November 1980 Newsletter

23

WOMEN IN GERMAN

Women in German is a feminist coalition open to all those who are interested in promoting feminist scholarship and pedagogy in German literary and cultural studies, as well as in German language teaching, on all levels and in all educa­tional settings. We are a non-hierarchical group open to students and teachers alike. WiG, as our group is affectionately named and known, was formed in 1975. Since that time it has created a viable communication network and support system across the United States and Europe by means of its Newsletter, the annual national WiG conference, as well as workshops held in conjunction with the national organizations and regional branches of AATG and MLA. We have had a considerable impact on the profession. Departments of German as well as journals have become aware of a large and vigilant feminist presence. Our sessions at meetings are consis­tently among the best attended and our voices have been heard (and to some extent heeded) in the text book departments of major publishing houses. We have begun the task of integrating women writers into the traditional curriculum and have created separate courses where the writings of women can be studied in the context of feminist theory and in conjunction with the works of other women. We have encouraged the publication of anthologies of women’s writings both in German and in translation; we have supported and inspired doctoral theses on feminist topics and encouraged undergraduates to research the work of women. We are committed to helping women gain tenure and to raising our voices in protest when they have been denied it unfairly. In short, we have fought sexism and have validated the study of women. This year we were able to bring Margot Schroeder to our annual conference and are in the process of making plans to bring Angelika Mechtel in 1981. Over the years we have provided the kind of nourishing support and stimu­lating intellectual discussion that has helped many of us get through a year in isolation. We are pleased to count among our numbers women who do not earn their living by their German degrees but maintain an interest in German studies from a feminist perspective. In such diversity lies our strength. For details concerning membership see coupon below; there is a sliding fee scale based on financial need.

Registration for Subscriptions/Memberships

Enclosed you will find my check for: (Please check appropriate boxes) New         Renewal

$7.00 for one year _________  ___________  ____________________________

$12,00 for two years ________  ___________  ______________________________

(if unemployed or student):

$3.00 for one year _________  ___________  ____________________________

$5.00 for two years ________  ___________  ____________________________

(for supporting membership):

$15.00                   _____ ___________                          

NAME: _____________ ___________________ ___________________ _________________

ADDRESS:

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WOMEN IN GERMAN NEWSLETTER

Number 23                                                        November 1980

Membership/Subscription Fee: $7.00 ($3.00 if unemployed or student)

Nearly a month has passed since many of us were in Racine for the WiG conference. For some it was possibly the first exposure to a conference with such a relaxed atmosphere, so conducive to intellectual exchange and support. For others it has become the yearly occasion to renew friendship and enjoy the exchange of ideas and experiences. For all of us, yet another Fall has been marked by a memorable weekend of concern about Women in German. The presence of Margot Schroeder, our first guest writer from the Federal Republic, certainly enriched the experience and convinced us of the value of having a woman writer in our midst, sharing her writing, her life and activity with us. Those of us who had a chance to spend time with Margot in Madison and/or Racine enjoyed and benefitted immensely from her intellectual, political and personal involvement, her warmth, her candor and her wit. She not only enhanced our experience of her work and texts, but contributed enormously to our discussions and understanding of women’s writing generally. We will continue this newly established tradition next year (in Racine, October 16-18) when Angelika Mechtel from the FRG will join us, and in 1982 when we hope to have a woman writer from the GDR.

On behalf of all the conference participants, we want to thank Johanna Moore, Beth Weckmueller and Hildegard Melstrand for the fantastic job they did of organizing the physical arrangements for the conference (and for their humor), Jeannette Clausen for her superb job of program coordination, and Jeannette and Naomi Stefan for coordinating Margot Schroeder's visit.

WiG welcomes your responses to the Racine conference; be sure to send them to us! To initiate discussion, we of the Newsletter collective would like to applaud our decision to incorporate more small group workshops into the individual sessions next year, and to announce the specific primary works to be considered far enough in advance to encourage more informed and broader-based participation in discussion. In this year's session on "The Forms of Our Bodies," Johanna Moore began her presentation on Gabriele Wohmann's Ernste Absicht with an assertion that stimulated a great deal of discussion and provided incentive for next year's session on "New Ways of Reading: Critical Feminist Approaches to Selected Primary Texts." (Tentative title.) Johanna suggested that "finding the body (or sexuality) in a text requires new ways of reading." Susan Cocalis, Biddy Martin and Karen Jankowsky will coordinate a session that will include both presentations on theoretical perspectives, and small group workshops, organized by centuries, to do collective textual analyses. The texts to be considered will be announced in the next newsletter.

We are equally excited about the proposed session on German-Jewish women writers, to be coordinated by Evelyn Beck and Lynne Ozer, a session that intro­duces a field and a range of political and personal issues that are only beginning to be raised in our work. Certainly the Friday evening workshop on Sprache, Gefühl und Feminismus, to be coordinated by Naomi Stefan, will open up the concrete and very fascinating problems we encountered this year around our choice of language. The implication of our discomfort with one or the other language in particular contexts was a persistent concern and discussion topic. All of these sessions reflect the incredible degree to which our conferences and workshops involve genuinely collective and ongoing intellectual concerns and excitements.
We have two suggestions for future conferences:

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a) What about adopting a theme for a future conference, such as is done in the Westberlin Frauensommeruni (see article in this issue).

b) Perhaps part of the open business session at subsequent conferences could be held on Saturday during the noon hour when more people could participate in discussion of future topics, themes, guest writers, format; or, alternatively, we could create more opportuni­ties for people to submit written suggestions for those items should they be unable to attend the Sunday session.

With these ideas in mind, we welcome your thoughts to help build the next WiG conference!

You will have noticed from reading the first page of this newsletter that we are working to intensify our outreach efforts. All members are urged to photocopy the first page of this newsletter and pass it along to potentially interested colleagues. Two hundred extra copies of the newsletter are being printed for distribution at the upcoming AATG and MLA conferences. Until March!

[drawing]

WIG WORKSHOP

Summary of Business and Planning Meeting
5th Annual Women in German Workshop
October 14, 1980
Chaired by Karen Achberger and Charlotte Smith

I. Financial Report

After several brief announcements the financial report was given by Johanna Moore on the 1980 workshop and by Biddy Martin on the status of the WiG Newsletter.

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Johanna indicated that after paying expenses a surplus was left. It was decided that this surplus together with $100 from the Newsletter fund would go to Jeanette Clausen as a refund for the amount she advanced on Schroeder’s airplane ticket. The Rinser fund designated for paying travel expenses did not cover the entire ticket due to a sharp increase in prices for air travel.

Biddy Martin reported that the Newsletter is in good financial shape. It now has 220 paying subscribers. Since few people are sustaining members of WiG, everybody who can afford to do so was encouraged to become a sustaining member ($15 per year). The following measures for outreach were also approved:

1. The first page of the Newsletter shall bear a short description of the character and function of WiG and a registration form so that it can easily be photocopied and handed out. WiG members were encouraged to do so as well as to send Biddy Martin names of prospective members so that she can forward one copy of the Newsletter to these persons. Have your nearest library subscribe!

2. 200 extra copies of the next Newsletter will be printed to be distributed at the upcoming AATG and MLA conferences.

II. Steering Committee

Continuing members: Marjorie Tussing, Biddy Martin, Jeanette Clausen, Sara Lennox.

In order to make the Steering Committee more effective, the following charges, functions and duties for each member were suggested and approved:

1. A bibliography of the current year’s primary and secondary pub­lications relevant to a feminist approach to German literature and culture to be published in each spring issue of the WiG Newsletter. Members are urged to send short annotated biblio­graphical items to Sara Lennox.

2. Textbook reviews and bibliography. Marjorie Tussing.

3. Outreach to be coordinated by the liaison member to the Newsletter,Biddy Martin.

4. AATG and MLA organizational research to assist WiG section chair­persons in developing and organizing their sessions at the national conferences. Jeanette Clausen.

5. Political action; the representative chairs the Political Action Committee to be established.

6. Grant writing and fund raising for financing travel and other expenses of future WiG Workshop guest writers.

The new members elected to serve on the Steering Committee are Marianne Burkhard, Urbana, Illinois, for position no. 5; and Linda Pickle, Columbia, Missouri, for position no. 6.

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III. 1981 WiG Workshop

Members present expressed gratitude to Johanna Moore, Beth Weckmueller, and Hildegard Melstrand for once again organizing the physical arrangements for this year’s conference.

Date: A motion was made and approved to establish a regular date for the Work­shop on the third weekend in October, with the second priority given to the second weekend of the same month. For the coming year, the dates of October 16-18 were set for the Workshop with a registration deadline of September 15, 1981.

Site: The site for the 1981 Workshop will again be the Siena Center in Racine, Wisconsin. The Steering Committee will make the decision on a site for the 1982 Workshop at the WiG business session during the 1980 AATG conference upon recommendations from Susan Cocalis, Barbara Wright and Joey Horsley, who are investigating a possible site in the Northeast.
Miriam Frank and Dorothy Rosenberg are looking into possibilities on the West Coast.

Coordination: Coordinator for the physical arrangements will be Nancy Vedder-Shults; Helen Fehervary will serve as program coordinator; Renny Harrigan will again make child care arrangements; a natural foods option will be pro­vided and arrangements for it will be organized by Martha Wallach.

Program: It was agreed to use German as the language of the Workshop as much as possible in consideration to the guest writer, program contributions still being in the language of the presenter’s choice; we also decided to organize sessions into small group discussions with a plenary session at the end of each. The sessions agreed upon are:

Friday p.m. Sprache, Gefühl and Feminismus, coordinated by Naomi Stephan.

Saturday (1) "New Ways of Reading:" Critical Feminist Approaches to Selected Texts. Chaired by Susan Cocalis (18th century), Biddy Martin (19th century), Karen Jankowsky (20th century).

(2)  German-Jewish Women Writers, coordinated by Evelyn Beck and Lynne Ozer.

(3)  The evening session will concentrate on a presenta­tion by the West German writer Angelika Mechtel.

Our thanks go to Naomi Stephan for her excellent planning and fund raising that are making this visit possible.

IV. Political Action Committee

It was agreed that a Political Action Committee be established to monitor tenure cases of women in German and to give support to women experiencing problems in obtaining tenure. Elected members of the committee are Marianne Burkhard, Joey Horsley, Helen Fehervary and Renny Harrigan. (cont'd)

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The first item of business for this newly elected group was to draft a letter in support of Renny Harrigan’s tenure case. The motion to accept the letter was unanimously passed. The letter will be sent to the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with copies to the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the Chairperson of the German Department, and the MLA Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession. It will be signed by Marianne Burkhard as "Affirmative Action Officer" of WiG.

V. Textbook Committee

A textbook committee was established to work with the Steering Committee Funding Officer (newly elected Linda Pickle) in the long-range project suggested by Susan Cocalis to write non-sexist German language texts. Susan Cocalis, Martha Wallach, Naomi Stephan, and Marjorie Tussing were elected to this committee.

VI. AATG and MLA Sessions of WiG in 1981

One of the three MLA sessions will be on "German Women Romantic Writers," coordinated by Elke Frederiksen and Martha Wallach.

The literary session at the 1981 AATG meeting will be on the topic: "Mothering in German Literature" and will be coordinated by Ric Johnson and Karen Achberger. The pedagogical session topic and coordinators will be elected at the Boston AATG business meeting of WiG.

The other two session topics and coordinators for the MLA 1981 will be determined, as in past years, at the 1980 AATG and MLA meetings respectively.

Charlotte K. Smith
Acting Secretary

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WiG CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS 1980

I. "Transforming the Structures of Our Lives and Our Work," facilitated by Angelika Bammer and Evelyn Beck.

The open discussion we had called for at last year’s meeting came easily and quickly at our first session; the particular shape it took was a reflection of concerns we had left unspoken in the past. After a brief presentation by Evelyn and Angelika on how and why this session had come about and on our increas­ing need to bridge the gaps between our "personal" and "professional" encounters, we moved into smaller groups to discuss the issue of our bonding (or not bonding) with other women within the context of our work. Questions we considered were: what are the obstacles we encounter, what are the joys, strengths, or fears we discover, why and in what ways is this bonding between women who work together important? After lively interaction in our small circles, we all gathered together again in one large group. In the ensuing discussion a particular aspect of women-bonding was addressed with considerable concern and insistence: how does our sexual orientation affect our patterns of bonding or failing to bond? How have we in Women in German—as lesbians, as women relating to men, as women

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without partners—experienced these sexual differences? In our discussion Friday evening we did not reach conclusions. What we did do was begin to express feelings we had not wanted to risk saying before. In that process we saw that we now have the necessary trust to say difficult things to one another and the willingness to face them together.

Angelika Bammer

II. The Forms of Our Bodies

"Zerrsichtigkeit ist ärger als Blindsein: The Language of the Body in Ingeborg Bachmann’s ’Ihr glücklichen Augen”'

My discussion of this short story from Bachmann’s collection Simultan is part of a larger study of her late prose works, the novel cycle "Todesarten." My central thesis in this study is that Bachmann, like other recent feminists, locates women within a patriarchal ideology into which they are inserted through their acceptance of their sexual identity and their socially defined relationship to men as men’s others and inferiors. Our constitution as the gendered human beings we are is accomplished through our acquisition of language, our learning the rules of thought of the social and sexual order. Outside of that language it is impossible, strictly speaking, to think, as Wittgenstein, in whom Bachmann had been interested since her student days, maintained: "Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt." As Bachmann asserts in her own case and as Luce Irigaray also argues, women have no voice within this system to express who they really are, for language belongs to men. To speak at all, they must find some non-verbal language outside our rational order to express themselves; and this may occur in their dreams (as in Malina), in their madness, or as both Georg Groddeck, to whom Bachmann dedicated "Ihr glücklichen Augen," and Irigaray argue, in the very bodies of women, in hysteria and psychosomatic symptoms. The main agent of women’s destruction, the primary "Todesart" in the novel cycle and in the story is heterosexual love, which most fundamentally represents women’s acceptance of their subjective possibilities as patriarchy has defined them. That is, in love with men, women act within structures of patriarchy which define them as men's objects and others, allowing them no autonomous subjectivity or sexuality.
Her women almost always rebel; they are never completely contained by patriarchy.
But almost always their rebellion also means their own destruction.

In this short story, Bachmann's near-sighted central figure Miranda refuses to see the reality of her patriarchal context, literally making herself blind to it. Her bad eyesight indicates her accession to patriarchal ideology and, if we accept a psychoanalytic reading (eyes = testicles), she also castrates herself, accepting the social definition of women as castrated men, without an independent sexuality of their own. This is fateful for her susceptibility to the enticements of romantic heterosexual love, for her life revolves around her love—"auf dem ersten Blick"—for Josef, in which she has deposited all her claims for subjective happiness. When Josef leaves her for another woman, Miranda tries to protect herself by feigning a new love affair, yet both she and Josef realize dimly that he has ordered her execution. Her body speaks the distress she will not admit: blindly she walks into a revolving door and is thrown bleeding to the floor amid a hail of glass. This accident, unconsciously intended, expresses the reality of her condition, that she is constrained within a system from which there is no door open for her escape, and that the heterosexual love around which her life is structured is a "Todesart" which will destroy her.

Sara Lennox

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"Urn’s Haar zum weißen Fleck"

The thesis psoposed was that we must find a new way of reading women's literature. On the basis of Gabriele Wohman’s novel ERNSTE ABSICHT this new approach revealed heretofore "hidden" elements which were in no way concealed but might have been overlooked had we read the novel from the "traditional" perspective. Wohmann’s obsession with women’s hair, for instance, would have escaped our attention had we not intended to detect the forms of our bodies in women’s writings.

Johanna Moore

Jeanette Clausen rounded out the session with an interesting comparative analysis of Verena Stefan’s and Elfriede Jelinek’s approaches to "The Places That Have No Names." Jeanette raised and discussed four major questions: How have feminist women in German-speaking countries attempted to write the reality of our bodies? What names do we have for this reality? What linguistic means do feminist authors use in the attempt to transform this reality? A summary of Jeanette’s presentation will appear in the next newsletter.

III. The Voices of Working Women

Emancipation or Double Burden: Women and Paid Labor in DDR Literature

This paper poses the question: Given the theoretically emancipatory con­ditions of legal equality and full employment of women in DDR society, how has popular literature responded in presenting cultural role models to women and what conclusions can be drawn from this example?

After sketching in the economic background, the paper outlines the stages of DDR literature from 1945 to the present. Then, taking Elfriede BrUning as a typical popular writer, it compares her 1955 novel Regine Haberkom with her 1978 work Partnerinnen to illustrate the development of a critical presentation of women’s double burden of labor inside and outside the home. The paper closes with a brief discussion of recent trends in DDR literature in which women writers have declared that private relations are political and begun to question the legitimacy of inherited social assumptions and institutions.

Dorothy Rosenberg

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Women in 19th Century German-American Socialism

This paper discussed the role of women in the German-American socialist movement, the most significant ethnic radical movement in the 19th century United States. It focused on three areas of discussion: 1) the attitude of German-American socialists towards women’s rights and suffrage as expressed in their official statements, which generally saw women’s emancipation as "secondary" to the emancipation of the working class; 2) the portrayal of women workers in literature by German-American socialist writers; and 3) the actual role of women in socialist organizations and culture. This last point is perhaps the central one, for if we realize that the real strength of German-American socialism lay to a large extent in its cultural and "sub-political activities in which women played a major part, it then becomes evident that women were much more important in this radical movement than traditional methods of history, which focus on political parties, organizational conflicts and "great men", would lead us to believe,

Carol Poore

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Wohnungssuche
Von Moni van Rheinberg

über 100 telefonate, 56 (!!) wohnungen angeguckt, rumgefahren, nach leeren fenstern gesehen etc.

ca. 20 wohnungen hätte ich haben können, an den verkehrsreichsten straßen, eine wohnung mit einem zimmer ohne fenster, wohnungen die feucht waren und mit dicken Schimmelflecken.

und dabei wollte ich in einer wohnung l.e.b.e.n...

sachen gibt's:
- 3 wohnungen, die ich beziehen könnte (umsonst), wenn ich mit dem vermieter regelmäßig schlafe
- 2 wohnungen, wenn ich den "vermieter" heirate
- fragen nach meiner politischen einstellung
- viele wollen wissen, wie lange ich und das kind am tage aus dem haus sind (je weniger ich die wohnung bewohne, um so weniger nutze ich sie ab...)
- vielen vermieterinnen war ich zu jung und damit zu "lebenslustig"
- und überhaupt wie ich aussehe - und noch Künstlerin!
- ob ich verhütungsmittel nehme
- ob der vater meines kindes ausländer sei, vielleicht sogar ein schwarzer...
- wie (?) meine intimen kontakte zu männern seien
- ob ich anständige möbel hätte
- was ich für beziehung ich zu frauen habe
- ob ich auch putzen könne
- frau (alleinstehend)? und mit kind? nein! - das absolute handikap
- geben sie doch erst mal ne heiratsanzeige auf, dann könnense nochmal anrufen
- der gemeinnützigen wohnungsbaugesellschaft war mein sozialer status (arbeitslosenhilfeempfängerin) noch zu a-sozial. obwohl ich drei bürgen für 9 monatsmieten nannte...

u.s.w.
und so weiter

oh du sozialer staat 
mit deinen besitzern
du verdammter
ich habe eine solche wut.
...und dabei wollte ich nur in einer
wohnung mit meinem kind

l.e.b.e.n...

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MEETINGS

Attention all WiG members! Sandy Frieden has generously offered to help those of us who are attending the MLA in Houston find alternative lodging (i.e., a cheaper hotel) possibly someplace in the downtown area where we could be together. If you would be interested In such alternative arrangements, let Sandy know immediately. Whether you need help with rooms or not, Sandy would like to know you’re coming to Houston and where you can be reached so she can plan a WiG get-together. It sounds like fun! Sandy Frieden, German Department, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77005.

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The coalition of Women in German will sponsor two evening sessions at the annual MLA meeting in Houston on Saturday, December 27. (Numbers in parentheses refer to listings in the official MLA program guide.)

(28.) German Women Authors Prior to 1800
7:00 - 8:15 p.m., Mesa, Sheraton

Program arranged by the Coalitoin of Women in German. Presiding: Julie Prandi, Univ. of California, Berkeley, and gabrielle Strauch, Univ. of Wsconsin, Madison.

1. "The Topos of 'Affected Modesty' in the Works of German Women Mystics," Gertrud J. Lewis, Laurentian Univ.
2. "The Lesson Sophie Learned: Education in Sophie von Laroche's Geschichte des Fräulein von Sterheim," L. Jeannine Blackwell, Indiana Univ., Bloomington.
3. "Magdalena of Freiburg: 'Die Prophetin' as Mystic and Spiritual Authority," Karen Greenspan, Univ. Of Massachussetts, Amherst.

For outlines of papers and bibliographies write to Julie Prandi.

(54.) Dichterinnenwahrheit: Women's Poetry in the Context of Their Lives
9:00 - 10:15 p.m., Statesman C, Sheraton

Program arranged by the Coalition of Women in German. Presiding: Viktoria Harwig, Mt. Holyike Coll., and Naomi Stephan, valparaiso Univ. 

1. "Philippine Engelhard Gatterer," Ruth Dawson, Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa
2. "Anna Louise Karsch: Erträumtes Glück," Gisela Brinker-Gabler, Univ. of Bochum.

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Two feminist pedagogy sessions of interest to WiG readers will take place on Sunday, december 28 at the MLA in Houston.

(66.) Feminist Pedagogy: Positions and Points of View
8:30 - 9:45 a.m., State, Whitehall

Program arranged by the Division of Women's Studies in Language and Literature. Presiding: Jusith Fetterley, State Univ. of New York, Albany, and Elaine Marks, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.

1. "Feminist Teachers: The Power of the Personal," Carolyn Allen, Univ. of Washington.
2. "Self-Disclosure and the Commitment to Social Change," Evelyn Beck, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.
3. "Authority in a Feminist Classroom: A Contradiction in Terms," Susan Friedman, Univ. Of Wisconsin, Madison.
4. "Mastery, Identity, and the Politics of Work: A Feminist Teacher in the Graduate Classroom," Nancy K. Miller, Columbia Univ. and Bunting Inst., Radcliffe College.
5. "A Pedagogy for Liberation: Unloosening the Double Bind," Hortense Spillers, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln.

(93.) Context of Feminist Pedagogy: The Presentation of "Self" 
10:15 - 11:30 a.m., State, Whitehall

Program arranged by the Division on Women's Studies in Language and Literature. Presiding: Evelyn Beck, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, and Hortense Spillers, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Panelists: Mary Lydon, Univ. of wisconsin, Milwaukee; Margo Culley, Univ. of Massachussetts, Amherst; Biddy (Carolyn) Martin, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison; CathyPortuges, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst; Susan O'Leary, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.

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There will be a session on German-Jewish Women Writers at the 6th annualWomen in German conference, October 16-18, 1981, in Racine, Wisconsin. This session is intended to focus on writers who grapple in their work with the complex intersection of what it means/has meant to be German-Jewish and a woman—an intersection of multiple identities and oppressions. We are not placing a limit on the time periods or genres to be included. Please send all inquiries, ideas. abstracts, or working drafts to both Evelyn T. Beck, [redacted] and Lynne Ozer, [redacted] by April 15, 1981.

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There will also be a session tentatively titled "New Ways of Reading: Critical Feminist Approaches to Specific Primary Texts." Our purpose is to contribute to a cultural history of femininity by developing new critical tools of textual analysis. There will be three separate workshops, each to focus on one pre­selected primary text from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a large plenary session for the presentation and discussion of theoretical perspectives.
More specific information about texts will be printed in the next newsletter.
In the meantime, if you have suggestions or inquiries, write to: Susan Cocalis (18th c.), Department of German, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, MA; Biddy Martin (late 19th c.), Department of German, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53703; Karen Jankowsky (20th c.), Department of German, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.

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ANNUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY: SEND SUGGESTIONS

The WiG steering committee thinks it would be useful to include an annual bibliography in the spring issue of the WiG newsletter. The bibliography will contain primary works of women’s writing and secondary works on feminist theory and scholarship. It could also include journals where we might publish and any other publications interesting for WiG members. It would concentrate on German writing, but other important works (particularly from American feminist) could also be included. The bibliography will consist mostly of your suggestions—so it's important to hear from you about what should be in it. It would be most helpful if you could also include a sentence or two of annotation telling us what the work is about and why it is important to us. Sara Lennox will be compiling the bibliog­raphy for the steering committee. Please send your suggestions for the bibliography to her at the German Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003.

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WOMEN EDUCATOR'S announces the Fourth Annual "Research on Women in Education" Award, to be presented at the American Educational Research Association meeting in Los Angeles, April 13-17, 1981. Published or unpublished research reports in journal article format on any aspect of women in education are eligible if con­ducted or written up during 1979-80. The deadline for entries is 15 December 1980. Send five (5) copies of the entry (on four of which the author is not identified) and five (5) copies of a 200-250 word abstract of the entry to: Charol Shakeshaft, Coordinator Elect, WOMEN EDUCATOR’S, School of Education, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11550.

WOMEN EDUCATOR'S announces the Second Annual "Curriculum Materials" Award, to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Associa­tion in Los Angeles, April 13-17, 1981. Please send one copy of materials relating to women that have been developed for use in educational settings to: Janet E. Kuenne, Ed.D. , Curriculum Award Chair, WOMEN EDUCATOR’S, [redacted]. Include a one-page description of how the materials relate to sexism, sex-role stereotyping, and the image of women and girls. The deadline for entries is December 15, 1980.

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BOOKS

Kurt Schleucher, Das Leben der Amalia Schoppe und Johanna Schopenhauer, Darmstadt: Turris-Verlag, 1978.

Das Werk ist aus mehreren Gründen von Interesse. Es liefert ein gutes Bild des deutschen "Literaturbetriebes" aus der Sicht des Talents einer Frau in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Amalia Schoppe wird sonst nur im Zusammenhang mit der Hebbelforschung beachtet und dieser Autor versucht ihr ihres eigenen Wertes wegen gerecht zu werden, arbeitet also lange Vernachlässigtes auf. Zudem bringt das Buch Schoppes ausführliche Berichte Uber Amerika im allgemeinen und das geistige Klima des Union College in Schenectady, NY, im besonderen. Das Buch ist sorgfältig rescherschiert, mit Engagement geschrieben und liest sich mit Nutzen und Genuss.

Im Anhang befindet sich ein fiktives Gespräch zwischen Schoppe und Schopenhauer in denen beide ihre persönliche, literarische und politische Haltung als Frauen aus der Rückschau kommentieren. Ausserdem befindet sich hier die Liste von Schoppes Büchern, eine vielseitige Bibliographie, Personen-und Ortsregister sowie Nachweis der Abbildungen. Das Buch umfasst 526 Seiten, Ganzleinen, DM 29,50. (Irmgard C. Taylor)

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Englisch Amerikanische Studien, Zeitschrift für Unterricht, Wissenschaft und Politik. Heft 2, Juni 1980, Verlag Pahl Rugenstein, Köln, Einzelheftpreis 9, DM.

"Women’s studies" gibt es im anglo-amerikanischen Raum schon sehr viel länger als bei uns, und zwar außerhalb wie innerhalb der Universitätseinrichtungen. Man spricht dort bereits von einer "feministischen Bildungsbewegung", die sich ent­scheidend auf den weiblichen LebensZusammenhang bezieht, sich an den Kämpfen der Frauenbewegung praktisch orientiert und zum Ziel hat, die Fraueninteressen verpflichteten Problemstellungen innerhalb der Wissenschaft aufzuarbeiten.

Die Zeitschrift für "Englisch Amerikanische Studien" hat jetzt "Women’s studies zum Themenschwerpunkt eines Heftes gemacht. Mit Gewinn, meine ich, zumal ein direkter Bezug zu vielen—noch vereinzelt und ohne Kontinuität—stattfindenden Frauenseminaren hierzulande besteht, die oft als "unwissenschaftlich" abqualifiziert werden. Die Herausgeber des Heftes wundert das nicht, denn: "stellen sie (die Frauenstudien) die männlich dominierten Wissenschaften und Methoden doch nicht nur grundsätzlich in Frage, sondern zwingen diese auch dadurch zum Offenbarungseid, indem sie eigene Erkenntnisinteressen und -ziele verfolgen, die dem »auBerwissen­schaftlichen’ Kampf gegen die Unterdrückung und Diskriminierung von Frauen verpflichtet sind."

Ging es im vergangenen Jahrhundert darum, Frauen den Zugang zur Bildung unbeschränkt zu öffnen, so geht es heute um die Veränderung des Bildungssystems selbst. Ursachen und Entstehung der feministischen Bildungsbewegung sind vielfältig als Teil der Frauenbewegung enstand sie ab 1969 in den USA. Entscheidende Impulse erhielt sie aus der Anti-Vietnam-, Bürgerrechts- und Studentenbewegung. Das Bildungsmonopol der Professoren wurde—ähnlich wie bei der "Black-studies Bewegung"- kritisiert und parteilose Wissenschaft gefordert. "Women’s studies" bieten neben einem kompletten Kursprogramm auch praktische Hilfen, z. B. Kurse, um den Anschluß bzw. WiederanschluB an die Berufswelt zu finden oder Fortbildungskurse für Lehre­rinnen, die sich der rollenspezifischen Inhalte ihrer Unterrichtsmaterialien bewußter werden wollen. (cont’d)

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Darüber hinaus enthält das Heft u. a. informative Aufsätze Uber Sexismus in der englischen Sprache und die englische Arbeiterinnenbewegung. Referendarinnen und Lehrerinnen berichten von ihren Identitässchwierigkeiten in der Institution Schule.

Den Zusammenhang zwischen dem Recht auf eigenen Lebensraum klarerer Sprache und Ansätzen weiblicher Ästhetik verdeutlicht ein Artikel über Lyrik von Frauen aus den USA.

Die Zeitschrift "Englisch Amerikanische Studien" will ihre Beiträge zu diesem Thema fortsetzen. (Dorlies Pollmann, Deutsche Volkszeitung)

OF INTEREST

Frauen-schaffen-Wissen

Vom 16. bis 18.4.80 fand in Berlin eine Konferenz der Planungsgruppe für einen Frauenstudien-und Forschungsbereich statt. Diese Planungsgruppe war auf Druck der Frauenbewegung eingerichtet worden. Sie sollte erforschen, welche Bedürfnisse die Frauen und Dozentinnen an der FU nach Frauenstudien haben und einen Plan dazu erstellen. Die Planungsgruppe ist auf 2 Jahre begrenzt worden. Sie soll allerdings durch ein fest eingerichtetes Sekretariat eine Art Koordinations­stelle, abgelöst werden. Am Ende dieser Planungsphase wurde von den Mitarbeiterinnen diese internationale Konferenz veranstaltet, mit der Motivation internationale Ziele, Inhalte und die Institutionalisierung von Frauenstudien und Frauenforschung kennenzulernen. Vertreterinnen der Wissenschaftsfrauen waren aus den USA, aus Italien, Frankreigh, Schweden, Holland und England anwesend. Während der drei Tage der Konferenz wurde inaltlich mit ca. 250 bis 300 Frauen diskutiert. Die Erwartungen der Planungsfrauen Uber einen internationalen Austausch und neue Aspekte wurden erfüllt. Die 23 Projektanträge, die aus der Arbeit der Planerinnen beantragt wurden, haben allerdings nur für 5 Projekte von Herrn Lämmert eine mündliche Zusage bekommen. (Die Tageszeitung)

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Women in the FRG Election Results

Nach dem bisher vorliegenden Ergebnis der Bundestagswahl werden dem 9. Bundestag 44 Frauen angehören. Bei einer Gesamtzahl von 519 Abgeordneten beträgt ihr Anteil 8,48 Prozent. Der SPD gehören 19 Frauen an, der CDU/CSU 18, der FDP 7.

Damit hat sich der Anteil der Frauen im Bundestag gegenüber der achten Legislaturperiode (7,5 Prozent) etwas erhöht. Zieht man jedoch einen Vergleich mit weiter zurückliegenden Legislaturperioden, ist ein Rückschritt zu verzeichnen: Vor zwanzig Jahren, in der Zeit von 1957 bis 1961 (3. Legislaturperiode), stellten Frauen 9,2 Prozent der Bundestagsabgeordneten. (Deutsche Volkszeitung)

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Die Frauensommeruni 1980

10,000 women from the Federal Republic came together for the 5th Annual Women’s Summer University in Westberlin in early October. The summer university has become the largest discussion forum for the westgerman autonomous women’s

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movement, where women from many areas of activity exchange information and experiences, as well as develop theories and strategies for change. They have, moreover, nearly a week to get to know one another and build ties of friendship and solidarity.

This year’s overall theme, "die Erwerbstätigkeit der Frau," was addressed by diverse and differentiated perspectives and points of focus. Women could choose to participate in over 130 discussion sessions examining the daily life and activity of women: topics for presentation and discussion included women’s labor in the household and sphere of reproduction; forms of sexism; identity crises; the area of sexuality; ideologies of Weiblichkeit; concerns of Lesbians; Frauenforschung; problems in the FRG educational system; securing of peace and disarmament; repression and resistance of women in Chile and South Africa. In addition, women attended media/film showings and workshops on culture and literature.

The women’s university concluded with suggestions to initiate complementary forums in cities in the FRG.

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Margot Schroeder:

Bundespräsident Karl Carstens hätte gern mehr Ehrenpatenkinder. Sie seien zu einer Seltenheit geworden, beklagt er sich. Warum?
Weil eine Ehrenpatenschaft erst ab dem siebten Kind für einen Bundespräsidenten in Frage kommt. Die Familien nutzen ihre kleinen Wohnungen für eine große Kinderschar nicht genügend aus. Sie wollen unverschämterweise gemütlich wohnen. Bei der Kinderfreund­lichkeit in der Bundesrepublik ist es in der Tat erstaunlich, daß sich immer mehr Frauen weigern, Kinder in diese wunderschöne Umwelt zu setzen. Jedes siebte Kind und darüber hinaus könnte mit dem Bundespräsidenten Wandern gehen und die (interessant gebauten Atomkraftwerke bewundern oder in verseuchten Feldern buddeln. Vielleicht wäre Karl Carstens auch bereit, kinderreiche Familien In seine Bonner Villa aufzunehmen. Es soll ja bekanntlich Hauswirte geben, die sogar eine Familie mit nur einem Kind ablehnen. Kinder sind zwar nicht so laut wie Autos, aber sie lachen noch viel zu oft Das Lachen wird ihnen dann allerdings in den Schulen ausgetrieben.
An Lehrern und Schulen wird gespart, aber wenn jede dritte Familie sieben und mehr Kinder hätte, wäre der Klassenkontakt natürlich viel hautnaher: Jeweils ein Kind müßte ein anderes auf den Schoß nehmen.

Ich frage mich, ob der Bundespräsident uns Frauen auf den Arm nehmen will. Außerdem verstehe ich seine Klage sowieso nicht ganz. War er nie in Berlin-Kreuzberg oder in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg etc.?
Es gibt sehr viele kinderreiche Ausländerfamilien. Warum übernimmt er nicht eine Ehrenpatenschaft für diese gesellschaftlich extrem vernachlässigten Kinder?

Sie muß wohl bundesdeutsch sein, seine sehnsüchtig gewünschte Kinderschar. Bundesdeutsch für die Bundeswehr, bundesdeutsch als Garantie für den fleißigen, pünktlichen, ordentlichen Arbeiter. Bun­desdeutsch als züchtige Hausfrau mit eingepferchtem, geflochtenem Haar und leidenschaftlichem Gebärtrieb.

Familien, die auf diese ehrwürdige Art das Volk ohne Raum oder in einer modernen Version das Volk ohne öl vermehren, werden vom Bundespräsidenten königlich belohnt. Sie erhalten neben einer Eh­renurkunde für ihren attraktiven Leistungssport einen einmaligen Be­trag von 200 Mark. Nicht einmal die Finanzierung für die sieben Regale, in denen der Nachwuchs dann gestapelt werden könnte, ist damit möglich.

Aber ich glaube, darum geht es dem Bundespräsidenten auch gar nicht. Er möchte möglichst vielen Ehrenpatenkindern über die Köpfe streicheln können. Das macht sich einfach gut für den Vater der Nation und für das Vaterland: liebe, kleine Wandervögel, die so spielend das Marschieren lernen

(Deutsche Volkszeltung)

Christa Wolf:

Die Sprache der Literatur scheint es merkwürdigerweise zu sein, die der Wirklichkeit des Menschen heute am nächsten kommt; die den Menschen am besten kennt, wie immer Statistiken, Zahlenspiegel, Normierungs- und Leistungstabel­len dagegen angehn mögen. Viel­leicht weil immer moralischer Mut des Autors — der zur Selbster­kenntnis — in Literatur eingeht Vielleicht, weil Übereinkünfte in ihr festgeschrieben sind, die — mühselig genug, gefährdet genug und immer wieder verletzt — doch über die Jahrhunderte hin jenes Gewebe schufen, das wir „Gesit­tung“ nennen. Unser Befremden vor diesem überholten Wort mag uns bewußt machen, wie bedroht der Bestand dessen ist, wofür es steht. Und doch hat dieses Wort, anders als die Termini von Politik und Wissenschaft, einen Hof, eine Aura, so wie die zufällig in mir auftauchenden Wörter „Frieden“, „Mond", „Stadt", „Wiese“. „Leben“, „Tod“. Wollen wir sie wirklich fal­len lassen? An ihrer Stelle die Be­griffe „nukleares Patt“, „Erdsatel­lit“, „Siedlungsgroßraum“. „Grün­land“, „Bewegungsform der Mate­rie“ und „Exitus" setzen?

Die Naturwissenschaftler haben Ihre Erfindungen mit Hilfe einer Spezialsprache vor ihren eigenen Gefühlen ln Sicherheit gebracht; schelnloglsche Sprachkonstruktio­nen stützen die fixe Idee von Poli­tikern, die Rettung der Menschheit liege In der Möglichkeit, sie mehr­fach zu vernichten.

Literatur heute muß Friedensfor­schung sein. Es schreibt sich nicht leichter, seit wir wissen, daß unsere beiden Länder, die einmal „Deutschland“ hießen und diesen Namen verwirk­ten, als sie ihn durch Auschwitz verdarben — daß das Land zu bei­den Seiten der Elbe im Fall der „atomaren Auseinandersetzung“ als eines der ersten ausgelöscht sein würde. Es wird wohl schon Landkarten geben, welche die Pha­sen dieser Auslöschung aufgezeich­net haben. Kassandra, denke ich mir, muß Troja mehr geliebt haben als sich selbst, als sie es wagte, ih­ren Landsleuten den Untergang ih­rer Stadt zu prophezeien. Sind vielleicht, frage ich mich, tiiese beiden Länder von ihren Bewoh­nern nicht genug geliebt worden und neigen dazu — wie ein Mensch, der nicht geliebt wurde und daher nicht lieben kann —, sich und andere zu zerstören? Dies frage ich, um mir heftig zu wider­sprechen, und als Beweis des Ge­genteils nehme ich, wie absurd es scheinen mag, die Literatur. Es ge­nügte nicht, ich weiß es, hätte ein Volk Heimat nur in seiner Litera­tur. Und doch, schlage ich vor — wie die Lage ist, sollte jeder, auch der abwegigste Vorschlag erlaubt sein —: Soll doch jener Todeskarte die Literatur ihre eigne Karte ent­gegenhalten dürfen. Soll, was sie an Ort- und Landschaften, an menschlichen Zusammenhängen ge­nau, gerecht und parteiisch, schmerzvoll, kritisch, hingebungs­voll, angstvoll und freudig, iro­nisch, aufsässig und liebend be­schrieb, von jener Todeskarte ge­tilgt werden und für gerettet gel­ten. Soll endlich einmal die Litera­tur der Deutschen nicht folgenlos bleiben; soll, was in den beiden deutschen Staaten die Literatur über drei Jahrzehnte lang an Trauer- und Freudenarbeit gelei­stet, soll die „Wahrheit des Dies­seits“, der sie sich gestellt hat, doch einmal zu Buche schlagen und den beiden Ländern zugute kommen. Soll Literatur endlich einmal, dieses eine Mal, beim Wort genommen und herangezogen wer­den, um sichern zu helfen den Be­stand des Irdischen.

Heller Wahnsinn, sagen Sie. Nun gut. So fehlt mir — in der Sprache der Psychiatrie — die Krankheits­einsicht, und ich gebe mich diesem hellen Wahnsinn hin, um nicht der finsteren Seite der Vernunft an­heimzufallen. Vielleicht mag es wirklich einem Generalstab schwe­rer werden, über einer Stadt das Kreuz zu machen, die innig und genau beschrieben wurde, als über einer, die keiner kennt. Die nie­mandem so nahe ging, daß er sie an seine Kindheitsstadt, als Stätte seiner Demütigung oder seiner er­sten Liebe beschreiben mußte.

Nun lächeln Sie über meine Nai­vität. Über meine Unvernunft. Er schien ganz vernünftig, sprach mit den Leuten, hieß es bei Büchner über Lenz. Er tat alles, wie es die anderen taten; es war aber eine entsetzliche Leere in ihm, er fühlte keine Angst mehr, kein Verlangen, sein Dasein war ihm eine notwen­dige Last.

Auch ln jenem Land jenseits des Glaubens, gerade dort, wird, wenn auch leise, gesprochen werden. Ein Gespräch über Bäume, über Was­ser Erde Himmel Mensch — ein Versuch, der mir realistischer vor­kommt als die strikt wahnwitzige Spekulation auf den Weltunter­gang. Nachdem die Wahrheit, die das Wort „verkehrt“ enthält, nach allen Seiten hin untersucht wäre, würden wohl andere Worte auftauchen, die wir nicht prahle­risch, sondern behutsam in den Mund nehmen wollten. Wüßten wir doch: Keines von ihnen, auch das redlichste nicht, wäre das letz­te Wort. Hofften: Keines wäre das letzte Wort.

Auch diese Haut wird abgezogen werden und ln Fetzen gehn.

Am 18. Oktober erhielt die In der DDR lebende Schriftstellerin Christa Wolf den Georg-Büchner-Prels 1980 der Darmstädter Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. - Wir veröffentlichen den letzten Absatz Ihrer Rede.

(Deutsche Volkszeitung)