Form and Contention: Sati as Custom in Günderrode's "Die Malabarischen Witwen"

Abstract

In Gunderode, her fictionalized biography of poet Karoline von Gunderrode,1 Bettine von Arnim conspicuously excludes her beloved friend's suicide from plot. In its place, she intersperses novel with previously unpublished texts by Gunderrode, and ends novel with image of a rose bush full of life-so much life, in fact, that number of its blossoms corresponds to years in Gunderrode's life: mit siebenundzwanzig Knospen, das sind Deine Jahre, ich habe sie freudig gezahlt und das es grad Deine Jahre trifftdas freut mich (with twenty-seven buds, exactly your years, I counted them happily, and fact that they perfectly match your years-that cheers me so).2I cite this moment for its stark contrast to legacy Karoline von Gunderrode has since gone on to possess in literary history. As Liesl Allingham has pointed out, it is difficult to find a piece of scholarship on this poet that does not include at least passing reference to circumstances of her death: foremost woman poet of German romanticism-forever associated with her final moments.3 Von Arnim's rose blossoms inspire brilliant optimism in face of loss. That which may have appeared to be merely decorative (indeed, what could compare with aesthetic potential of a red rose-the beloved trope of so many literary works?) assumes all weight and energy of Gunderrode's life. Following von Arnim, I hope to pursue two possibilities suggested by this image of rosebuds. First, on a fundamental level, I will prioritize Gunderrode's literary work, as it continues to sound a marginalized voice even within German romanticism and Goethezeit. Second, I want to highlight another possibility for re-thinking lives that were rendered decorative.My focus is Gunderrode's Die Malabarischen Witwen4 and its romanticizing depiction of sati, otherwise known as widow immolation, or burning of bereaved widow upon funeral pyre of her deceased husband. While immolations have occurred in a variety of contexts, sati is name of event ascribed, with dubious accuracy,5 to Hinduism in India. Gunderrode begins by describing women in their procession, [g] eschmucket festlich, wie in Brautgewanden (l. 4; ornamented festively, as if in bridal garments). The poem, like women's clothes, makes festivity and splendor of a deeply controversial event, and through sonnet form sati itself, like women in their garments, appears geschmucket festlich.Gunderrode is one of those many women writers from as many canons and traditions whose early death has threatened to overshadow all she accomplished while alive. In this sense, she has something in common with (though of course not directly comparable to) women she describes in this poem. She also appears to be only woman writer of German romanticism to have depicted sati. The overall fascination with that notoriously amorphous region dubbed the Orient in German romantic literature is well documented,6 yet involvement of women writers in this trend is less researched. As I will discuss in greater detail later in this paper, many of Gunderrode's best-known works involve re-imaginings and re-writings of disparate mythologies, stories, and locations that fascinated contemporaneous authors: she wrote longingly of distant countries like Egypt and Persia, as well as India she envisions in Die Malabarischen Witwen.7Gunderrode is one of those many women writers from as many canons and traditions whose early death has threatened to overshadow all she accomplished while alive. In this sense, she has something in common with (though of course not directly comparable to) women she describes in this poem. She also appears to be only woman writer of German romanticism to have depicted sati. The overall fascination with that notoriously amorphous region dubbed the Orient in German romantic literature is well documented,6 yet involvement of women writers in this trend is less researched. …