Ida Boy-Ed (17 April 1852 – 13 May 1928) was a German writer. A supporter of women's issues, she wrote widely-read books and newspaper articles.

Early years

Ida Cornelia Ernestina Ed was born in

Bergedorf Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994. History The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...

in 1852 to a supportive family who encouraged her to write. Her father had started his own newspaper business. Her creation of short novels and other literary works was deterred when she married Carl Johann Boy at the age of seventeen.

Career

Over her husband's objections in 1878, she moved out of the house she shared with his family. She took her eldest son,

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...

, with her to Berlin where she intended to make her living by writing. Despite already being a published author of serialised novels and having experience in newspaper writing, she did not find success with the pieces she wrote at this time. She did, however, use her money to assist other artists. In 1880, she was obliged to move back to

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

at her husband's insistence as their divorce was not finalized.Ida Boy-Ed
Sophie.byu.ed, retrieved 11 March 2014 Boy-Ed spent much of her spare time writing while raising her children, but did not become successful until the age of 30. A book of her novellas about the Hanseatic middle classes was the first of about 70 that she published. Boy-Ed studied and wrote about leading German women like

Charlotte von Stein Charlotte Albertine Ernestine von Stein (also mentioned as ''Charlotta Ernestina Bernadina von Stein'' ), born von Schardt; 25 December 1742, Eisenach – 6 January 1827, Weimar, was a lady-in-waiting at the court in Weimar and a close friend to ...

Charlotte von Kalb Charlotte Sophia Juliana von Kalb (25 July 1761 – 12 May 1843) was a German writer who associated with poets Friedrich Schiller, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Hölderlin and Jean Paul. Life Charlotte Sophia Juliana, Baroness Marshal of ...

and the French writer

Germaine de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein (; ; 22 April 176614 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël (), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzan ...

. Like them, she tried to support women's issues in her writings although her principal reason for writing was to make money. She achieved a wide readership for her books, as well as the hundreds of newspaper articles that she wrote. Boy-Ed invested in an impressive apartment and was a patron of the arts. In September 1914, at the outset of the First World War, Boy-Ed's son Walther was killed in France. Undeterred, Boy-Ed wrote of the need for a mother's sacrifice. She published her ideas in 1915 under the title ''Soldiers' Mothers'' in which she makes it clear, "A mother is only dust on the road to victory". Boy-Ed's son, Karl, was the naval attaché of the German Embassy at Washington. His younger brother Emil was also a naval officer. Karl recalled that

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

was amongst the many literary and musical people who visited his mother's home. Boy-Ed died in 1928 in

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, and the Danes ...

and was buried in

Selected works

* ''Ein Tropfen'', 1882 * ''Die Unversuchten'', 1886 * ''Dornenkronen'', 1886 * ''Ich'', 1888 * ''Fanny Förster'', 1889 * ''Nicht im Geleise'', 1890 * ''Ein Kind', 1892 * ''Empor!'', 1892 * ''Werde zum Weib'', 1894 * ''Sturm'', 1894 * ''Die säende Hand'', 1902 * ''Das ABC des Lebens'', 1903 * ''Heimkehrfieber. Roman aus dem Marineoffiziersleben'', 1904 * ''Die Ketten'', 1904 * ''Der Festungsgarten'', 1905 * ''Ein Echo'', 1908 * ''Nichts über mich!'', 1910 * ''Ein königlicher Kaufmann, Hanseatischer Roman'', 1910 * ''Hardy von Arnbergs Leidensgang'', 1911. * ''Ein Augenblick im Paradies'', 1912 * ''

. Eine psychologische Studie'', 1912 * ''Eine Frau wie Du!'' 1913 * ''Stille Helden'', 1914 * ''Vor der Ehe'', 1915 * ''Die Glücklichen'' 1916 (?) * ''Das Martyrium der

. Versuch ihrer Rechtfertigung'', 1916 * ''Die Opferschale'', 1916 * ''Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt...'', 1916 * ''Erschlossene Pforten'', 1917 * ''Um ein Weib'', 1920 * ''Aus Tantalus Geschlecht'', 1920 * ''Glanz'', 1920 * '' Germaine von Stael. Ein Buch anläßlich ihrer...'', 1921 * ''Brosamen'', 1922 * ''Fast ein Adler'', 1922 * ''Annas Ehe'', 1923 * ''Das Eine'', 1924 * ''Die Flucht'', ca. 1925 * ''Gestern und morgen'', 1926 * ''Aus alten und neuen Tagen'', 1926

References

Bibliography

* * Dreyer, Elsa: ''Unvergessene Frauen (…) Ida Boy-Ed'' in '' Lichtwark'' Nr. 9, August 1949, Hrsg.: Lichtwark-Ausschuß, Bergedorf. Siehe jetzt: Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf. * Mann, Thomas: ''Briefe an Otto Grautoff (1894–1901) und Ida Boy-Ed (1903–1928)'', Hrsg.: Peter de Mendelssohn, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1975 * Saxe, Cornelia: Ida Boy-Ed. In: Britta Jürgs (Hg.): ''Denn da ist nichts mehr, wie es die Natur gewollt. Portraits von Künstlerinnen und Schriftstellerinnen um 1900.'' AvivA Verlag, Berlin, 2001, ; S.193-215 * Wagner-Zereini, Gabriele: ''Die Frau am Fenster. Zur Entwicklung einer weiblichen Schreibweise am Beispiel der Lübecker Schriftstellerin Ida Boy-Ed (1852–1928)''. Dissertation Univ. Frankfurt/M. 1999

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boy-Ed, Ida 1852 births 1928 deaths 19th-century German women writers People from Bergedorf German patrons of the arts 19th-century German writers 20th-century German writers 20th-century German women writers