women `n german - Coalition of Women in German

WOMEN 'N GERMAN
Number 26
November 1981
Only a few weeks have passed since our conference in Racine, and
already so many things have happened that it's difficult to know
where to begin ("At the beginning," said the king gravely, "and go
on until you reach the end, then stop.").
First, some very new and exciting news from Elke Frederiksen and
Martha Wallach about the WiG sessions at the December MLA:
INGEBORG
Her stay is being funded by the
DREWITZ will be present after all.
Goethe-Haus, and she will speak on Dec. 29 at 8:15 pm in the Rheraton
Regency Ballroom; her topic is "Rahel, die Poetin des Ich:
Die
Chan c e, 'I c h' z usa g en. "
( see com pIe t e pro gram ins ide).
Elk e a 1 s 0
writes that Drewitz will be staying in the US until Jan. 22, 1982,
and can accept a few additional speaking engagements.
If you would
like to invite her to your campus, contact:
Ulrike Woods-Dorda,
Goethe Haus New York, German Cultural Center, 1014 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10028.
Ingeborg Drewitz' unexpected decision to
accept the Goethe Institute's invitation means that we'll have a
very full program at MLA.
Elke and Martha are still working to
raise money to pay part of Gisela Dischner's travel to New York.
They received $102. in individual donations from conference
participants in Racine and $50. from WiG.
Several granting agencies
they approached turned them down, but the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is still considering their request.
Anyone who would like to
contribute to the "Dischner fund" should send a check to Martha
Wallach (made out to her), University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 54302.
By the time you read this, the 1981 AATG meeting may be past history
(see program inside), and WiG participation at the 1982 AATG, which
is up in the air at the moment, will probably be settled one way
or the other.
As agreed in Racine, Marianne Burkhard (for the WiG
Political Action Committee) has written to the president of AATG
urging the Association not to hold its 1982 meeting in New Orleans
and emphasizing that Women in German will not arran~e sessions for
the meeting if it is held in an unratified state. We will keep you
informed, if necessary by a special mailing, of what happens; we
agreed at the Racine meeting that Women in German should continue
to insist that professional meetings be held only in states which
have ratified the ERA whether or not the amendment is passed by
three more state legislatures befQr; June 1982.
.
This year's conference in Racine was, in a word, outstanding (did
you expect anything less?).
Our guest, Angelika Mechtel, was every
bit as interested in learning about WiG as we were in getting to
know her and her work.
Her participation at WiG was part of a
six-week Lesetour of the US and Canada, arranged and funded by
-3published in March, so please send material by ~F~e~b~r~u~a~r~y~~1~5~2~1~9~8~2~.
(Mark your calendar!
Tie a string around your finger!
Whatever-just don't forget.)
Our address:
Department of Modern Foreign
Languages, Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805.
In Sisterhood,
:Y~Z-1",JztL
/
Jeanette Clausen
MLA 1981
WiG at MLA, Dec. 27-30, 1981--all WiG sessions are on Tuesday, Dec. 29.
Women in German Business Meeting
5:15-6:30 pm
Dominion A, Sheraton
At this meeting we need to take care of some unfinished business
from the October meeting.
(1) We elected new members to the Steering
Committee (see minutes) but we didn't elect the co-chairs for 1982.
(2) We didn't appoint anyone to coordinate the arrangements for
Christa Reinig's visit to WiG in Boston in 1982. Martha Wallach
and Linda Pickle will work on fundraising; however, it would
probably be best if someone in the Boston area could be responsible
for corresponding with her, for keeping track of details once the
funding is secure, and to be the contact person there--arrange
transportation, housing, etc.
(Are there any volunteers?)
(3) Also concerning next year's conference, we should decide whether
the Saturday evening session is to be "women only" as it has for the
past few years.
Would it be better to have one of the morning or
afternoon sessions for women only, when transportation to and from
Thomson's Island would be easier?
(4) We'll need to bring each
other up to date on plans for 1983, for the 1982 MLA and AATG, and
so on.
(5) Any other things that come up between now and then.
If you have items for the agenda, please send them to Sara Lennox
or Jeanette Clausen.
7:15-8:15 pm
Regency Ballroom, Sheraton
Presiding:
(571)
German Women Writers of the
Romantic Period I:
New
Perspectives
Elke Frederiksen, Univ. of Maryland, College Park and
Martha Wallach, Univ. of Wisconsin, Green Bay
(1) "Das Problem des 'Androgynen' und des 'MG~iggangs' in der
Jenaer Romantik," Gisela Dischner, Universitat Hannover.
(2) "Rahel
Varnhagen's Letters," Kay Goodman, Brown Un i v.
( 3) "Courte s an as
-4-
(MLA 1981)
Role Model:
The Influence of Ninon de Lenclos on Sophie Mereau,"
Jacqueline Vansant, Univ. of Texas, Austin.
Discussant: Helga
Kraft, Univ. of Florida.
8:15 pm
Regency Ballroom, Sheraton
9:00-10:15 pm
Regency Ballroom, Sheraton
Presiding:
"Rahel, die Poetin des Ich:
Die Chance, 'Ich' zu sagen,"
Ingeborg Drewitz.
(596)
German Women Writers of the
Romantic Period II:
Bettina
von Arnim
Elke Frederiksen and Martha Wallach
(1) "Bettina von Arnim oder die Transzendenz der Kindlichkeit,"
Konstanze B~umer, Univ. of California, Davis.
(2) "Bettina's
Die G6nderode:
One Woman's Solution to the Question of Form,"
Marjanne E. Gooze, Univ. of California, Berkeley.
(3) "The
Women Romantics and Christa Wolf," Sara Lennox, Univ. of
Massachusetts, Amherst.
Discussant:
Edith Waldstein, M.I.T.
f\ATC; 1981
WiG at AATG/ACTFL, Denver. 1981
1.
Pre-Conference Workshop:
Tuesday, Nov. 24, 1981
Noon-4:00 pm
Forward to Basics:
Non-Sexist German Instruction at the Beginning Level
2.
Coordinators:
Barbara Drygulski Wright, Univ. Connecticut, Storrs
and Gabriele Wickert, Manhattanville ColI., Purchase, NY
Contributors:
Ursula E. Beitter, New York; Dinah Dodds, Lewis and
Clark ColI., Portland, OR; Helen Frink, SUNY, Albany;
Karen Weinschenker, Minneapolis Public Schools.
Literature session:
Saturday, November 28, 1981
8:00-Q:00 am
Mothering in German Literature
Coordinators:
Karen Achberger, St. Olaf ColI., Northfield, MN
and Richard L. Johnson, IPFW
Contributors:
Jeannine Blackwell, "Erst kommt das Vorbild,
dann die Moral:
Mothers in the German
Bildungsroman;" Margaret Klopfle Devinney,
-5-
(AATG 1981)
"Gertrud von LeFort and Mothering;" Lyndel Butler,
"Mothering in German Literature, 1970-1980:
Re-examining the Past, the Pluralism of the
Present, the Myth Revisited."
3.
Women in German Business Meeting:
Saturday, Nov. 28, 1981
1:45-2:45 :om
The agenda will depend on the AATG's decision as to a site for
the 1982 meeting.
RE-SE:f1RCH
PROJ~CT)
The following is a list of dissertations and other research projects/
topics collected during the 1981 WiG conference.
Christa Wolf:
From Objective to Subjective Authenticity.
Kingsbury, Michigan State Univ.
Comparative Analysis of Yiddish and Middle High German:
Gudrunslied.
Gabriele Strauch, UW-Madison.
Vicki
Das
The Ideological Function of Popular Women's Fiction:
USA, France,
and Germany.
(Comp. Lit. Diss.)
Resa Dudovitz, Univ. of Illinois,
Urbana.
"Bildungsroman mit Dame:
The Female Protagonist in the German
Bildungsroman from 1770-1900." Jeannine Blackwell, Indiana U.,
Bloomington.
The Image of Woman as Represented in "Geschichte des Frauleins von
Sternheim" and "Die Leiden des jungen Werther." Sally Winkle,
UVI-Madison.
Feministische Kritik an Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre; Manner und
Frauen im dritten Reich.
Ric Johnson, IPFW, Fort Wayne, IN.
Peter Handke; Frauen in der Fruhzeit des Theaters (18. Jahrhundert).
Hannelore Heckmann-French, Lafayette College, FA.
Die Novelle (vor allem im 19. Jh.) als Mythos.
U. of Kentucky.
Lillian Hoverland,
German Women Writers (BRD and DDR) in the last 10 years re women's
relations to other women.
Lynnie Ozer.
Christa Wolf:
The Political Implications of Feminism.
Westminster College, Fulton, MO.
Linda Pickle,
Utopian Impulse in Contemporary Feminist Fictions (u. a. Christa
Wolf, Irmtraud Morgner, and French and American writers).
Angelika
Bammer (Comp. Lit.), UW-Madison.
(Research Projects)
-6-
German-American Socialist Literature in the Late Nineteenth Century
(1979).
Carol Poore, UW-Madison.
Autobiographical Writings (German language) of the 1970's:
Self
into Form.
Sandy Frieden, Univ. Houston (Diss. U. Siegen).
Mother Figures in the (German language) Novel:
1968-80:
The
Assimilation of the Past, the Pluralism of the Present, the Myth
Revisited.
Lyndel L. Butler, Univ. Houston (Diss. U. Siegen).
A comparison of lIse Aichinger, Ingeborg Bachmann, Barbara Prischmuth, Brigitte Schwaiger in the larger context of the Austrian
women's literary and feminist movement.
Jackie Vansant, Univ.
Texas-Austin.
Botho StrauS and West German Prose of the 1970's.
Washington Univ., St. Louis.
Leslie Adelson,
Linguistic analysis of modern feminist writers (focus on negations
and questions) (Dissertation).
Almut R. Poole, UCLA.
(213) 661-1053.
Schweizer Schriftstellerinnen (zur Zeit vor allem 70er Jahre, aber
spater auch die von fruher); Dichterbilder (Sappho- Grillparzer,
Corizino- Stael, Tasso- Goethe).
Marianne Burkhard, Univ. Illinois.
Bohmisch-judische Kultur- und Sozialgeschichte.
Canisius ColI., Buffalo.
Wilma Iggers,
Double Jeopardy:
German-American Women Writers in the 19th Century
(recently completed).
Dorothea Stuecker, Univ. of Minnesota, Duluth.
Rainer Maria Rilke, Women and Love.
Univ., St. Louis.
Tineke Ritmeester, Washington
Helga Novak, Gabriele Wohmann, Jutta Heinrich:
Beziehungen.
Barbara Kosta, Univ. Florida.
Motherhood Propaganda in Nazi Germany.
Mutter-Tochter
Nancy Vedder-Shults.
Deconstructing Kein Crt. Nirgends and the Reception of Christa
Wolf in the FRG and GDR.
Karen Jankowsky, Washington Univ. ,
St. Louis.
*******************
Nancy Vedder-Shults sent this reference to the TAZ article:
Atina
Grossmann, "ein offener Brief aus New York an Henryk Broder und
die TAZ," Die Tageszeitung (Berlin), Wednesday, t1ay 27,1981.
-7-
\981 CONF~~~"(f P,qRTl CIPANTS
Karen Achberger
505 Highland Avenue
Northfield, MN 55057
(507) 645-7937
Irene DiMaio
1312 Ross Ave.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
(504) 343-8798
Leslie A. Adelson
752 Syracuse 3N
University City, MO
(314) 725-0126
Resa Dudovitz
307 W. Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
(217) 367-8914
63130
Ange1ika Bammer
405 E1mside Blvd.
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 249-1529
Evelyn T. Beck
2333 Huidekoper PI. NW
Washington, D.C.
20007
(202) 338-0851
Jeannine Blackwell
109 Univ. Apts. West
Bloomington, IN 47401
Marianne Burkhard
2210 Rainbow View Dr.
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 367-2674
Lynde1 L. Butler
4392 Harvest
Houston, TX 77004
(713) 747-9855
Jeanette Clausen
Department of Mod. For. Lang.
Indiana U.-Purdue U. at
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(219) 483-7893 (home)
(219) 482-5631 (office)
Susan L. Coca1is
63 Washington Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 586-4576
70808
61801
Gerda Fermand
414-10 Over1ea Drive
Kitchener, Ontario,
N2M 5B8, Canada
(519) 742-0419
E1ke Frederiksen
10911 Kenilworth Ave.
Garrett Park, Maryland 20896
(301) 946-5214 (home)
(301) 454-4301 (office)
Sandy Frieden
German Department
Univ. of Houston
Houston, TX 77004
(713) 749-4260
Hanne10re Heckmann-French
Department of Languages
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(215) 866-1135 or
(215) 250-5258
Marlene Heinemann
4008 N. Morris Blvd., Apt. 11
Milwaukee, WI 53211
(414) 962-2521
Patricia Herminghouse
7053 Lindell Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 889-5135 (office)
(314) 726-3181 (home)
-8Joey Horsley
19 Park Lane
Jamaica Plain
Boston, MA 02130
(617) 524-7305
Deborah Lund
Box 1104
Washington Univ.Dept. of German
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 727-4127
Lilian Hoverland
Dept. of German, P.O.T. 1055
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40503
(606) 277-0377
Biddy (Carolyn) Martin
426 Clemons Ave.
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 241-5376
Wilma Iggers
German Department
Canisius College
Buffalo, NY 14208
Karen Jankowsky
7421 Amherst
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 727 -9631
Ric Johnson
MFL, IU-PU/Fort Wayne
2101 Coliseum Blvd. E.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
(219) 426-1621
Nancy Kaiser
2230 Red Arrow Tr. 6
Madison, WI 53711
(608) 273-3569
Victoria M. Kingsbury
276 Gunson
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 351-3222
Barbara Kosta
Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Langs.
261 Arts and Sciences Bldg.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Helga Kraft
Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Langs.
and Literature
261 Arts and Sciences Bldg.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611
Sara Lennox
20 Washington Place
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-4982
Ria f-1ayer
Gisela Moffit
1101 Watson Rd.
Mt. Pleasant, MI
(517) 772-1602
48858
Magda Muller
7421 Amherst
St. Louis U.C., MO
(314) 727-9631
63130
Martina Muller
6615 Kingsbury Ave.-Apt. 1W
St. Louis, MO 63130·
(314) 725-2281
Lynnie Ozer
38 Gramercy Park
New York, NY 10010
(212) 260-5246
Linda S. Pickle
1228 Ridge Rd.
Columbia, MO 65201
(314) 442-2537
Hildegard Pietsch
6683 Kingsbury 3W
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 725-0273
A1mut Poole
3827 Effie St.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 661-1053 (home)
(213) 206-6915 (work)
Carol Poore
2 Sherman Terr. 4
Madison, WI 53704
(608) 241-3770
I
-9Mary Rhiel
1804 Madison St.
Madison, WI
53711
(608) 258-1411
Nancy Vedder-Shults
2810 Gregory St.
Madison, WI
53711
(608) 231-3362
Tineke Ritmeester
7421 Amherst
St. Louis U.C., MO
(314) 727-9631
Martha K. Wallach
CCC/UWGB
Green Bay, WI 54302
(414) 468-0356 (home)
(414) 4(;5-2348 (dept.)
63130
Dorothy Rosenberg
3812 35th S.W.
Seattle, Washington
(206) 937-6696
98126
Charlotte K. Smith
1224 South 140th
Seattle, Washington
(206) 244-3768
Gabriele Strauch
1525A Church St.
Stevens Point, WI
(715) 345-0862
98168
54481
Bunny (Sydna) Weiss
Hamilton College
Clinton, NY 13323
(315) 859-7520
(315) 853-2834
Brigitte Wichmann
P.O. Box 318 or Hanover Coll.
Hanover, IN 47243
(812) 866-2578
Dorothea Stuecher
1321 E. 8th St.
Duluth, MN 55805
(218) 724-2736
Sally Winkle
206 North St.
Madison, WI
53704 or
German Dent.
Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI
53706
(608) 241-1~995
Karen R. Thompson
Box 1104
German
Washington Univ.
St. Louis, MO 63130
Barbara D. Wright
U-137
Storrs, CT 06268
(203) 429-8633 (home)
(203) 486-2528 (office)
Jackie Vansant
1912-1/2 Robbins Pl.
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 479-8065
WIG (ONFERE:NCf \98\
Summary of the WiG Business Meeting, Sunday, Oct. 18, 1981
First, everyone was invited to applaud and thank the women who
organized this year's conference, especially Nancy Vedder-Shults, who
coordinated registration, arranged rides, and worked with the Siena
Center personnel, and Martha Wallach, who provided the natural foods
option.
(WiG Business Meeting)
-10-
A second round of thanks went to Marianne Burkhard, who served as
"outside reviewer" for five of the six WiG members who received
tenure during 1980-81.
The "outside" evaluation of manuscripts
(and in some cases, even of published work) has become increasingly
important in the tenure/promotion review process at many campuses,
and the time-consuming, "invisible" work done by Marianne and other
"senior" WiG members--reading masses of material and composing
thoughtful, persuasive letters to deans and committee chairs-deserves appreciation and recognition, since it benefits not only
those who received tenure and promotion, but our entire organization.
1.
The first order of business was the nomination and election of
new members of the Steering Committee.
Joey Horsley (n. Mass.,
Boston) was nominated and elected as the new representative from
the Eastern region and to head the bibliography committee.
Almut Poole (UCLA) was nominated and elected as the new representative
from the Western region.
She will be in charge of fund-raising for
the 1983 conference and for making preliminary arrangements for the
1983 conference, which will be held the first weekend after Oct. 15
in the Los Angeles area.
Almut will try to have information on a
possible site by the December WiG meeting at the MLA.
2.
We discussed problems which arise in arranging for guest authors
at the annual October conference.
We decided it was best to agree
on several possible guest authors in the event that our first (or
second, or third) invitation is turned down.
Christa Wolf will be
approached first; Sara Lennox agreed to write to her.
The other
choices, in order, were Irmtraud Morgner, Ingeborg Drewitz, and
Jutta HeinriCh; they will be kept in mind for future conferences
if Christa Wolf agrees to come in 1983.
3.
A lengthy discussion about WiG participation at the 1982 AATG
conference followed.
It was decided that WiG members attending
the 1981 AATG meeting will announce that WiG will not participate
in 1982 if the meeting is held in a non-ratified (ERA) state, as
seems likely.
The Political Action Committee was asked to write
the AATG in advance of the Nov. 1981 meeting to urge them to hold
the 1982 meeting in a ratified state, to inform them that WiG will
not participate by arranging sessions for the 1982 meeting if it is
held in a non-ratified state, and that we will also urge our
membership not to attend.
The session topics agreed upon for the
WiG sessions at AATG will be used in 1983 if WiG doesn't meet at
the 1982 AATG.
The topics agreed upon are:
(1) Fairy Tales in
the Classroom (coordinators:
Bunny Weiss, Hamilton College, and
Wilma Iggers, Canisius College) and (2) Fairy Tale Motifs in
German Women's Writing (coordinators to be selected at the Nov. 1981
AATG).
Remember, these plans are tentative, subject to the AATG's
final decision on a location for the 1982 meeting.
4. Topics for the WiG sessions at the 1982 MLA in Los Angeles were
discussed.
The group agreed to accept Marjorie Tussing's suggestion
that both sessions focus on Women and German Film.
A variety of
possible formats was discussed, for example, arranging for a film
(WiG Business Meeting)
-11-
to be shown before the first session, with the first session devoted
to discussion of that film and the second on a related topic;
inviting a German woman filmmaker to be present, and others.
Coordinators are Dorothy Rosenberg (3812 35th St. S.W., Seattle,
WA 98126) and Marjorie Tussing (Cal. State Univ. at Fullerton);
any suggestions for the format and content of these sessions should
be sent to them by Dec. 15. 1981.
5.
Jeanette Clausen gave a financial report.
There was a balance
of $1231.70, plus a little money left in Madison to take care of
final expenses there.
A lengthy discussion of possible uses for
these funds followed.
It was decided that funding for Christa
Reinig's 1982 visit should be the first priority, and that $500.
will be reserved to be used for matching funds in raising money to
pay her expenses if we are unable to get funding any other way.
It was also agreed that $50. should be given to Elke Frederiksen
and Martha Wallach to help pay part of Gisela Dischner's travel
to the Dec. 1981 MLA, with the possibility of an additional contribution for Dischner if there are funds left in Madison after
all expenses for the 1981 conference in Racine have been paid.
We also discussed the possibility of reimbursing some people who
traveled a long distance to attend this year's conference, but
couldn't resolve this because it wasn't clear how much, if any,
profit there would be from this year's conference.
Therefore,
it seems best to have the Steering Committee decide how to use
any "surplus" funds after the final figures are known.
6.
Linda Pickle reported that the Goethe Institute had not yet
made a decision on whether or to what extent they would help fund
Christa Reinig's stay.
She indicated that Reinig's necessity to
travel with a companion and her inability to commit herself to
other speaking engagements because of her poor health were seen
as "problems" in funding her visit.
Martha Wallach offered to help
work on fundraising for Reinig's visit, so any communication
concerning this should be sent both to Martha and to Linda Pickle.
7.
The next agenda item was the 1982 WiG conference itself.
It was decided that next year's conference will be a day longer
than in the past; it will be held Oct. 14-17, 1982 on Thomson's
Island in Boston harbor.
The physical arrangements will be
coordinated by Joey Horsley (U. Mass, Boston) and the general
coordinator will be Barbara Wright (U. Conn., Storrs).
To
facilitate planning for future meetings, it was suggested that
the conference registration forms include spaces for nominations
to the Steering Committee, suggestions for session topics at the
1983 AATG, MLA, and WiG conferences, and suggested guest authors.
The format and topics agreed upon for the 1982 conference follow;
see also the calls for contributions on the following pages.
Thursday, Oct. 14:
arrival and social evening, getting
acquainted.
-12-
(WiG Business Meeting)
Friday, Oct. 15:
morning:
afternoon:
evening:
Saturday, Oct. 16:
morning I:
Feministische Wissenschaft, Sara
Lennox and Kay Goodman, coordinators.
Randbewegungen im deutschen Sprachraum, Linda Pickle and Brigitte
Wichman, coordinators.
Feministik/Germanistik, Jeannine
Blackwell and Saridy Frieden, coordinators.
Speaking the Unspeakable, Angelika
Bammer and Jeanette Clausen,
coordinators.
morning II: small group/CR discussion on the
above, facilitators to be selected.
afternoon:
Sunday, Oct. 17:
Business and planning meeting (to be
continued on Sunday morning if
necessary).
evening:
Christa Reinig
morning:
wrap-up session, Making Connections,
Respecting Differences, Evelyn Beck
and another person to be selected,
coordinators.
Thomson's Island has a capacity of 125, so that was decided as the
upper limit on registration.
Because of the deposit required by
the conference center, preregistration will have to be made by
August 1, 1982, with a penalty for late registration.
7.
As the final order of business, it was decided that the Political
Action Committee would send a letter supporting the petition for
peace which was circulated by Angelika Mechtel (N.B.:
this has been
done).
The text of the petition follows.
Appeal circulated by the
Verband deutscher Schriftsteller, Postfach 1282, 7000 Stuttgart 1.
The meeting was adjourned at noon.
Pickle and Sara Lennox.
Minutes were taken by Linda
"Authors from all european countries appeal to the world
public.
Mankind is now supposed to accept the criminal
notion that it is possible to wage a limited nuclear
war with new atomic weapons, neutron bombs, cruise
missiles etc.
We hold the opposite to be true:
no
limited war can be waged with nuclear weapons, it would
annihilate the entire world.
Beyond all boundaries between states and social systems,
beyond all differences of opinion, we address our urgent
appeal to those responsible to quit this new arms race
and to join without delay in negotiations on further
disarmament.
.
-13We call upon the world public not to acquiesce but instead
to speak out with still greater energy for peace.
Let us act together, so that europe does not become the
atomic battlefield of a new and final world war.
Nothing is more important than peace."
WIG CONFERENCf 1981
1.
Friday evening session, Oct. 16:
Sprache. Gefuhl, und Feminismus
The Friday evening sessions in the past several years have been
planned to allow conference participants to renew old acquaintances
and make new ones while discussing an issue where the personal,
professional and political intersect.
As most of you know, this
year's topic was prompted by our experiences last year, when-for the first time--the major language of the conference was
German, in consideration of guest author Margot Schroeder, who
understood little English.
Naomi Stephan had planned a series of consciousness-raising
exercises around the topic Sprache, Gefuhl und Feminismus, but
was not able to attend the conference, so a much-simplified version
of her plan was worked out in some haste by Susan Cocalis, Sara
Lennox and Jeanette Clausen.
After a general welcome and announcements, we divided into nine small groups.
Members of each group
introduced themselves to each other and then discussed in German
such topics as their preferred language for relating personal
experiences, for writing scholarly papers, and the possibilities
(or lack of them) for feminists in speaking and writing.
After
a half-hour, the groups were asked to continue their discussion
in English, and after another twenty minutes they were asked to
stop the discussion, talk about how they had felt speaking each
language, and to prepare a brief report summarizing their discussion for the group as a whole.
After all the reports were
given, Nancy Vedder-Shults led the group in singing Holly Near's
"Like a Ship in the Harbor."
Two of the group reports follow.
Many of the issues raised will
be continued in more depth next year, in a session entitled
"Feministik/Germanistik," to be coordinated by Jeannine Blackwell
and Sandy Frieden.
Group 1 - Protokoll:
Problems seen:
having learned feminist
theory from England and the US, it seems strange to explain it
in German; a feminist writing style is often wanted (by author)
and seen (by readers) as more personal; if readers are not in
tune with feminism they see this as unscholarly and unfit for
critical work; the genre (scholarly article, etc.) and intended
(WiG 1981)
-14-
publication (journal envisioned for sUbmission) can create
Selbstzensur and cause writers to shift styles.
Question:
to what
extent shall we fit ourselves to the traditional mold of the professional scholar and scholarly writing/arguing style? "Feminist"
writing can create its own syntax (metaphors instead of logical
words, new logic emerging).
Historical perspective:
problem of a
"too personal" style existed before, cf. controversy around Emil
Staiger, who explicitly starts with personal reactions to text; the
German (bundesdeutsche) critics criticized this very much.
Comparison between use of German and English:
for both non-native
speakers and native listeners there was virtually no difference
(except in speed, but even that was not too noticeable).
Non-natives
felt comfortable; therefore, the environment has obviously a lot to
do with whether or not one feels comfortable to use the foreign
idiom.
(This explains why German is a real barrier for asking
questions in official conference sessions with lots of people (men!)
attending.) What did change was the body language and inner feelings.
--summary by Marianne Burkhard
Protokoll - Gruppe 9:
Diese Gruppe fand, daB das Verhaltnis der
Beteiligten zu der Sprache (Deutsch oder Englisch) ein anderes war,
je nachdem in welcher Sprache man/frau was erlebt.
Objektivieren
geschieht in der Fremdsprache, und fur die meisten Frauen ist der
Feminismus eine sehr subjektive Sache.
Im Gesprach unter uns
stellten wir fest, daB der Anfang immer schwierig ist (sich den
anderen vorstellen--Monolog halten); daher schien Deutsch zu stocken,
Englisch schien flieBender zu sein, namlich weil das Schwierigste
schon auf deutsch erledigt war.
In Bezug auf Kriterien fur einen
personlichen Stil (mannlich? weiblich?) kamen wir zu dem Schluss,
daB jede(r) fur sich die Kriterien bestimmen muss, und vor Augen
halten, daB Sprache schlieBlich ein Mittel der Kommunikation ist.
--summary by Debbie Lund
2.
Saturday am:
New Ways of Reading (summaries not yet received)
3.
Saturday pm:
German-Jewish Women Writers.
Irene Stocksieker
Di Maio:
"Fanny Lewald:
Ambivalence." In her autobiography,
Fanny Markus Lewald (1811-1889) reveals ambivalent attitudes toward
her Jewish and her sexual identities. Avoidance of the fact that
the Markuses were Jews failed to protect Fanny from the effects of
anti-Semitism.
Being female was even more problematic than being
Jewish to Fanny, for according to societal norms, her intellectual
endeavors were at odds with her sexual identity.
The two factors
converged in the issues of naming and baptism.
Her brothers initially
resisted the family name change, but Fanny, conditioned to expect a
name change, accepted it. Whereas Jewish men, including her brothers,
were coerced into conversion to open career opportunities, baptism
could only jeopardize the only future "career" for Fanny--marriage.
Initially attracted to Christianity, Fanny finally received permission
from her father to convert.
But her rationality, stemming in part
from enlightened Jewish tradition, ultimately prevented her from
believing the central tenants of Christian faith.
Lewald worked out
the shame over the sophistry of her confession of faith in her second
novel, Jenny. This novel presents Jews and Jewish society positively,
unpleasant characteristics being attributed to the oppression of Jews.
The novel is a plea for emancipation not by total assimilation, but
(WiG 1981)
-15-
by allowing Christian and Jew to live side by side.
The tragic outcome
of the love plots reveals that Germany was not ready.
Wilma Iggers' paper dealt
with the multiple identies of the novels
of Auguste Hauschner (1850-1924, Prague - Berlin):
German - Jewish Bohemian - Writer - Woman.
Having only partial models to follow at
best, she designed a role suited to her own talents and at least
as much to the needs of other people--women more than men--as to
her own.
Hauschner was acutely aware of the dilemna of women
between dependence and security on the one hand, and, when striking
out on their own, suffering from insecurity, loneliness and
ostracism on the other.
Her feminism, akin to that of some of her
most admirable contemporaries and well integrated into her broader
social concerns, seems to have implied a specifically feminine
gentleness and a constant pattern of reaching out toward people.
Lynnie Ozer--A Jewish Woman in Germany from 1966 to 1971:
I related
my experiences as a woman and a feminist in Germany, giving examples
of the strong male chauvinism I found when living with two families
and on dates.
The main thrust of the presentation, however, was my
confrontation with latent and overt German anti-Semitism as well as
my confrontation with my own principles regarding being honest about
my Jewishness.
At the conclusion of the paper, I expressed my newfound peace with the Germans; I can now accept them as they are and
understand their feelings.
Finally, I realized that I had asked
too much of myself while I lived in Germany, total objectivity and
fairness.
Individual Germans and Jews can experience meaningful
friendships, but it will take many, many years to erase the bitterness between the two peoples.
4.
Saturday evening:
Angelika Mechtel
Angelika Mechtel, in a brief introduction of herself, described
herself as a feminist by nature.
She never nurtured any doubts
as to her abilities and qualities as a woman.
However, she was
extremely surprised when she discovered in her teens that women
were not considered men's equals.
She never joined a feminist
group even though she stands, politically and ideologically
speaking, on the same side as the German feminist movement.
Following the introduction, A.M. read from her works:
1) the
first 'Reportage' in Keep Smiling, 2) two short stories
('Kuckucksfrau' and 'Katrin') in Die Traume der Fuchsin and,
3) some poems.
A lively discussion followed, centering on
Mechtel's perception of women and on the violence that her
female characters display so frequently.
--summary by Brigitte Wichmann
WIG' 1982
Looking Ahead to WiG 1982
For WiG members who haven't yet had the pleasure of reading CHRISTA
REINIG (or even for those who have), here are a few places to begin:
-16-
(Christa Reinig)
Courage I (Jan. 1981) contains an article by Ernestine Schroeder,
"Christa Reinig:
Die Doppelte Dissidentin," pp. 43-41+, and a short
prose selection "Die schlafende Riesin," from Reinig's Der Wolf
und die Witwen.
See also Emma 4 (Apr. 1981), which contains three
pieces by Reinig:
"Ripper und Co," n. 5 (about violence against
women); "Das kleine Hadchen, das ich war," pp. 36-39, and
"Lebenslanglich," Reinig's account of how she became a feminist
activist.
(If you can't obtain these articles through your library
or interlibrary loan, I can send you copies if you send $ to cover
xeroxing and postage--JC).
A partial list of Christa Reinig's works:
1.
Der Wolf und die Witwen (Munchen:
Frauenoffensive, 1981;
DUsseldorf:
Eremiten-Presse, 1980).
"Es sind Appelle, Argumentationshilfen, Anweisungen fUr Frauen, die sich gegen eine von den Mannern
dominierte Welt zu behaupten suchen.
Nicht uberleben heisst die
Parole, sondern Widerstand."
(Courage I, p. 44).
2.
Mul3i
Anfan.
Gedichte.
(Frauenoffensive
1980, Eremitenpresse 1979.
'Zwei Frauen bauen eine Beziehung auf.
Das ist der Sprachgebrauch, und daran scheitern sie zunachst.
Denn
es gibt so wenig Dinge, sich darauf gemeinsam zu beziehen und
soviele Moglichkeiten uneins zu seine
Sie schaffen sich ein
Tagebuch an.
Jeden Abend soll daraus vorgelesen werden.
Aber, das
Tagebuch enthalt unendlich erbitterte Fortfuhrungen der abgebrochenen Streitigkeiten, und zum Schluss wird die Schrift
unleserlich, und das ist auch das beste an der ganzen Sache.
Ein
neues Tagebuch wird angeschafft, und jeden Tag solI nur ein einziger
Satz darin stehen, deutlich in lesbarer Schrift, und diesmal gelingt
es.
Am glUcklichen Ende eines Jahres sitzen einige Frauen zusammen
und Christa Reinig sagt:
"Und wenn wir nicht beide Fruhrentner
gewesen waren, und wenn wir nicht so unendlich viel 7.eit miteinander
gehabt hatten, dann ware es nicht gelungen." Eine Frau am Tisch
sagte:
"Ja, ja, MUSiggang ist al1er--Liebe Anfang." Und das wurde
dann der Titel des Buches."
(from inside back cover of the
Frauenoffensive edition).
3.
Die PrUfung des Lachlers.
4.
Entmannung.
Roman.
5. Mein Herz ist eine
mit Ekkehard Rudolf
Gedichte.
(DTV 1980)
(Luchterhand 1977)
elbe Blume.
Christa Reini
1978
6.
Die himmlische und die irdische Geometrie (DTV 1978, EremitenPresse 1975)
-17-
CALLS FOR
PflP~RS
Contributions needed for 1982 WiG conference sessions:
1.
Feministische Wissenschaft:
A Review of Recent Developments
In this session we would like short presentations (ca. 10
minutes) modeled on the review essays in Signs which survey and
comment on recent developments in feminist scholarship within and
outside of Germanistik.
You may define your area as narrowly or
as broadly as you wish.
We would like to see such topics represented as:
women writers prior to 1700; the 18th, 19th and 20th
centuries; recent feminist criticism and theory in Germany, France,
England and the US; women writers of autobiography, poetry, drama
and fiction; women and culture, psychoanalysis, economics, anthropology and so on.
Panelists should also distribute an annotated
bibliography of the works they are discussing.
Please send papers
or proposals to both:
Sara Lennox, 20-1/2 Washington Place,
Northampton, MA 01060 and Kay Goodman, German Dept. Brown
University, Providence, RI 02912.
2.
Randbewegungen im deutschen Sprachraum
In this session we wish to provide information on recent events
and developments in any or all of the various Randbewegungen in the
German-speaking areas, z.B. Feminismus, die radikale Linke, die
Grunen, die Friedensbewegung, usw.
Please send papers or proposals
to Linda Pickle, 1228 Ridge Rd., Columbia, MO 65201 and Brigitte
Wichmann, P.O. Box 318, Hanover, IN 47243.
DEADLINE:
March 1, 1982.
3.
Speaking the Unspeakable
As Adrienne Rich said, "the unspoken.
. becomes the unspeakable.
. the nameless becomes the invisible."
(Sinister
Wisdom 6).
In past years, WiG has had sessions on "Lesbian Themes
in German Literature" (l979), "The Forms of Our Bodies--How Do
Women 'Write Themselves'" (1980), and "German-Jewish Women Writers"
(1981).
We want to confront the realities of antisemitism and other
forms of racism, homophobia, biases based on age, class--all the
oppressions which have historically been used to divide us.
By
naming them and by talking about how they affect us in our relationships with one another, in our own lives, in our work, we have chosen
to make them visible and to continue to confront them.
We ask:
How
have these oppressions silenced, muffled, or distorted our voices?
How have we all been affected, and how have we been affected
differently?~ow have these oppressions been spoken, when, and by
whom? How does our reading/speaking the "unspeakable" affect (and
change) us?
To address these questions we are planning a session "Speaking the
Unspeakable" for Saturday, Oct. 16, 1982, to be followed by small-
(Calls for Papers)
-18-
group CR discussions on the issues raised by the presentations and
our personal, emotional reactions to them.
We invite presentations
based on your experience, on texts you have read, or writers who
address these concerns in their work.
We will also need CR group
facilitators.
Please send papers or proposals, or volunteer as a
CR facilitator to:
Angelika Bammer, 405 Elmside Blvd., Madison,
WI 53704 and Jeanette Clausen, Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages,
IPFW, Fort Wayne, IN 46805.
DEADLINE:
April 1, 1982.
(Here are a few articles I've found helpful for thinking about this
session--JC)
Elly Bulkin, "Heterosexism and Women's Studies," Radical Teacher,
Nov. 1980, pp. 25-31 (contains preliminary guidelines for CR groups
meeting to deal with homophobia/heterosexism).
-----, "Racism and Writing," Sinister Wisdom 13 (Spring 1980),
pp. 3-22 (contains guideline questions for beginning to develop an
anti-racist approach to feminist criticism).
Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. IX, 3 (Fall 1981) (contains renorts
on the CR sessions at the 1981 NWSA convention).
N~W
MATfRlflLS
An English translation of the 1904 novella Werde die du bist
(Become the Woman You Are) by German radical feminist Hedwig Dohm
is available.
The fictional journal of an aged middle-class widow,
it is a bitter and provocative indictment of a society which does
not give women the chance to fulfill their potential and discards
them as useless when they are old.
(46 pp. typescript).
For
copies contact Ilze Mueller, 2173 Commonwealth Ave., St. Paul, MN
55108.
Now available for ca. $5.00 from Adler's Foreign Books, NY or
Reclam Verlag, Postfach 1149, 7257 Ditzingen bei Stuttgart:
Die Frauenfra e in Deutschland 1865-1915.
Texte und Dokumente,
hsg. Elke Frederiksen Reclam 19 1 .
Inhalt
Einleitung:
Zum Problem der Frauenfrage um die
Jahrhundertwende . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
Allgemeine Positionen zur Frauenfrage ...••.....
Programme in Frauenzeitschriften •...•.•.•..•...
Einzelstimmen zur burgerlichen Frauenbewegung ..
Einzelstimmen zur proletarischen Frauenbewe-
45
46
gung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
88
1.
66
Zur Politisierung burgerlicher und proletarischer
Positionen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
107
(New Materials)
II.
-19-
Die Stellung der Frau in Ehe und Familie . . . . . . .
Positionen der burgerlichen Frauenbewegung zu
123
Ehe und Familie
123
................................
Positionen der proletarischen Frauenbewegung zu
................................ .
154
Alternativen zur traditionellen Rolle der Frau .
Madchenerziehung und Frauenbildung • . • . . . . . . . . . .
Erfahrungen und Forderungen burgerlicher Frauen.
Erfahrungen und Forderungen proletarischer
170
Frauen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Frauenarbe it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
268
296
Ehe und Familie
III.
IV.
200
201
Burgerliche und proletarische Position zur Frauenarbeit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
297
Formen und Bedingungen von Frauenarbeit ...••...
325
Forderungen zur Verbesserung der Arbeitsbedin-
V.
gungen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
364
Zur politischen Gleichberechtigung der Frau ....
Erfahrungen und Forderungen burgerlicher Frauen.
Erfahrungen und Forderungen proletarischer
Frauen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
37~
373
407
Editionsbericht . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Literaturhinweise . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Verzeichnis der Autorinnen, Autoren, Titel und
431
Quellen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
451
433
Review of Irmgard C. Taylor, Das Bild der Witwe in der deutschen
Literatur (Darmstadt:
Gesellschaft Hessischer Literaturfreunde,
1980) .
"Witwe ist das, was ubrigbleibt, venn der Mann stirbt."
Irmgard
C. Taylor cites a contemporary quote from a television documentary
in her pioneering study of a neglected group in German literature
and traditional society, those left behind and without a "function"
upon the death of their spouses.
Her carefully documented research
ranges chronologically from pre-literary evidence to indications of
recent changes upon the parts of authors and their widowed subjects
as to possible options for both young and old widows.
A concise
introduction to the problem of' widows--"Witwen stellen eine Randgruppe der Gesellschaft dar, die von Jeher als Belastung empfunden
wird, auf' die ungern und, wenn uberhaupt, nur unter moralischem
Druck reagiert wird und die die Opferbereitschaft der Mitmenschen
voraussetzt."
(p. 7)--is followed by a particularly penetrating
discussion of the implications of St. Paul's First Epistle to
Timothy, 5, 3-16, which set the misogynist tone for Christian
treatment of widows for the next millenia.
Germanic exceptions,
like Kriemhild, are noted in a survey format which, while informative for orientation as to a given period, tend to have an
"aufza.hlend" effect in the aggregate.
Professor Taylor has
quantified her data in charts which may be less informative than
her excellent summaries; in addition, she includes a model analysis
of the motif of the unfaithful widow that raises in nuce many of
the issues touched upon in passing in the course of the study.
(New Materials)
-20-
It, and the work of which it constitutes a sort of precis, are
useful and provocative additions to the history of women in
German literature.
Das Bild der Witwe in der deutschen Literatur
is available through Adler Foreign Books, 162 5th Ave., N.Y., NY
10010 for $10.95.
(This book review is printed as submitted by Irene Cannon-Geary,
Dept. of Germanic and Slavic Languages, SUNY at Stony Brook,
Stony Brook, N\
11794.)
."
ANNOUNCEMENT:
WOMEN EDUCATORS' announces the Fifth Annual "Research
on Women in Education" Award, to be presented at the American Educational Research Association meeting in New York, March 19-23, 1982.
Published or unpublished research reports in journal article format
on any aspect of women in education are eligible if conducted or
written up during 1980-81.
The deadline for entries is 1 December
1981.
Send five (5) copies of the entry (on four of which the
author is not identified) and five (5) copies of a 200-250 word
abstract of the entry to:
Cheryl L. Wild, Coordinator Elect,
WOMEN EDUCATORS, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J.
08941.
LIST OF D~ADL'NE~
Dec. 15, 1981
Suggestions or preliminary proposals for 1982 MLA
sessions on Women and German Film to Marjorie
Tussing (Cal. State Univ. at Fullerton) and
Dorothy Rosenberg (3812 35th S. H'., Seattle, ~{ash­
ington 98126).
Feb. 15, 1982
Letters, articles, announcements, etc. for publication in March 1982 WiG newsletter to:
WiG, Dept. of
Modern Foreign Languages, Indiana-Purdue at Fort
Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN
46805.
March 12 1982
Papers or proposals for Randbewegungen im deutschen
Sprachraum (WiG 1982) to Linda Pickle, 1228 Ridge Rd.,
Columbia, MO 65201 and Brigitte Wichmann, P.O. Box 318,
Hanover, IN 47243.
April 1, 1982
Papers, proposals, inquiries for Speaking the
Unspeakable (Wig 1982) to Angelika Bammer, 405
E1mside Blvd., Madison, WI
53704 and Jeanette
Clausen, Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages, IndianaPurdue at Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805.
SUBSCRIPTIONS/MEMBERSHIP
This is Newsletter 26.
Read your label and renew when numbers match.
Jane Goodwomon
26
Feminist University
Everywhere, USA
We held firm as long as we could, BUT the rising costs of everything made it impossible to continue to produce Women in German
for $5.00.
Therefore, we have raised the fee to $7.00; $3.00
for students and unemployed.
If you can afford to, please consider becoming a supporting member ($15.00 or more).
Make checks payable to WOMEN IN GERMAN.
Send your check and this
membership form to:
Women in German, Dept. of Modern Foreign
Languages, Indiana U.-Purdue U. at Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN
46805.
Enclosed you will find my check for:
category)
(please check appropriate
New
Renewal
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Women in German
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