IN SEARCH OF LITERARY MOTHERS ACROSS THE RHINE: THE INFLUENCE OF GENLIS AND STAËL ON THE WRITING OF HELMINA VON CHÉZY

Abstract

This essay addresses the cultural influence of French authors Stéphanie-Félicité de Genlis and Germaine de Staël on German women writers, in particular Helmina von Chézy. As the Paris-based editor of the journal Französische Miscellen (French Miscellanea), Chézy regularly wrote about the latest French literature by women and promoted not only the literature of Genlis, Staël, Sophie Cottin, and George Sand, but also these authors' understanding of themselves as professional artists, as voices of the public sphere, and as women engaged in the capitalist book market. Although Chézy was a prolific writer and lyricist, she never achieved the fame or influence of the French writers. The essay evaluates the strategies Chézy used to style herself after the French writers, considers reasons for Chézy's failure, and argues that German nationalism and the resurgence of political conservatism after the Napoleonic Wars purged the German literary public sphere of the political voices of women.