Elise Reimarus (1735--1805), the Muse of Hamburg: A Woman of the German Enlightenment
Spalding, Almut Marianne Grutzner
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86353
Description
Title
Elise Reimarus (1735--1805), the Muse of Hamburg: A Woman of the German Enlightenment
Author(s)
Spalding, Almut Marianne Grutzner
Issue Date
2001
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Wade, Mara R.
Department of Study
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Discipline
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Women's Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
"Reimarus grew up in Hamburg, a prosperous port city with international flair, which also housed the largest Jewish community in Germany at the time. The daughter of an educated family, Reimarus received an exceptional education, which was enhanced through her correspondence with her older brother during his years of university studies in Germany and abroad. Never married, she accumulated extensive experience as an educator herself. Her educational writings, which the renowned pedagogue Joachim Heinrich Campe published, proved to be a major factor for the phenomenal success of the latter's Kleine Kinderbibliothek over the course of a century, both in Germany and abroad. In addition to these writings, Reimarus wrote poetry and translated works from French and English---both prose and drama---and, following the French Revolution, prepared the first introductions to the political philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke in the German language. Several of her translated dramas were produced on stage. From 1770 on, Reimarus was one of several women of her family who, over forty years and two generations, led the literary salon known as the Reimarus ""tea table."" The tea table provided an informal setting where, for the first time, persons of both genders and from diverse backgrounds including Jews could meet. The tea table thus became a center of intellectual exchange that played a significant role in the publication of many well-known works, e.g., Lessing's Nathan der Weise. Based on the variety of these contributions, Reimarus should be considered as the most significant female representative of the German Enlightenment."
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