal nature in Germany from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Lauren Nossett explores how the complex social ideal of woman as both a sexless and maternal being led to the creation of a unique figure in German literature: the virginal mother. At the same time, she shows that the literary depictions of virginal mothers correspond to vilified biological mother figures, which point to a perceived threat in the long nineteenth century of the mother's procreative power.Examining the virginal mother in the first novel by a German woman (Sophie von La Roche), canonical texts by Goethe, nineteenth-century popular fiction, autobiographical works, and Thea von Harbou's novel Metropolis and Fritz Lang's film by the same name, this book highlights the virginal mother at pivotal moments in German history and cultural development: the entrance of women into the literary market, the Goethezeit, the foundation of the German Empire, and the volatile Weimar Republic. The Virginal Mother in German Culture will be of interest to students and scholars of German literature, history, cultural and social studies, and women's studies.

This volume examines the world of German women writers who emerged in the burgeoning literary marketplace of eighteenth-century Europe.Beginning in the 1770s, the German literary market experienced unprecedented growth. The enormous demand for reading materials that stimulated this burgeoning market created new opportunities for women writers. At the same time, they still faced numerous obstacles. The new opportunities and limitations imposed on women writers are the subject of this book. The eleven essays contained within look beyond the negative strategies women writers employed, such as hiding their intellectual accomplishments or legitimizing their works by subordinating them to non-artistic purposes. Instead, they ask how women wrote about their own creative processes both directly, for example, by sketchinga female poetology, and indirectly, through literary representations of female authorship. This volume examines concepts of female authorship as they are presented in women's correspondence, theoretical statements, and literary works. The contributors bring to life the collaborative literary world of female writers through explorations of familial and professional mentorships, salons, writing circles, and their correspondences. They consider how female authors positioned themselves within contemporary intellectual discourses and analyze the tropes that shaped ideas about their authorship throughout the emerging literary marketplace of eighteenth century Europe.Contributors: Karin Baumgartner, Margaretmary Daley, Ruth P. Dawson, Denise M. Della Rossa, Renata Fuchs, Amy Jones, Julie L. J. Koehler, Elisabeth Krimmer, Sara Luly, Monika Nenon, Lauren Nossett, Angela Sanmann.Elisabeth Krimmer is Professor of German at the University of California, Davis, and Lauren Nossett is Visiting Assistant Professor of German at Randolph-Macon College.