Women Writers of the Journal Jugend From 1919-1940
Author: | Condray, Kathleen |
Year: | 2003 |
Pages: | 340 |
ISBN: | 0-7734-6739-4 978-0-7734-6739-2 |
Price: | $219.95 |
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This thematic study is the only in-depth investigation into the literature of Jugend. It includes a discussion of Jugend’s particular relationship to women not found in previous scholarship and corrects some technical errors regarding editorship and focus during the Third Reich. Special focus is given to the work of two previously unknown Nazi women authors, Ziska Luise Dresler Schember, who was honored during the Third Reich for her nationalistic, heroic ballads, which were quite the opposite of what Nazi literary policy dictated for women authors, and Johanna Birnbaum, whose initially pro-Nazi serialized novel slowly subverts party tenets as the installments progress. Finally, an appendix of women writers allows other scholars to determine quickly which women published in Jugend
Reviews
“… a most welcome addition to the research on German Women Writers with its examination of texts from a periodical better known for its early years as an example of art nouveau as an art form, and by now most difficult of access. Her method is to select representative short stories, poetry and one novel published incompletely in serial form. She gives a careful synopsis of their contents and relates them to the socio-historical background of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Content rather than style is of primary interest. This reveals much about the developing role of women in German society, and each section is prefaced by an introduction of the significance of the change in regime and official attitudes towards women.… it is to Dr. Condray’s credit that where the periodical’s index was not available, she examined its pages for hidden texts by women. Out of the several dozen women writers included in her useful index of all who were published in Jugend, she has chosen 27 of the most prominently represented and categorized these according to dominant themes…. she shows her command of critical literary techniques. The work in general is refreshingly independent of received views about the roles of women, and Dr. Condray points out just where the texts are of special interest, either for sociological reasons, or for their effectiveness as literature.” – Dr. Brian Keith-Smith, compiler of An Encyclopedia of German Women Writers
Table of Contents
Table of Contents:
Preface; Introduction
1. The Journal Jugend
2. The Weimar Republic (Social and Historical Background; Women’s Contributions to Jugend during the Weimar Republic – courtship and marriage; male protagonists and points of view; consumer behavior; detective and crime stories; spirituality; the exotic; poverty)
3. The Third Reich (Social and Historical Background; Women’s Contributions to Jugend during the Third Reich – courtship, marriage and family; women in the workforce; male protagonists and points of view; the exotic; country life, spirituality, crime, racism; Ziska Luise Dresler Schember; Johanna Birnbaum)
4. Conclusion
Appendix: Index of Women Authors Published in Jugend, 1919-1940
Bibliography; Index