Preformations of the Amazonian: Strong Women in German Literature of the Early Enlightenment
The dissertation explores preformations of the Amazonian in German literature of the Early Enlightenment. Far prior to Heinrich von Kleist’s famous Amazonian drama Penthesilea (1808), Amazons and other strong female protagonists were taking over German stages. While Amazons were first mobilized en masse as a cultural symbol by Parisian women during the French Revolution, this thesis explores the possibility that the Amazonian has deeper reaching roots in sociosemiotic practice, particularly in the context of learned women who rose to prominence during the Early Enlightenment. Starting from the archetype of the Amazon, covalent mythological figures of strong women are contextualized with classically inspired texts produced by intellectuals of the emerging German-speaking bourgeoisie. Johann Christoph Gottsched’s efforts to support women’s education finds contextualization through a close reading of his pastoral, Atalanta, oder die bezwungene Sprödigkeit (1741), his Minnesang poems to his wife, and his moral weekly designed for a female reading audience, Die Vernünftigen Tadlerinnen (1725–1726), exploring the possibilities for female autonomy in his play and the importance of the symbol of Minerva in the cultural archive of the Enlightenment. Similarly, the drama Panthea (1744) by Luise Adelgunde Victorie Gottsched is investigated as part of a proto-feminist, emancipatory poetics, where her androgynous protagonist’s suicide is read as a productive failure. Finally, the Electress Maria Antonia Walpurgis Symphora’s Talestri. Regina delle Amazonni / Talestris. Königin der Amazonen (1763) is explored as the self-representation of a female ruler as a Minerva-like Amazon, since she not only wrote the libretto and composed the music, but also performed the main role, literally embodying the queen of the Amazons in the context of court ceremonies. While she attempts to inscribe herself into the patriarchal structure of absolutist rule, her Amazons are also explored as potentially domesticated in favor of enlightened ideals. full-text version (University of Washington)
Research Field: German Philology, modern German literature
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Richard T. Gray (Seattle), Prof. Dr. Mark Stein, Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf
Current Projects
2018 Visiting Lecturer at the Department of German, University of Pittsburgh, PA 2017 - 2018 English Teacher, Business English, WWU Münster 2016 - 2017 Postdoc and Lecturer, Deutsches Seminar at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Teach@Tuebingen) Academic CV
2016 Submission of PhD thesis, WWU Münster
PhD, German Studies, University of Washington, Seattle (dual program)seit 2009 PhD Studies at the Graduate School Practices of Literature, WWU Münster
Language Teacher, English as a Foreign Language, WWU Münster2009 MA, German Studies, University of Washington 2008 - 2009 Teaching Assistant, Department of Germanics der University of Washington, Seattle
Student Scholarship for the Humboldt-Universität, Berlin2007 - 2008 Max Kade Fellowship 2005 BA, German Studies, Columbia University in the City of New York