Hedwig Courths-Mahler (), née Ernestine Friederike Elisabeth Mahler (February 18, 1867 in Nebra (Unstrut) – November 26, 1950 in

Rottach-Egern Rottach-Egern () is a municipality (''Gemeinde Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee'') and town located at Lake Tegernsee in the district of Miesbach in Upper Bavaria, Germany, about 55 km (35 miles) south of central Munich. Late Austrian actor Walter Sl ...

, Bavaria) was a German

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

of formula fiction romantic novels. She used the pseudonyms Relham, H. Brand, Gonda Haack, Rose Bernd. Hedwig Courths-Mahler's novels generally follow a single pattern:

socially disadvantaged Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

characters overcome class differences through love. The lovers fight against all kinds of intrigues and are finally joined as a couple, gaining wealth and a high standing. Despite Courths-Mahler's traditional perspective on male-female relationships and the unrelenting criticism of the clichés in her oeuvre, her books still enjoy a broad, largely female, readership. To this day, her novels see regular reprints in

dime novel The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...

format by the

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

publisher Bastei Lübbe, making her the most popular female German writer by number of sold copies. It is estimated that by the time of her death in 1950, 80 million copies of her works had been sold. Throughout the 1970s, five of her novels were adapted as telemovies, made by and shown on Süddeutscher Rundfunk. Only one of her novels, ''Die Perlenschnur'' (1927), has been translated into English as ''The String of Pearls'' (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1929).

Literary works

* ''Die wilde Ursula'' (novel, 1912) * ''Was Gott zusammenfügt'' (novel, 1913) * ''Die Bettelprinzeß'' (novel, 1914) * ''Der tolle Hassberg'' (1916) * ''Griseldis'' (novel, 1916) * ''Ich will'' (novel, 1916) * ''Meine Käthe'' (novel, 1917) * ''Eine ungeliebte Frau'' (novel, 1918) * ''Die schöne Unbekannte'' (novel, 1918) * ''Der Scheingemahl'' (novel, 1919) * ''Das stille Weh'' (1919) * ''Die Herrin von Retzbach'' (1920) * ''Im Buchengrund'' (1920) * ''Wenn Wünsche töten könnten'' (1925) * ''Die Flucht vor der Ehe'' (novel, 1934) * ''Die verstossene Tochter''

Films

* ''Das stille Weh'' (1919) * '' You Are the Life'' (1921) * '' Your Brother's Wife'' (1921) * ''Liebe und Ehe'' (1923)DIF – Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt am Main – ''Liebe und Ehe'', prüf. Nr. 7402 * '' Lena Warnstetten'' (1925) * ''Die Bettelprinzeß'' (1974, TV film) * ' (1974, TV film) * ''Die Kriegsbraut'' (1974, TV film) * ''Der Scheingemahl'' (1974, TV film) * ''Eine ungeliebte Frau'' (1974, TV film) * ''Durch Liebe erlöst'' (2005, TV film)

References

External links

*
Hedwig Courths-Mahler beim LeMO

Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courths-Mahler, Hedwig 1867 births 1950 deaths People from Nebra (Unstrut) People from the Province of Saxony German women novelists Writers from Saxony-Anhalt 20th-century German novelists German women screenwriters 20th-century German women writers Dime novelists Film people from Saxony-Anhalt 20th-century German screenwriters Women romantic fiction writers