Fanny Lewald
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Fanny Lewald (21 March 1811 – 5 August 1889) was a German novelist and essayist and a women's rights activist.


Life and career

Fanny Lewald was born at
Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
in
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
in 1811 to a bourgeois, Jewish family. She was taken out of school at thirteen to learn household skills she would need as a wife. Lewald was intended to marry a young theologian at age seventeen and converted to Christianity for the marriage. However, her betrothed died before the wedding took place. She traveled in the
German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
, France and Italy. In 1841 she published her first novel in her cousin
August Lewald August Lewald (14 October 1792 in Königsberg – 10 March 1871 in Baden-Baden) was a German author. Biography Lewald was born at Königsberg. He entered the Russian service at Warsaw, as secretary, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, War of Li ...
's periodical ''Europa'', under the title ''Der Stellvertreter''. In 1845, she settled in Berlin. Here, in 1854, she married the author
Adolf Stahr Adolf Wilhelm Theodor Stahr (; 22 October 18053 October 1876) was a German writer and literary historian. Life Stahr was the son of the preacher and pastor Johann Adam Stahr (1768–1839). He attended grammar school in Prenzlau. In 1825 at the ...
, a cultural and art historian. Lewald first received attention for her writing after the publication of a letter she wrote about a court trial she had attended. Lewald's cousin, August Lewald, published the letter in the Stuttgart periodical, ''Europa'', which he edited. August then asked Fanny to write a report on the coronation of King Frederick William IV in Konigsberg in 1840. Fanny Lewald went on to become a prolific writer and publish many successful novels. Her writing often drew from her experience growing up female in a bourgeois family, advocating for better education for women and criticizing marriages of convenience. In 1876, after Stahr's death, she moved to
Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, where she engaged in literary work until her death on 5 August 1889.


Published works

Fanny Lewald's published works as cited by ''The Political Woman in Print'' *
Clementine
' (1843) *
Jenny
' (1843) *
Prinz Louis Ferdinand
' (1849; 2nd ed., 1859) *''Das Mädchen von Hela'' (1860) *
Von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht
' (8 vols, 1863–1865) *''Nella'' (1870) *
Die Erlöserin
' (1873) *
Benvenuto
' (1875) *

' (1883; English trans. by B. Marshall, 1884) Of her writings in defense of the
emancipation of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
,
Osterbriefe für die Frauen
' (1863) and
Für und wider die Frauen
' (1870) are conspicuous. She also wrote sketches of travel. Her autobiography,
Meine Lebensgeschichte
' (6 vols, 1861–1862), affords glimpses of the literary life of her time. A selection of her works was published under the title ''Gesammelte Schriften'' in 12 vols (1870–1874), and separately, in English as "Recollections of 1848" and "The Education of Fanny Lewald", translated by Hanna Lewis.


References


External links

*
A selection of works by Lewald
from the Sophie database {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewald, Fanny 1811 births 1889 deaths Writers from Königsberg 19th-century German Jews Feminist writers Jewish feminists Converts to Protestantism from Judaism German women novelists 19th-century German novelists 19th-century German women writers Harold B. Lee Library-related rare books articles