Caroline Philippine von Briest (better known as Caroline de la Motte Fouqué; 7 October 1773 – 20 July 1831) was one of the most prolific women writers of the

Romantic period Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. She wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales, as well as essays, on

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, on the history of fashion, and

travelogues Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or t ...

. Her numerous works gained her a high degree of celebrity.

Early years

Caroline Philippine von Briest was born in

Nennhausen Nennhausen is a municipality in the Havelland district, in Brandenburg, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, an ...

in 1773 (1775 is also mentioned). She grew up at the Nennhausen estate, which belonged to her father, Philipp Friedrich August Wilhelm von Briest (1749–1822), who had served in the Prussian Army. Her mother was Caroline Wilhelmine Zinkow (or Zinnow), and she had a younger brother, August Jakob Friedrich von Briest (1789–1790). After her mother's death, her father married Marie Friederike Helene von Luck, and they had two children, Caroline Friederike Auguste von Briest and Clara Friederike Charlotte von Briest. The home was frequently visited by literary men from Berlin.

Career

Briest first married Friedrich Ehrenreich Adolf Ludwig Rochus von Rochow (1770–1799), a young officer, who possessed an estate in the neighbourhood, and was attached to a regiment quartered at Potsdam. None of her work during this period was published. Rochow became a gambler and the marriage deteriorated until his wife returned home to her father at Nennhausen with her children, two sons, including Gustav von Rochow, who became Prussian Minister of the Interior and Minister of State, and an illegitimate daughter. She divorced Rochow in 1798 (1799 is also mentioned); he died by suicide in 1799. She married writer

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué (); (12 February 1777 – 23 January 1843) was a German writer of the Romantic style. Biography He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in ...

in 1803. It was a second marriage for both. Together they had one daughter, Marie Luise Caroline de la Motte Fouqué (1803–1864). Fouqué retired from the army with claims of poor health and lived at the Nennhausen estate, publishing his first book in 1804; her first book was published two years later. Several of Briest's novels, her ''Letters as to the Purpose and Tendency of Female Culture'' (Berlin, 1811), as well as her ''Letters on Greek Mythology'' (Berlin, 1812), are of note. Some of her

narrative poems Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be ...

are distinguished for their insight into matters of the human, particularly the feminine, heart. Regarding the literary quality of her works,

Arno Schmidt Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the p ...

in his authoritative biography of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, quotes E. T. A. Hoffmann as follows: "In the afternoon to see Frau Fouqué who bored and displeased me terribly by reading from one of her very bad novels" (30 January 1815) – followed by a second similarly dismissive statement. Schmidt continues by commenting: "After having read ten of her books I do have to agree with him; the best among them are the novels ''Roderich'' and the tale ''Der Delphin'', although they do follow well-known models very closely; in addition, some pieces in her books, for example the poems in ''Frau des Falkenstein'', were not written by her but by her husband." She wrote approximately twenty novels and sixty stories, as well as poems, theoretical tracts and cultural historical essays; there were also romances and comedies. She sought anonymity for some of her work by referring to herself as "author of the Roderich novels", or using the pseudonym "Serena". ''Drei Mährchen'' (1806), ''Feodora'' (1814), ''Frauenliebe'' (1818) and ''Die graue Maske'' (1829) are some of her works with ''Beytrag zur Geschichte der Zeit'' (1829/30) considered her most important. Her work has been criticized for abandoning her originality in favour of imitating Motte Fouque's style, hoping to share in his popularity.Jennings (1876), p. 102 Her writings continued until 1829 with her last publication, ''Resignation''. She died at Nennhausen in 1831, aged 57. Her letters and short essays were collected after her death under the title "The Writing Table, or Old Times and New" (Cologne, 1833).

Selected works

References

External links

Editionsprojekt Caroline de la Motte Fouqué - Werke und Schriften
(German website of the project editing her collected writings) * (under 'L', La Motte Fouqué) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fouque, Caroline De La Motte 1773 births 1831 deaths Writers from Brandenburg German women novelists German women poets German essayists German women essayists 19th-century German writers 19th-century German women writers