wome:n in german - Coalition of Women in German

wome:n in german - Coalition of Women in German

WOME:N IN GERMAN
MARCH- 1985
The Coalition of Women in German, an allied organization of the MLA, invites
students, teachers and all others interested in Feminism and German Studies
to subscribe to the newsletter. See the last page of this issue for rates.
Women in German Steering Committee:
Ritta Jo Horsley, U. Mass., Boston (1981-84)
Almut R. Poole, Los Angeles (1981-84)
Jeannine Blackwell, Michigan State U. (1982-85)
Political Action Committee
Barbara D. Wright, U. Conn., Storrs (1982-85)
Political Action Committee
Sandra Frieden, U. Houston (1983-86)
Fundraising Coordinator
Edith Waldstein, M.I.T. (1983-86)
Conference Coordinator, 1984
Coeditor (with Marianne Burkhard, U. Illinois),
(1982- )
~
in German Yearbook
Dinah Dodds, Lewis and Clark ColI. (1984-87)
Conference Coordinator, 1985
Sydna Weiss, Hamilton ColI. (1984-87)
Textbook Review Committee
The Women in German Newsletter is published in March, August and November of
each year. Send newsletter items to:
Susan L. Cocalis
Dept. of German--Herter Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, HA 01003
Editorial Staff:
Leslie Morri's, Karin Obermeier, Colette van Kerckvoorde
Table of Contents
WIG Newsletter in Transition •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
tiIG Projects ........................................................ .
Aus Unserem Briefkasten ............................................. .
I
WOMEN IN GERMAN
Number 36
March .1985
The final -- and most coveted -- installment for this newsletter has just
arrived from Ft. Wayne: Erin Clausen's artwork. She, at least, will continue
to serve on the editorial staff of the WIG Newsletter even if Jeanette will be
enjoying a long overdue and certainly. well-earned respite from her editorial
chores. It is hard to conceive of a newsletter produced without Jeanette -in fact, so hard that she ended up doing most of the groundwork for this issue.
Page after-page of material with comments scribbled on attached scraps of
yellow paper began to arrive in Northa~ton. Then there were the more
extensive directives scribbled on white paper. These were followed up by phone
calls: did you do this or that? one has to go here or there and do this or
that ••• did you call so-and-so? no??? well, we did ••• ad infinitum. Then
the mailing list came. Then Erin's drawings. -y felt reassured: Jeanette
was still with us. I only wish she could stay with us but -- alas -- that is
not to be. Thank you, Jeanette, on behalf of all of us in WIG for everything
you have done over the past few years. It really has been service above and
beyond the call of duty I
soon as we get our act together, a collective of ~ASS graduate students and
area faculty members will be involved in the production of future newsletters.
The present issue will be a rather makeshift affair because of the transfer of
materials and my belated awareness of what tasks still had to be assigned and
done. Please bear with us for the time being.
As
Special thanks for this issue go to Colette van Kerckvoorde, Karin Obermeier,
and Leslie Morris.
SLC
We've often talked about the problem of diversity in WIG and the need for
various "voices." We graduate students are becoming an ever-growing, more active,
and integrated part, yet we haven't articulated our needs as a group -- we want
to explore these needs and open up communication with each other to combat the alltoo-familiar sense of isolation in which we operate. We'd like the WIG
newsletter to provide a forum for graduate students in Germanistik and Comp. Lit.
to exchange information on our work and interests and to recognize each other's
efforts. Any information, concerns, anecdotes, impressions, i. e. ANYTHING I
would be very welcome •••• Write to:
Leslie Morris/Karin Obermeier
C/O of German Dept. at UMass, Amherst
2)
Spri~
1985
\t01EN IN GERMAN is a feninist coalition camdtted to praJDti~ feninist scholarship and pedagogy in Gel1'lBJl
literary, cultural, and language studies at all educational levels. WIG was formed in 1975 and is open to
students and teachers alike, as well as to feninists world~ outside academe. An allied organization of
the MLA, WIG has created a carm.mication network and support system for our 3.50 menbers in the USA,
Canada, and six other countries. We have worked closely with feninist gemanists in the FRG in foundi~
a sister organization there.
WIG has held an amual fall conference since 1976 and sponsors both literary and pedagogical sessions at
the annual conventions of the M'lG and MLA. Our sessions have consistently been arong the best attended.
WIG publishes three newsletters annually and a yearbook. Other publications include a collection of 50
course syllabi and a carpendiun of textbook reviews; an anthology of prose by contenporary waren writers
in translation is in the planni~ stages. Geman departments and academc journals have becane aware of
a large and vigilant feminist presence in the profession; our voices have been heard (and to sane extent
heeded) in textbook departments of major publishers. We have begtm to integrate Geman waren writers
into the curriculun and have created new courses for studyi~ wanen's writings in the context of femini st
theory. We have supported and inspired research on wanen by our students and colleagues. We are canmitted to helping waren gain tenure and to raisi~ our voices in protest when they are denied it unfairly.
In short, ~ have (ought sexism and validated the study of wanen.
Since 1980, we have invited a guest writer to our fall meeti~s: Margot Schroeder in 1980, Angelika
Mechte 1 in 1981, Luise Rinser in 1982, Barbara FrisclmJth in 1983, and lnocraud Morgner and He Iga SchUtz
in 1984. In addition, we have sponsored visits by I~eborg Drewitz and Gisela Dischner to our MLA sessions. To becOOP a nerber and subscribe to the newsletter, fill out and return the coupon with
your check. Those who join at the supporting nerbership rate help us keep rates low for students and
UIle!'I'ployed.
WIG PROJ€CTS
Textbook Reviews: The steering committee member now in charge of textbook
reviews is Sydna (Bunny) Weiss at Hamilton College. Let her know your concerns
in this area, and offer to help on the new textbook project.
"to
Wo.,.. In Ger8aD!!
Please take 5 minutes to photocopy, then fill out the following
questionnaire. Marianne Burkhard and I are trying to find out
what women are doing In our profession, and think this form
will help. Imagine It as everywoman's guide to the Monatshefte
survey. I hope the results will be pubUshed somewhere (possibly
the WIG Yearbook or maybe Monatsheft~). Give copies to all the
women German teachers you know _. high sr.i'lool, community
college, etc. Encourage them to get It In by HAy IS.- The more,
the better. Feel free to add extra commentary and to critique
the form (you know those pesky feminists: meckern, meckern,
meckern).
Jeannine 'Blackwell
Wells Hall A-721
MSU
East Lansing, MI 48824
i
-3-
Questionnaire on wOlDen In Gennan
(Please make copies and give to your female colleagues)
Return to: Jeannine Blackwell,Wells Hall A-721, MSU, East Lansing, MI
48824 It)'
MAy IS, liflS"
1.
Describe the Institution you work In:
a. secondary school
b. undergraduate Institution
c. graduate degree-granting institution
d. business/professional sphere
2. "Status" of your institution
a. age
1. 1-25 years old
2. 26-100 years old
3. over 100 years old
a. private
b. pubUc
a. liberal art orientation
b. technical/vocational
b. sex distribution, students
1. under 40% female
2. 40-60% female
3. over 60% female
b. # of German majors (put # of minors in parentheses)
c.
German majors' main interest: Rank from 1 (most) to 4
Uterature
German high culture (classics in art, music, architecture)
-- social history/ contemporary culture
- vocational direction
d. Most of our 3rd and 4th year students (check appUcable categories):
are German majors
- - are in science/professional fields
- - are lower caUber than the average student here
could handle graduate study in German
are women
:==
3. Your job: What do you do for your dept.
a. that men of your rank do not do?
b. that is instrumental in teaching
innovation, A-V, teacher training, etc.)
innovation?
(CAl,
textbook
c. that leads to program diversification or curriculum innovation?
(fUm, business German, internship organizing, etc.)
4. What other administrative units do you participate in, and how? (women's
studies, schools of communications, fUm studies, etc.)
-4-
5. What administrative functions do you have in addition to teaching and
research? (coordinator or director of women's studies, affirmative action,
chair or head of German section, programs abroad, honors, etc.)
6. Your "status"
a. (present rank)
b. (years in rank)----------'--c. temporary/permanent (cIrcle)
d. fulltime/parttime (circle)
e. if non-permanent or non-tenure track, check the category that best
explains your job:
1. I wanted a temporary job
2. the only job I could get nationwide was temporary
3. I am limited geographically for family reasons, and want a
temporary job
4. I am limited geographically for family reasons, but want a
tenure-track job
5. My research has not been up to the standards of the job
applicant pool
a. because of family responsibilities
b. because of excess teaching load/work load
c. because I am not dedicated to research fulltime
d. because I was out of the research mainstream
6. Men get full time, women parttlme
7. Faculty discrimination in hiring (give year of hiring
8. Bad counseling in graduate school (give year and locatlon:9. I just wasn't good enough for serious scholarship
10. I had other priorities and interests in my life
11. My specialty is/was not in demand
f. years at Institution______
The biggest problem with/asset of the teaching of German today is:
1. literary research: ______________________
2. faculty interaction: _____________
---------------------------------------_._-------3. teaching/focus of major: __..__________________,_ _
--------_.----,------------------
--------_.----------------.-------------------------------4. relations with rest of college/school: ___,______________
-5-
MLA
It occurred to some of us that WIG, which is an allied organization of the
MLA, could make more of a difference in that organization if we had more
representation on the executive committees of some of the MLA Divisions. So
we're asking all of you who are MLA members to help us get some WIG members
onto the executive committee ballot. We propose the following slate (these
women have agreed to be nominated, and to serve if elected), and we're asking
you to endorse our choices.
JILL
German Literature to 1700
MCOO~ALD
RUTH-ELLEN B. JOERES
MARIANNE BURKHARD
JOEY HORSLEY
- 18th and Early 19th Century German Literature
19th and Early 20th Century German Literature
- 20th Century German Literature
BARBARA D. WRIGHT
- Women's Studies in Language and Literature
Now, then. This is what needs to be done: If you're an MLA member, you will
receive a mailing from the MLA in which, among other things, you are invited
to make nominations to replace outgoing executive committee members for the
Divisions you belong to. DON'T THROlo1 THAT MAILING AWAY! Instead, refer to the
above list and nominate the appropriate WIG member for each Division you belong
to. If enough of us do this, our candidates will be included on the ballot.
Then, of course, you'll have to remember to vote for them when MLA elections
are held sometime next fall.
For detailed information about how the MLA Divisions and their executive
committees operate, see PMLA Vol. 99, No.4 (Directory, Sept. 1984), pp. 566-68.
Please do help get Wiggies elected to these positions. It will help us influence
the programming in the German and Women's Studies sections at the MLA annual
conventions..
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-6-
AUS UNSEREM BRIEfl<ASTEN
Der Besuch von Irmtraud Mbrgner und Helga Schutz an Washington University in
St. Louis (27. - 30. Oktober 1984)
Durch die 1angjahrige Lehrtatigkeit unserer WIG-Schwester ~at Herminghouse im
Bereich DDR-Literatur und besonders durch die Aktivitaten um das hier pub1izierte
GDR-Bu11etin war ein groBes Interesse fur die DDR-Schriftstellerinnen Irmtraud
Mbrgner und Helga Schutz an Washington University vorhanden. Bei uns arbeiten
mehrere Doktorandinnen uber DDR-Schriftstel1erinnen, u. a. uber Irmtraud
Morgner. Wir wollen unseren WIG-Schwestern, vor allem Karen Achberger, dafur
danken; habt ihr den Besuch doch erst uberhaupt maglich gemacht. Durch
Beitritt zu WIG konnte unsere Deutschabteilung die beiden Schriftste11erinnen
tatsachlich einladen. Der Besuch war ein Riesenerfolg und wurde zu einem der
sicher1ich interessantesten und unvergess1ichsten Ereignisse, die bei uns an
der Abtei1ung in den letzten Jahren stattgefunden haben.
Da die Schriftstellerinnen einen Besuch in St. -Louis nur von Samstag bis
Dienstagmorgen einp1anen konnten, las Helga Schutz am Sonntagnachmittag aus
Julia. Daran spann sich eine anregende Diskussion mit einem der DDR-Literatur
aufgeschlossenen Pub1ikum. Trotz des ungewohnlichen Termins waren viele
Zuhorer gekommen. Die den Nachrnittag absch1ieRende Filmvorfuhrung Die Leiden
des jun~en Werthers (Regie: Egon Gunther. Szenarium: Helga Schutz) vermittelte
einen E1ndruck in die vielseitige Schaffenskraft von Helga Schutz.
Am fo1genden Nachmittag las Irmtraud MOrgner. Wiederum war der Vortragsraum bis
auf den 1etzten Platz voll. Morgner hatte das 79. Kapitel ("Die Heiratsschwind1erin
- oder.Warum muB Barbara auf ihren ProzeB warten?") aus Amanda ausgewah1t, das sie
selbst a1s eine der "knalligen" Stellen im Roman bezeichnete. Sie schloB mit
einem Kapitel des neuen und dritten Teils der Laura-Sa1man-Tri10gie abo Ihre
~~ingende Vortragsweise machte den hexischen-feministischen Humor ihres Werkes
zu einer sinn1ichen Erfahrung; es gelang ihr, auch die Skeptiker um den Finger
zu wicke In. Die Morgner-Fans fan den die in sie gesetzten Erwartungen erful1t.
Der Besuch der Schriftstel1erinnen war von zwei Parties umrahmt: am Samstagabend
bei Dorle und Egon Schwarz und am Sonntagabend von einer Halloween-Party bei der
Aachener Austauschstudentin Frauke Langguth. Hier konnten die beiden Frauen nur
kurz bleiben, da sie die Gelegenheit nicht versaumen wol1ten, Formans Amadeus
zu sehen. Nach dem gemeinsam verbrachten Sonntag -- wir hat ten ihnen Midtown
gezeigt --, ergab es sich, daB wir noch recht viel zusammen unternahmen. Beide
Frauen waren mit der Erwartung hierher gekommen, daB St. Louis das Zentrum des
Blues sei. Doch die Zeit der Bluesbars im 'Gaslight Square' ist schon lange vorbei. Dank der Tips von Rob Leventhal konnten wir eine Blueskneipe ausfindig
machen und unseren GAsten den Wunsch, authentischen Blues zu horen, am ~ontag­
abend noch erfu11en und zwar im '1860 Saloon' im Sou1ard Viertel.
Bei dem 'Sack-lunch' mit der Redaktion des GDR-Bulletins wurden die beiden
Schriftste1lerinnen mit den Aufgaben und Arbeitsweisen des Kol1ektivs bekannt
gemacht. Leider muBte der spontan gefaBte EntschluB, in die Max-BeckmannAusste1lung zu gehen, ins Wasser fallen, da das Museum ausgerechnet an dem Tag
geschlossen war.
-7-
Es fiel uns schwer, von Helga SchUtz und Irmtraud HDrgner Abschied zu nehmen.
UnvergeRlich bleiben die vielen Fahrten in Pats altem Ford-Stationwagen unter
allen erdenklichen Wetterbedingungen (Regen, Nebel, Kilte sowie Mondschein)
und mit Nina Simone Musik. Zum SchluB noch eine kleine Anekdote: Mit ihrem
bestimmten Auftreten konnte Morgner sogar uns Amerikaerfahrenen davon Uberzeugen, daB die Uhr zum Herbstzeitwechsel nicht vor, sondern nachgestellt
werde. Obwohl wir nicht von Zweifeln frei waren, glaubten wir ihr. Als wir
am nachsten Morgen zur verabredeten Zeit in ihrem Hotel auftauchten, waren wir
zwei Stunden zu frUh und standen als die leichtglaubig VerfUhrten da. Das
war sicherlich kein bewuBter Eulenspiegeltrick.
Vielleicht, das ist unser Vorschlag, wire es maglich, urn 10. oder 15. Jubilaum
irgendwo eine lo1IG-SoDJDerwerkstatt zu planen, zu der wir alle bisher von WIG
eingeladenen Schriftstellerinnen wiederum zusammenbringen und eine Mammutfeier
veranstalten: wenn wir gemeinsam davon traumen, wird es vielleicht Realitat
werden.
Mit schwesterlichen GrUBen!
Tineke Ritmeester, Magda Mueller und Hildegard Pietsch
AATG, MLA 1984
The summaries published here represent only a very partial picture of
the WIG sessions held at the AATG
and MLA conventions in 1984.
--- .
.:.~.--.-
17. Dtu W~;b lnllet Jm
Jlhrhunderts)
LA-I In Welt (Deutscher Holzschnin des 16.
-8AATG - 1984
WOMEN AND PEACE
Moderators: Irmgard Hunt, Texas Tech U.
Irmgard Taylor, SUNY/Cortland
The Women in German session at the AATG, Chicago, went very well. We had
three excellent and very different presentations that held the interest of
the audience. In fact, the audience grew as we went along. That had a lot
to do with the early hour (our session was from 8:30 - 9:30). Edith
Waldstein spoke first on "Bertha von Suttner and the European Peace Movement
of the Early Twentieth Century." The emphasis, as she explained prior to her
talk, was on Suttner's novel "Die Waffen Nieder!" and the characterization of
the main figures. (If anyone wants to have an intense experience of deja-vue
I recommend reading this novel -- now in paperback in the FRG by Knaur
Verlag, DM 9,80 -- because so many of the current peace movement thoughts
were expressed by Suttner so long ago.) Sara Friedrichsmeyer then spoke on
"The Diary of Kathe Kollwit-z" and her attitude toward war. Tineke Ritmeester
reported on a "Women and Peace" course she teaches and distributed her
syllabus. She started and ended with two powerful poems, and explained her
personal commitment to the cause of peace.
My impression was that the papers, or rather the entire session, was very
well received. The attendance was as goo~ or better than other sessions
that Sunday. I heard no further negative comments on the topic of the
session as such and believe it best not to make a fuss about the time slot.
After all, many people were scheduled for Sund~y. Herta Stephenson explained
the late Sunday time slot for the WIG cinema session by the very late
submission of the session proposal (way past the deadline). One way to
ensure preferential treatment for time slots would be to have a WIG member
on the AATG Planning Committee, or at least an ally. Do we have one? It
would be worthwhile to take note of next year's committee members.
Irmgard Taylor
SUNY/Cortland
"From Revolutionary to Pacifist:
The Diaries of KMthe Kollwitz"
In the decades since Kathe Kollwitz began
to exhibit her graphic works, the
appraisals they have elicited from art
historians and other arbiters of taste have
varied greatly, dependin~ on the favor
accorded the socially committed work of a
woman artist. One constant in these
vagaries of art appreciation, however,
has been the recurring perception of
Kollwitz as an artist with revolutionary
impUlses. In addition to her graphic art
-9and sculpture, Kollwitz also left diaries,
written between 1909 and 1943. In my presentation
I assumed the literary merits of these diaries,
and used them to examine this assessment of
Kollwitz as a "revolutionary" artist. For if
art historians seem to agree that the demand for
the radical overthrow of existing social and
political systems defines her work, a reading of
her diaries challenges that consensus. The
diaries not only put into perspective the
revolutionary fervor which inspired some of her
major works, but in chronicling her development,
demonstrate what I suggested should be seen as
Kollwitz's evolution from revolutionary to
pacifist. In addition to discussing the link
between that change and Kollwitz's developing
consciousness of herself as a woman and mother,
I also stressed the connection between that
particular awareness and the style of the
..........
journal entries, a style which corroborates recent
claims for a female aesthetic. Kollwitz, as we
all know, is worthy of close attention for her
graphic works and sculpture. When the dimensions of her commitment to
pacifism are recognized, she gains even more importance for our time, not
only as an artist, but as a woman and diarist as well.
Sara Friedrichsmeyer
University of Cincinnati/
Raymond Walters General
and Technical College
"Reevaluating Teaching
'l~omen
and Peace '"
I began my presentation with a reading of "I Am A Dangerous Woman" by Joan
Cavanagh (in: Reweaving the Web of Life, ed. Pam McAllister, Philadelphia,
1982, p. 2). Feminist teaching is a form of feminist activism. To teach
a course on "Women and Peace" based on the notion that the nersonal is the
political and vice versa requires a shift in emphasis from conventional
issues of war and peace to violence against women in all its aspects.
Students must be encouraged to ask questions about war and peace from a
feminist perspective and to acquire an ability to perceive these issues
as they directly affect the lives of all women.
In the paper I talk about my experiences in the German shelter movement
("Frauen helfen Frauen") and of my allegiance to the European peace
movement at the time when I began planning the course. Five years later,
I see that violence against women is still on the increase (20% increase in
rape in 1984 in St. Louis alone) and that the peace movement has failed in
its prime objective: halting the European deployment of cruise missiles.
This raises the question of whether we,as feminists, ought not to rethink
our place within the peace movement. My paper (and the course) address
the following proposition: if peace does have a better chance with
women, that is because women are closer to the roots of war and NOT because
-10they are closer to the source of life. Feminist teaching must
committed to promoting social change for women.
r~main
Tineke Ritmeester
Washington U/St. Louis
WOMEN AND GER}ofAN FILM
Moderator: Barbara Hyams, University of Tulsa
"Women in We imar Cinema"
The purpose of my presentation was to introduce a variety of approaches
for teaching courses on Women in Weimar Cinema and to provide information
about available literature and films. (I would be happy to supply
bibliographical information and film lists to anyone interested in
teaching such a course.) The approaches included a more traditional
concentration on plot ~na1yses of films in which central female figures
appear either as virgins or vamps, the investigation of cinematic
techniques (shot composition and montage) in films that promote a
patriarchal or male gaze, and the study of contributions by women in
all branches of the cinematic institution during the Weimar Era. I
suggested that, regardless of the focal point, instructors should
challenge their students to perceive how aspects of standard commercial
film production (including the star system and film genres), the
commercial and political interests of the institution's leading
executives and producers, the psychological instability of the lower
middle class, and the status of the women's movement contributed to
the production of female stereotypes in lleimar cinema.
..
-11Although the study of contributions by women in Weimar cinema could
be very rewarding, it is also the most difficult topic to integrate
into a film course today. In addition to famous actresses such as
Marlene Dietrich. Lilian Harvey, and Henny Porten, we can see how
female producers (Asta Nielson and Henny Porten). directors
(Leontine Sagan, Marie Harder. and Leni Riefensthal). scriptwriters
(Thea von Harbou). and critics (Lotte Eisner, Lilli Kaufmann, Alice
Simmel. and Trude Sand) contributed significantly to the development
of Weimar cinema. Except for the films to which they contributed
and, in the case of the critics. the reviews, very few primary and
secondary sources are available. I believe that more attention should
be paid to the work of these and other women as the interest in
feminist film studies expands.
The discussion following the session on Women and Film centered on the
portrayal of female figures in the films of the Third Reich. The
discussion raised many questions and provided few conclusive answers.
It might be worthwhile to organize a session on the topic for a WIG,
AATG, or MLA convention in the future.
Bruce A. Murray
University of Michigan
"6. THI: BLua ANOaL: Marlene Dietrich .. Lola LoIa-provoeaUn legs aDd an
over-all impassivity•
-12-
"Introducing Students to a New Way of Viewing:
Teaching Three Feminist Films from the New German Cinema"
This paper was an evaluation of my recent experience introducing
students to three German feminist films as part of a fourth-year
university course on the New German Cinema. Rather than submerge
these three films into the general themes of the course, I treated
them as central works that offer a new way of viewing. While this
was only one segment of a course which dealt with fourteen contemporary
German films, it elicited the liveliest discussion: the introduction
of a feminist political stance offered students a new way of thinking
about film, contemporary German society, and politics.
Helma Sanders-Brahms' Deutschland, b1eiche Mutter (1978), Margarethe
von Trotta's Die b1eierne Zeit (1981), and Helke Sander's Die al1seitig
reduzierte Person1ichkeit: REDUPERS (1977) were each shown twice during
the cuurse of the semester. Students were to have prepared themselves
for the showings by reading articles in English and/or German. They
were also provided with a list of questions to consider while viewing
the films. These questions were designed to further a feminist
approach and centered particularly on women's role in history, women
as narrators and their narrative perspective, the act of recognizing
a film's political importance, the meaning of the titles, and the
role of men and children in it. Ultimately students had to consider
whether they had seen anything in the films which they had not seen before.
Our general conclusions may be summarized as follows: all three films
emphasized the limited, sUbjective nature of historical accounts and
all attempted to propose a feminist alternative to conventional
histories. "The latter embraces what von Trotta calls the "Blick nach
in'nen" and the "Blick nach auBen." While the subject of the films
might be women and women's issues, they were essentially defined by
woman as narrator, woman as possessor of the gaze.
Lynne Tatlock
Washington U/St. Louis
57. TIM Mothe,..
K.~.11I
-13MLA -1984
(RE)MAKING MYTH IN GERMAN WOMEN'S WRITING
Moderator: Angelika Bammer, Vanderbilt University
"Allusions to Daedalus and Icarus in recent GDR art"
".,nnwlt. .. "ynu.s
w" It......
An examination of six generically different GDR artworks, all of
which contain explicit or implicit allusions to one or both
figures of the Greek legend, raises, expecially because of geosociopolitical restrictions in the GDR, more questions than it
answers. Readings of Biermann's "Ballade vom PreuSischen Ikarus,"
Wolfgang Mattheuer's "Ikarus" painting, Bettina Wegner's "Ikarus"
song for Klaus Schlesinger's film of that title, Monika Maron's
novel F1ugasche, Helga Schubert's prose poem "Himmel," and Christa
Wolf's Voraussetzungen einer Erz~hlung nonetheless permit some
preliminary speculations regarding the artists' assumptions of
predetermined mythical concepts and the manner in which they rely
(or not) on these assumptions. These hypotheses emerged from the
reading: 1) that Daedalus and Icarus function equally as
referents -- and sometimes the reference is confusing (or confused);
2) that men are more likely than women to assume the existence of
what Barthes calls "metalanguage," and anticipate reception in terms
of that assumption; and 3) that women work either with attempted
revision of the direct allusion or with obscure reference.
Biermann and Mathheuer depend on imagistic representation, employ
myth as ready-made language, and select from it that which serves
their own purposes, thus neglecting the far-reaching sub-strata of
signification suggested by the allusion. Wegner's Icarus is a
child, oppressed by society's whims and expelled from childhood by
its realities. Maron deals as well with a protagonist oppressed
by her everyday world of bureaucratic immobility. Schubert locates
an unnamed "I" on the uneasy horizon between individuality and
social conformity. Maron and Schubert conf1ate Daedalus and Icarus
in a perhaps subconscious narrative action that suggests the
fundamental inappropriateness of the familiar myth for women.
These authors are involved in a "remaking," in an insistence on
re-vision motivated not by conscious effort, but by the very fact
of gender.
Christa Wolf, finally, would have us return to the origins of the
legend and question the verities of its initial syntax in order to
discover how the original reading of myth has predetermined and
predefined the welfare of western civilization, and especially the
female component of that civilization.
Schubert ,Maron, and Wolf permit resonances not found in the other
works through their use of non-restrictive allusion and through
the identification of women with a figure that seems to conf1ate
the two legendary ones.
Marilyn Sibley Fries
Yale University
"'.HaAJ
S~If~'.It,~'"
-14APPROPRIATING FAUST
Moderator: Konstanze Baumer, Syracuse University
"Goethe's Faust:
The Feminine in Creativity"
In my talk I analyzed the role of the feminine within the creative
process, specifically in the Mothers' scene but with implications
for the Faust drama as a whole. I found that the realm of the
Mothers is most accurately characterized not by the solitude
traditionally emphasized, but rather by boundlessness. Faust must
enter the void of the unfamiliar and unknown ("das Nichts") in
order to discover endless possibility and potentiality ("das All").
He must shed the expectations and preconceived patterns of
perception which limit new experience and he must immerse himself
in an elemental flux which defies any attempt at rational comprehension.
The feminine realm is perceived as mystery and it promises everything
lacking in Faust's overly scientific and categorized masculine
.
world. Above all, it promises the mystery of creation. Faust's
entire journey can be seen as a movement toward this ideal feminine
realm, for creativity depends upon the union of the masculine and
the feminine.
Initially it would appear that the feminine plays an essential and
positive role in the creative act. Upon closer examination, however,
we find that the union is very out of balance. The imbalance is
most visible in the activity and aggression of Faust as opposed to
the passivity and sacrifice of the feminine throughout the drama.
The source of woman's passivity lies in Goethe's idealization of
her as mother, for this means that her creative contribution is
centered in the womb. In the creative union of the feminine and the
masculine, woman provides the matter and man the mind; the feminine
realm represents a potential which must first be realized by the
masculine. Woman then, I concluded, is necessary in Goethe's Faust
only for man to create. Her own creativity remains on a biological
and merely symbolic level.
Linda Lindsay
Allegheny College
M~jstopb~/~s !iibn Fast die H~/~na z ... Fean-uichn ..ng
..m 1642
'lIOn
Aan.n Mlltb.n
I
-15REEVALUATING INGEBORG BACHMANN'S PROSE
Moderator: Sara Lennox, UMass/Amherst
Karen Achberger again organized
this MLA special session on
Ingeborg Bachmann and was to
serve as its chair. After the
accident I agreed to chair
the session as well as respond
to the papers. Karen had
chosen three papers that fit
together extremely well and
that particularly stressed the
various political dimensions
of Bachmann's writing. In my
response I commented that these
papers dealt with the three
directions of Bachmann criticism.
that seem to me most important
at this point: French
feminist readings of her work
with respect to its treatment
of gender, readings of her
work which stress its social.
criticism, and readings that
investigate her work in the
context of the Austrian literary
tradition. I concluded my comments by maintaining that my own work
on Bachmann had led me to believe that an understanding of her work
was best sought at the intersection of the issues these three
'papers raise; her love for a vanished Austrian past; her dismay at
an imperialist present, which the vantage point of a Vienna now
outside of history allows her to observe clearly; and her horror
at the state of relationships between men and women.
Sara Lennox
UMass/Amherst
"The Authority of Language in Franza and Malina"
Recent movements such as feminism, poststructuralism and hermeneutics
have done much to undermine the traditional literary perspectives
which characterized the initial reception of Bachmann's writing.
Whereas Bachmann was once praised or rebuked as a lyrical subjectivist,
the tendency of current criticism is to highlight the socio-political
aspects of her work. The danger of this trend is, however, that
traditional categories are not easily overcome. This critical shift
risks re-instating orthodox concepts of social relevance which are
inadequate for a discussion of Bachmann's thinking. While her
prose reflects a form of cultural criticism, it is cultural
criticism in a "new key." Bachmann's primary concern is the
"linguistic dimension" of interpersonal and socio-political
domination. In both Malina and in Franza, the aggressive destruction
of the female narrator is primarily an assault on her capacity to
-16write and speak. By first interpreting the psychoanalytical
model presented by Jordan's relationship to Franza, the reader
gains an understanding of how his reordering of Franza's words
in effect destroys her memories, or to use Bachmann's metaphor,
"assaults her narration." The same phenomenon occurs in Malina
where the tyrannical father is wantonly contemptuous of women and
threatens the Ich-figure's capacity to speak. In Malina
Bachmann personifies a dominant perspective in Western thought, •
one that precludes the existence of the feminine principle in
the world. Here, as elsewhere in Bachmann's work, far-reaching
socio-po1itica1 aspects of her critique can be found. For
Bachmann, as for other twentieth-century thinkers, the European
tradition is characterized by the domination of the language
of the Other.
Judith Harris Frick
U Illinois/Urbana-Champaign
"Rereading 'Undine geht':
Ingeborg Bachmann and Feminist Theory"
My paper attempted to show how "Undine geht," written in the late
1950's, anticipates ideas of French feminists such as Helene Cixous
and Luce Irigaray by using their prescription for feminine writing
as a framework for a reading of the story. In opposing the
pha110logocentrism of dominant western discourse, Cixous, Irigaray,
and others have called for a new "ecriture feminine," which may be
described as having thre~ objectives: to disclose and analyze the
forms of women's repression in the male imaginary; to disrupt the
10gocentric order of male discourse; and to create a new feminine
imaginary based on women's primary experience of themselves, their
bodies, and their sexuality. Bachmann's text exposes and decenters
myths of the feminine that have been a fundamental part of
western culture. In the figure of the mermaid the story demonstrates
the continuing force of associations of the feminine with nature,
the non-human, the inarticulate unconscious, with a silence broken
only by the seductive siren-call by which she lures men away from
their place in the order of civilization, work, religion, the
family. This "feminine principle" is a cultural construct, called
into being by men as "the Other." Like the later theorists,
Bachmann reverses the usual valuation of the dominant order and
gives the feminine principle a positive value as the subverter of
a corrupt reality. Finally, Undine's refusal to continue this
role represents an effort to break out of this culturally assigned
mythic identity. "Undine geht" also anticipates feminist
prescriptions for disrupting logocentric discourse by formal
qualities of plurality, circularity, and contradiction. The
linear change of Undine's proclaimed departure contrasts with the
circularity of her never-ending call and seduction. Men and male
culture are presented both as monstrous and as godlike. The figures
of Hans and Undine have mUltiple meanings. Undine is variously
female subject, culturally-constructed feminine principle, and
voice of the poet. She finally appears to merge with her opposites,
the male, the "du" of the lover and the reader. Through these
-17plural and merging identities "Undine
geht" presents a multi-faceted
inscription of female experience,
"was sich nicht festlegen liSt."
••
•
Despite its striking anticipation of
contemporary feminist ideas and forms,
Bachmann's text also demonstrates
the difficulty of a woman attempting
to challenge and re-vision the
oppressive old order from a position
still within it. Although she is
conscious and critical of the
repressive dynamics inherent in a
dualist culture, Undine is herself
still enthralled by those very
categories and remains trapped in the
fundamental dichotomy. Yet in this
respect too, she shows a similarity
with some recent feminist theory,
which also runs the risk of perpetuating the very dualism and
essentialism that it seeks to criticize.
Joey Horsley
UMass/Boston
CA LLS fOR PA PE:RS
WIG 1985
TENTH ANNUAL
WOMEN IN GERMAN CONFERENCE
October 24-27, 1985
Portland, Oregon
Guest:
lUI S E
F.
PUS C H
luise F. Pusch, author of Das Deutsche als Minnersprache (Suhrkamp 1984), is one of
the most original and prolific writers on feminism, linguistics, and the German
language today_ She will be present during the entire conference, and will speak
on Saturday evening, October 26.
Contributions are invited for the following conference sessions:
-18-
1.
Opening session, Thursday evening, October 24
WOMEN IN GERMAN:
WOHER, WOHIN?
For our opening session we wish to solicit from those who were WIG members in the
beginning years a short description of their experiences, expectations and needs
at the time WIG was founded, why they chose to become members, what questions were
important for them then in the profession and in their personal lives, and what
hopes they had for WIG. Your description can take any form you wish; the co-chairs
will put the responses together and decide on the form most appropriate for their
presentation. Please send a copy each to:
Sigrid Brauner
1076 59th Street
Oakland, CA 94608
2.
and
Sara Lennox
15 Columbus Avenue
Northampton, MA 01060
Film and film pedagogy, Friday morning, October 25
DEUTSCHE FILMEMACHERINNeM UNO OER NEUE DEUTSCHE FILM
We are seeking proposals for 10-minute informal presentations on German women
filmmakers, new German cinema, and film pedagogy, including the use of feature
films in the foreign language classroom and how to teach about film in high school
and college. We would welcome slide presentations, models of teaching units,
handouts, etc. Either English or German may be used, but please plan to prepare
an abstract for the conference in the alternate language. Send a one-page
abstract by May 15,1985 to each of the following:
Nancy J. Brown
5029 N. 25th Rd
Arlington, VA
22207
:;1.
Sandy Frieden
German Department
Univ. of Houston
Housto~, TX 77004
M:iUt'.u;s IS l'xn'ull~: 'fht, I... :.. lrnistrc·s~
Vi beke Keith
634 E. 14th St., No.7
New York, NY 10009
a f':1I1iniUt' Frt'dt~ri"k
th ... (;rt~at
-19-
CALLS FOR PAPERS
WIG 1985, continued
3.
Feminist theory, Friday afternoon, October 25
RECENT TRENDS IN FEMINIST THEORY AND CRITICISM
The goal of this panel is to broaden our understanding of current discussions and
recent trends in feminist theory. We would like to invite papers from Women's
Studies and other languages as well as German, and we especially encourage contributions dealing with lesbian/feminist perspectives. Comparative, historical or
cross-lingual approaches or possible application of work in other areas to German
studies will be very welcome. Proposals by June 1, 1985 to:
Dorothy Rosenberg
Modern Forei~n Languages
Colby College
Waterville, ME 04901
4.
and
Patsy Baudoin
662B Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02118
Filmvorste11ung und Diskussion, Friday evening, October 25
Gesucht: a) zwei Diskussions1eiterinnen zum Thema Frauen, Film, Feminismus usw.;
und b) Filmvorsch1~ge. Resum~e (von etwa 250 Worten), Vorschlage, Anfragen an:
Jeannine Blackwell
German, Wells Hall A-721
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
5.
Feminism and language/linguistics, Saturday morning, October 26
AUF DER SUCHE NACH EINER FRAUENFREUNDLICHEN SPRACHE
In this session we would like to examine: a) what effects the work of feminist
linguistics has had/could have on both theoretical and applied linguistics; b)
how insights from feminist linguistics can' be employed in literary criticism; c)
in what ways the Gennan language has changed/is changing in response to consciousness-raising efforts by feminists; and d) how we can integrate any or all of the
above into our teaching, making both the language and the subject matter more
frauenfreundlich. We envision a program with SHORT (10 minute) presentations
followed by a workshop period during which all participants will work in small
groups on developing and/or rehearsing strategies for implementing the ideas
presented into our own work. Send a two-page a'bstract by May 15) 1985 to both:
Charlotte Armster
German Department
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325
(717) 334-3131 (college)
and
Jeanette Clausen
Dept. 'of Modern Forei gn Langs.
Indiana U.-Purdue U.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(219) 482-5431 (office)
-20-
CON fE:RE: NCE:S
NORTHEAST WIG
The WIG-Amherst collective is planning an infomal "get-together" the
weekend of June 8-9. Since many of us won't be able to make it to Portland
in October, we'd like to arrange a mini -conference in Amherst. Proposed
sessions: informal discussions of works in progress/research; continuation
of issues broUfl:ht up last October; graduate student concerns. We would
particularly like to welcome grad. stUdents. Housing will be provided
by local WIG members. Further info. to follow. For more info. contact
Leslie Morris &. Karin Obermeier. c/o German Dept., ID.fass/ Amherst 0'1003.
·.................. .
ODR. SYr.fPOSIUM
The 1985 Symposium will be on the theme of "The GDR Today - 40 Years After
the End of WII." One of the panels will address the issue of "Chan~ing Patterns
of Male and Female Identity" and is conceived as an interdisciplinary seminar with
papers on social and political issues and on the re1ection of this question
in literature and culture in general. June 21-28, 1985/ World Fellowship
C~nter, Conway, HR.
·.................. .
u.,
17 T. .
SOCIETY FOR CplEMA STUDIES
The 1985 Society for Cinema Studies Conference will include a panel
entitled "Women in Film in the Bundesrepublik Deutschland," which will
examine the work of vanen filmmakers, feminist film criticism, and the
impact of film schoo11!1, funding and distribution systems on women in the
BRD. Comparisonl!l to the situation for women filmmakers and for
feminil!lt film criticism in the USA will be encouraged. In order to participate
in the SCS conference it is necessary to become a member <t 30 per year). For
further information contact: Ellen Seiter, Telecommunication and Film Studies,
Uni versi ty ot Oregon, Eugene, OR 91403.
·.............. ....
-21-
o·
o~
Cleo
~
~
•
_.0
• o·
~
A conference on the topic: "Jl'EMINIST STUDIES: RECOBSTITt1l'ING lCBOWLEDGE"
is being sponsored by the Women's Studies Research Center at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Center for Twentieth Century Studies
at UW-Milwaukee fram April 24-26, 1985. Por turther information contact:
Conference Coordinator
Center for Twentieth Century Studies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P.o. Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201 (tel. 414-963-4141)
....................
The sixth meeting of Women Historians will take plaee in Bonn, FRG from
29-31, 1985. Anyone interested should contaet
Women's Studies Research Group
Universit!t Bonn
c/o Hildegard Knitterscheidt
Peter-Ruster-Str. 7
53 Bonn 1
FRG
M~
....................
Die dritte Tagung von Frauen in der
Literaturwissenschat't findet ii--FrUhjahr 1986 in Hamburg statt •
........
The Seventh Congress of the
Internationale Vereinigung fUr
Germanische S rachen und Literaturwissenschat't IVG will be held from
August 25-31 in GOttingen, FRG. There
will be a section there on
"FRAUENSPRACHE-FRAUENLITERATUR'l "
which will be chaired by Marianne
Burkhard (USA), Sigrid Schmid (Austria),
and Inge Stephan (FRG).
........
E.t
-22-
Eine Gruppe von tilmbegeisterten Feministinnen plant tar den Herbst
1984 ein FRAUENFILMFESTIVAL im Ruhrgebiet. Gesucht werden noch Frauen
die bei der Planung und Durch:f'Uhrung mi tmachen. Es ware gut, wenn sie
etwas Ahnung vom Medium Film hA.tten. Da demnA.chst die JConzeption
erarbeitet werden soll, ware es linnvoll, venn sich die Interessantinnen
moglichst schnell melden. Es Ijnden rege1m&Sige Treffen alle 3 Wochen
statt. Kontaktadresse: Jutta oder Barbara beim aktuellen forum,
Tel. 0209/153712. (Aus: !!!! 9/84)
....................
~
1985
annual NWSA Conference will be held at the University of Washington/
Seattle from June 19-23.
Th~
................... .
NWSA 1986 - at U. Illinois
The 1q86 annual convention of the National Women's Studies Association
will take place in June at the University of Illinois, Urbana. The
program planning committee for 1986 is being co-chaired by WIG member
Marianne Burkhard. She urges Wig~i~s to start planning now for
possible panels, workshops or papers on German feminism/the German
women's movements; women and
German literature/literary
criticism/language etc.; German
women in academe; women's lives
in the various German-speaking
countries, and so on. We should
think about what we want members
of the NWSA to know about German
Studies and Women's Studies, and
then assemble panels, organize
sections, or whatever is needed
to present that information.
Program time slots will be two
hours long. If you have a good
idea for a paper but don't feel
up to organizing a panel or workshop, contact Marianne anywayshe may be able to put you in
touch with others willing to
work with you. WIG members in
the great midwest, are you
listening! Marianne Burkhard,
Dept. of German, 3072 Foreign
Languages Bldg, 707 S. Mathews,
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL
61801.
I
~ Christine
u Pisan luuJs tIu wei)' to tlu 'Cit' us D_s'
.............
-23-
AN NOUNC€M€NTS
BERG WOMEN'S SERIES
The series will cover women who,
from any period and from any part
of the world, have made a significant contribution to the sum
total of human knowledge: novelists
and mathematicians; poets and
scientists; travellers and politicians; artists ••• Each volume
will be devoted to one woman and
will deal with three aspects of her
life -- its social, historical and
geographical background; a short
biography; an assessment of her
achievement. A bibliography should
be included. The books will appear
in paperback and will have a
length of some 40,000 words. There
will be scope for a limited number
of illustrations. They will be
~ A ... ;" I.tr cell
directed at the sixth-form or
first-year university student, as well as the general reader, and
will present a preliminary overall picture of the character concerned.
They will not, therefore, be highly technical or pre-suppose a
great deal of specialist knowledge. Would intending authors please
contact Miriam Kochan, who will be happy to discuss their project
with them:
Miriam Kochan, General Editor
Berg Women's Series
237 Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 7 AD
England
BROSCHURE "FRAUENARCHIVE UND -BIBLIOTHEKEN"
Karin Schatzberg gibt in ihrer gerade erschienenen BroschUre
"Frauenarchive und -bibliotheken" einen Uberblick Uber Frauen bzw.
-dokumentationszentren in Westdeutschland, Berlin, einigen westeuropaischen Landern (Italien, Niederlande, Hsterreich). Zur
EinfUhrung in die Thematik sind der Darstellung der einzelnen
Einrichtungen AusfUhrungen zur Aus- und Weiterbildung von Frauen
und zu den Prinzipien feministischer Bildungsarbeit und ihrer
Rahmenbedingungen vorangestellt. Sie hat -- soweit die Materiallage es zulieB -- fUr jede Institution ein Profil erstellt, in dem
-24die Entstehungsgeschichte, die organisatorische und inhaltliche
Konzeption und -- soweit vorhanden -- die zugeh6rigen Publikationen
vorgestellt wurden. Die Profile wurden anhand von Informationsblittern der jeweiligen Einrichtung, schriftlichen und mundlichen
Interviews mit den dort arbeitenden Frauen und sonstigen Materialien
zusammengestellt. 1m Anhang findet sich ein komplettes Adressenverzeichnis der in- und auslindischen Einrichtungen und eine
tabel1arische Ubersicht. Bestellen kann man die Broschure durch
Uberweisung von DM 6,-- auf das Postgirokonto 567211-209 Hamburg
von Karin Schatzberg, Stichwort "Sonderkonto". Adressenangabe
bitte nicht vergessen.
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS -- THE EUROPEAN WOMEN WRITERS SERIES
The University of Nebraska Press announces a new series, European
Women Writers. This series will encourage and publish translations
of major works by European women. The Press plans to begin publishing series titles in 1987 and to publish up to four books each
year. All genres will be considered though preference will be
given to booklength prose fiction. Each volume will include an
introduction, select bibliography, and notes where appropriate.
An editorial board of four scholars, 311 with translation
experience, will direct the series. It is hoped that the series
will permit American readers greatly increased access to and
understanding of European women and their literature. Though
studies about European women writers will not constitute part of
the series, the Press will welcome proposals which may serve to
augment the aims of the series. The series will concentrate on
twentieth-century works originally published in French, German,
Italian, and Spanish, but proposals for translations of works from
other languages will be welcome. Please send queries and proposals
to W. G. Regier, Editor-in-Chief, University of Nebraska Press,
318 Nebraska Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0520.
Marilyn Schuster and Susan Van Dyne, "Placing Women in the Liberal
Arts: Stages of Curriculum Transformation," Harvard Educational
Review, Vol. 54, No.4 (November 1984), pp. 413-28.
This article provides excellent arguments as well as statistical
documentation for integrating material on women and minorities into
the traditional curriculum. In it the authors propose a paradigm
describing how teachers and students experience the process of
curricular change and suggest various strategies for implementing
the stages of such a paradigm for change •
....................
-25HAGEMANN-WHITE NAMED WOMEN'S STUDIES PROF AT FREE UNIVERSITY
A chair for women's studies has been established at the Free
University of West Berlin, the city's commissioner for Women's
Affairs, Carola von Braun, announced recently. To fill it,
Berlin Senator for Research Wilhelm Kewenig named Carol
Hagemann-White,Professor of Political Science/Women's Studies.
A native of New Jersey, Professor Hagemann-White received her
doctorate from the Free University and has taught there and at
the University of GieSen. The appointment followed a public
discussion within and outside the university, including
accusations of discrimination against women when Kewenig
initially opposed the creation of the part-time professorship.
Kewenig had argued that the job description provided by
the university's political science department appeared "too
narrow" to merit creating the position.
In the meantime
two members of the department, Professors Wolf Dieter Narr
and Peter Grottian, each agreed to relinquish one third of
their professorships for the next five years in order to make
the women's studies position possible.
This Week in Germany
February 15, 1985
FRAUENSTUDIUM
"Kandidaten, sagen Sie mir, was fiUt Ihnen an der
Patientin auf?" -- "DaB das Mensch einen seidenen
Unterrock anhat."
-26-
§;ea,~eR
en
~e~ .ze·~~~a-~u~UJe·tS-tS-~R.J,e,{'a-/,~
(Herausgeberinnen: Renate Berger, lnge Stephan, Sigrid Weigel - Hamburg)
Run d b r i e f abo nne men t
Hiermit bestelle ieh den viermal jahrlieh erseheinenden Rundbrief
"Frauen in der Literaturwissensehaft".
rqClnn~:
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Adresse: •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Telefon: ••••••••••••••••••••
Ieh habe den Betrag von DM •••• (DM 20,-- fur Studentinnen und Arbeitslose, DM 30,-- und mehr fur Berufstatige) auf das Konto ra
8LX 2,.OfJ GtJ& ..,.,
Renate Berger, Stiehwort "Rundbrief", Hamburger sparkasse,~ Kontonummer 1238/446 577 uberwiesen.
....................
(Untersehrift)
-27-
BOOI<S
LESBIAN ETHICS, Vol. 1, No.1 (1984). Published three times a year.
Individual SUbscriptions '12 for 3 issues,,4 international. Sample
copy.5 (16 international). L! Publications, P.o. Box 943, Venice,
CA 90294.
The editor of this new journal, Jeanette Silveira, states that the
idea for Lesbian Ethics grew out of her conviction that the society
Lesbians are creating "is the first one in which ethics have been
possible." Her approach is refreshingly straightforvard: "I see
ethics in two wa.vs: as learning from experience, and as saying what
we want." (p.5) --What, I wonder, could be more necessary for
feminism and feminist studies at this point in timet
The first article in the vol\Dlle, Julia Penelope's "The ~stery of
Lesbians: I," minces no words about either of the above points.
Penelo~'s e~eriences in the Women's Liberation Movement have taught
her not to call herself a "feminist," or even a "lesbian-feminist,"
but rather to insist on a radically Separatist position. In her view,
"the WIM has lost its early enthusiasm and the force of conviction
has been drained from its rhetoric, which nov echoes the bland,
sluggish liberalism of the Democratic Party in the US." (p.23)
Depending on your own politics, you may be angered or elated by
Penelope's arguments, but either way I think you'll find them
stimulating and relevant to what's happening in feminist circles
today. I, for one, am looking forvard to part II of the article,
in which Penelope promises to discuss distortions and contusions which
she believes have helped detuse feminist radicalism and, along the
way, she will answer the non-question: "can heterophobia be curedt"
The remainder of the issue is, in my opinion, something of a mixed
bag. Jeanette Silveira's article ''Why Men Oppress Women" is, in the
author's words, "materialist in spirit and even Marxist in method,"
although the conclusions "are quite opposed to those of current
Marxists." (1'.34) True enough. She argues that the technology to
produce test-tube babies, although fraught with dangers, could be
"a means of reproducing the species without oppressing one half or
the other of it." (p. 52) Barbara Macdonald's short article "A Call
for an End to Ageism in Lesbian and Gay Services" is forceful. and
eloquent. Everyone planning to be an old woman some day should also
read Macdonald's book, coauthored with Cynthia Rich, ~ !!!. in ~
~r Old Women, Aging and Ageism. (Spinsters, Ink. 803 De Haro St.,
San Francisco, CA 94107J. In "Rule Melting," Jane Rule explores the
necessity of rules for ourselves: "Rules made to defend ourselves
against those who disapprove of us are suicide weapons ••• " (1'.66)
I found the contribution by lCaren Fite and Nikola Trumbo, "Betrayals.
Among Women: Barriers to a Common Language," at least as interesting
for its form as tor its content. The two authors write as "we," but
shirt to "I(K)" and "I(N)" when relating an individual, personal
-28-
experience. Thus, an individual and a "collective" first-person
voice can emerge simultaneously. The authors state that in naming
experiences of betrayal by their mothers and other vomen, they do
not mean to blame the victim: ''We, as vomen, are not innocent of the
betra,vals ve commit, but our ignorance of vhat' s going on and vhy
does rob us of the poyer to act otherwise." (p.72) I found it
difficult to keep their disclaimer in mind vhile reading and felt
verv un-affirmed as a mother, daughter, and friend of vomen by the
end~ of the article. The volume concludes V1• th a short ess8\Y, "N0 t es
on the Meaning of Life" by Joyce Trebilcot, in which she analyzes
the "ethic of experience" and the "ethic of achievement" as based
respectively on male orgasm and the fathering of offspring.
In all, Lesbian Ethics Vol. 1, No.1 is a velcome addition to the
still all too short list of journals vhere ve can read about ourselves,
in lan~e that does not obfuscate or ~stifY but, for the most
part, clarifies. I recommend it.
AUFBAU FRIDAY, Fcbru~
-_._----------'
IS,J98L
-- Jeanette Clausen
Indiana U. -Purdue U., Fort W8\Yne
Deutsche Frauenliteratur
·.aus:New York
Dagmar Stern und Lola Gruenthal (Hrsg.).
"Frauenfahrplan J". Verlag: Starlight Press,
New York. Zu beziehen durch: M. Goldschneider; P.O.Box 2J31; New York, N.Y.
10009. 113 Seiten. Geheftet. $5,00 zuziig·lich Porto. .
Unter dem Tit~I Frauenjahrplan hat sieh
eine neue Anthologie bzw. Zeitsehrift vorgestellt mit deutschen Texten-von Frauen aus
dem New Yorker Raum, die der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Women in German angehoren und einmal- im Monat im New Yorker
Goethe House zusammentreffen. Untetschiedlich wie Alter und Herkunft der Mitarbeiterinnen sind Qualitit, Schreibintention
und Genre der versammrlten Werkproben ..
Gemeinsanier Nenner des Hefts ist offenbar
, die Geschlechtszugehorigkeit der Verfasse-'
rinnen. Die neuere feministische Literaturtheorie bat seit Virginia Woolfs Manifest A Room of One's Own (1928) diesen ansonsten
vollig irrelevariten Aspelct zum' ~h1agge­
benden Kriterium literarischer Beurteilung
unci Arbeitsweise erhoben.
Die 1m F1'GUenfahrplanenthaltenen Texte
. lassen. ~ch einteilen in Ly~ik und Prosa,
diese wiederum splittert sich 'der ,Form nach
aufin KUIZge~hichte, Romanauszug, Brief,
Tagebuchaufzeichnung. Gemeinsam ist die'. sen Werkbeispielen der'Ch~~r des Autc?biographischen, des personlichen. Bekenntnisses und der Selbstbetrachtu~g. Am gelunlensten erscheint die Kurzprosa, wihrend
der Lyrik hiufig noch der Schein des ama. teurhaften Anf"angerversuchs anhaftet ..
. Am faszinierendsten an dieser ·Prisentanon sind jedoch nieht so schr die fonnalen
Eigenschaften: sondem eher die Haltung
(etwa Ironie, Humor), aus der diese Selbstreflexionen und Er1ebnisbericht~ gescbrieben
sind. Das macht die Starke dieses Sammelbands aus, dem man noch mane he Fortsetzung wilDschen dad.
. I.n.
-29-
....................
The following bibliographical "review" appeared in CHOICE (Jan'85)
describing German Feminism: Readings in Politics and Literature,
ed. Edith Hoshino Altbach, Jeanette Clausen, Dagmar Schultz, and
Naomi Stephan (SUNY Press, 1984):
a" .............
GERMAN fEMINISM: rndl..... ,.utIa
iii)' ,"-,i.1I HoslII. .
AI. . .II .. aI\ ..... V.henlCi·" New York P.....914• . . , iMa 13-17149.
39.50 ISBN 1-1'7395-140-3; IU5 .. ISBN ...,Jt5.I41-1. CIP
.
1Wo ftne editorial introductions and a cIosinl "Cri.ica1 Outlook" frame and provtde
cultural selting for 54 translations that will acquaint US readers with an impr~si~
range of German feminist authors. Excerpts chosen are carefully arranged to dIsplay
the fiction. autobiography. journalism. and scholarship characteristic of the contemporary German women's movement, be,inning with the late 1960s and the.Para~r~ph
118 campai,n of 1971. Each piece carries I brief headnote anclan endn~e ident~fYIn'
the German originll. A biographical dictionary of editors and contnbutors " appended. Among these authors. only Alice Schwarzer (founder and editor of the
monthly Emmtl) and East German novelist Christa Wolf Ire likely to be already know~
to many US readers. That this excellent German counterpart to Nt'" Frtnch n"'.,·
"isms. ed. by Elaine Marks and Isabelle de Counivron (CH, ~IY '80). ha~ ~n In
search of a publisher since 1978 (and thlt no rival has been published meanwhIle) can
only lend credibility to claims of suppression of women's writing. The editors' persist.
ence and the SUNY Press's decision to publish deserve thanks-and orders-from
libraries al alll~ls servin, students of German literature, German history and society.
and women's issues: virtually every public and all academic libraries.-V. ChlTt,
CHOICE
....................
Liselotte Gumpel (Univ. of Minnesota/Morris) has a new book
coming out soon in the Indiana University Press's "Advances
in Semiotics Series". The pre-publication announcement
describes it as follows:
Metaphor Reexamined:
A Non-Arisotelian Perspective
Breaking away from the traditional "neo-Aristotelian" view of
metaphor, this study offers a new, "non-Aristotelian" approach
based on the phenomenological semantics of Roman Ingarden and
the semiotics of Charles S. Peirce. The author seeks to grasp
the meaning of metaphor through an exhaustive exploration of
meaning in language, from its acquisition by young speakers to
its repeated origination in sound when spoken and in the visual
sign when written. She identifies the fundamental semantic
operations that differentiate literal from literary use of
language. Next, metaphor is examined in all of its semantic
idiosyncrasies. Gumpel's theory culminates in the development
of a functional or structural metaphor that can neither disappear
nor "die." Applying the theory, Gumpel presents several textual
analyses, relating the categories of argument, dicent, and rheme
to the use of metaphor by Brecht, Dickinson, and Celano A final
section provides an incisive critique of theories of metaphor from
Aristotle to the present. An important intellectual accomplishment,
MR yields original insights and supplies a mine of information for
scholars in the philosophy of language, literary theory, semiotics,
and linguistics.
E,C,·
-30-
RE:CE:NT PUBLICATIONS
Verband der Filmarbei terinnen, Eds., l"rauen-Film-Handbuch: Lexikon
aller J'ilmemacherinnen und ihrer Filme in der BRD und West Berlin .
seit 1945. Berlin, 1984. DM 74.
Ch~tstine Buci-Glucksmann,
Reinbek, 1984.
Walter Benjamin und die Utopie des Weiblichen,
Luise F. Pusch, Das Deutsche als Manners rache: Autsatze und Glossen
zur teministischen Lin8Uistik. ltankfurt M: Suhrkamp, 19
Inge Stephan, Sigrid weigel~eministische Literaturwissenschaft: Zum
Verhaltnis von Frauenbildern und Frauenliteratur. Berlin: Argument, 1984.
Elisabeth Lenk. Die unb~te Gesellschaft: Uber die mimetische Grundstruktur in der Literatur und im Traum. MUnchen, 1983.
Helga Meise, Die Unschuld und die Schrif't: Deutsche Frauenromane im
1B. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Gutandin & Hoppe, 1983.
Dorothee Schmitz, Weibliche Selbstentwrte und minnliche Bilder: Zur
Darstellung der Frau in DDR-Romanen der 70er Jahre. Frankfurt 1M ,Bern ,NY ,
1983.
Senta Tromel-Plotz, Ed., Gewalt durch ~rache:
Frauen in Gesprachen. Frankfurt/M., 198 •
Die Vergewaltigung von
Karlheinz Fingerhut, Ed., Louise Aston: tin Lesebuch. Gedichte, Roman,
Schrif'ten in AusYahl (1846-1849). Stuttgart, 1983.
Christa Gurtler, Schreiben Frauen anders' Untersuchungen zu Ingeborg
Bachmann und Barbara Frischmuth. Stuttgart, 1983.
Ursula Linnhott, =Z~u~r_Fr~e~l~·h~e~i~t~~o~h~~~~~~~~~~__~~~~~
Frauen kAmpten um ihre Rechte. Frankfurt
Ricarda Schmidt, Westdeutsche Frauenliteratur in den
Frankfurt/M: Rita Fischer Verlag, 19 2.
Oer Jahren.
I
-31-
Gerlinde Geiger, "Die be:f'reite Ps che": Emanzi ationsans!tze im
Friihwerk Ida Hahn-Hahns 1 3 1 8. Ann Arbor: University
Microf'ilms, 1984.
Julie D. Prandi, Spirited Women Heroes: Major Female Characters in
the Dramas of' Goethe! Schiller and JO.eist. NY, Frankfurt/M, Bern:
F. Lang, 1983.
Ute Treder, Von der Hexe zur
des 'Ewig Weiblichen'. Bonn:
sterikerin: Zur Verf'eBti
Bouvier, 19
H.-J. HeinrichB, .d., Der K5rper und seine Sprache.
Qumram Verlag, 19B4.
B eBchichte
Frankturt/M:
Rolf' Haubl, Eva Koch-nenske, HanB-Jilrgen Linke ,eds., Die Sprache
des VaterB im Kerper der Mutter: LiterariBcher Sinn und SChreibprozeB. 1983.
Rahel Varnhagen, GeBammelte Werke in 10 B!nden/Rahel Bibliothek, ed.
K. Feilchenfeldt, U. Schweikert, R.E. Steiner. MUnchen: Matthis & Seitz, 1983.
Ingeborg Bachmann, Wir mUsBen wahre Sitze f'inden: GeB r!ache und Interviews,
ed. Christine Koschel and Inge von Weidenbaum. MnDchen: Piper, 19
Ingeborg Bachmann:
Miinchen, 1984.
Sonderband von Text und Kritik. ed. Sigrid Weigel.
Lilian Berna-Simons, Weibliche Identit!t und Sexualit!t: Das Bild der
Weiblichkeit im 1 • Jahrhundert und bei Si und Freud. Frankturt/M:
MaterialiB Verlag, 19
Frankfurt M:
Frauen-Zuldinf'te: Ganzhei tliche f'eministische Ans!tze. !rfahrungen und
Lebenskonzepte, ed. R. Lutz. Beltz Verlag, 1981
Die ungeschriebene GeBchichte: HistoriBche Frauenf'orschung-- eine
Dokumentation des • Historikerinnentrettens. Wiener Frauenverlag,
1011 Wien, Postf'ach 1 , DM 5.
Sigrid Schade, Schadenzauber und die Magie des Kerpers-- Hexenbilder der
trUhen Neuzeit. W~rnersche Verlags&Dstalt, 1983.
sion an der lI'U Berlin yom 30.11Methoden in der Frauenforschun :
2.12 19 3, ed. Zentraleinrichtung zur Forderung von Ji'rauenstudien und
Frauenf'orschung an der 10 Berlin. Ff't/M: R. Fischer Verlag, 1984.
1983.
3!
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