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"New Man," Eternal Woman: Expressionist Responses to German Feminism

1987; Wiley; Volume: 60; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/407320

1756-1183

Barbara D. Wright,

German Literature and Culture Studies

Despite the enduring popularity of Expressionism in critical circles, surprisingly few feminist interpretations of the movement have appeared in recent years. One happy exception to the rule is Maike Leffers' article on Carl Sternheim, in which she concludes that the dramatist versuchte . . . Epoche des 'neuen Menschen' in seiner Zeit anbrechen zu lassen, ohne besondere Berticksichtigung der Frau (Hiippauf, 145). Another is Marion Adams' survey of a selection of Expressionist poets and dramatists. She notes the almost obligatory Expressionist linking of women with sexuality, the typecasting of women in the roles of prostitute, mother or sister, and the tendency toward a more or less overt misogyny; she concludes that in relation to the women's movement of their day, die Haltung der Expressionisten [blieb] konservativ (Htippauf, 120). In this paper I would like to make my own contribution to that small body of feminist literature on Expressionism, to underscore the soundness of Leffer's and Adams' observations, and to take their analysis at least two steps further. However, I will use theoretical rather than literary texts, and I will provide not literary analysis but an analysis of the theoretical context in which literary works were conceived. Drawing on the nonfiction prose published in Expressionist magazines between 1910 and 1920, I would like to demonstrate first that in the view of mostthough not allExpressionist essayists, the relationship between male and female, between Mensch and Weib, was necessarily polarized. For many, it was deeply hostile as well. Second, I will discuss the political and social role of women that followed from the Expressionist definition of her nature. While the Expressionist attitude toward women is indeed for the most part conservative, it is conservative in its own unique and characteristic way.