German Women’s Writing in British Magazines, 1760–1820

Abstract

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, continental writing was more available to British readers than ever, in large part because of the translations and reviews made available in the periodical press. Moreover, as Alessa Johns argues, Revolutionary furore meant an increased openness to German literary work as opposed to French. With particular attention to the work of Anna Karsch, Sophie von La Roche, Benedikte Naubert, Johanna Schopenhauer and Margarete Klopstock this chapter tracks the presence of a dozen German women authors through popular and influential periodicals such as the Annual Register (1758–present), the Gentleman’s Magazine (1731–1922), the Scots Magazine (1739–1826), and the Court Miscellany; or, Gentleman’s and Lady’s New Magazine (1766–71). Far from what one might expect, German women writers were less associated with sensibility or the Gothic; rather they are held up as exemplary, and used to stress transnational identification, especially along gendered lines.