Kaus, “Die Frau in der modernen Literatur,” 1929

Categorized as 200-level course, Feminist Politics, Gender & Sexuality, Gina Kaus, Lesson Plan, Women Creators
Black and white portrait of Gina Kaus

Frame and Preparation

Die Frau in der modernen Literatur

Conceptual Frames and Background

  • Neue Frau
  • Gender roles
  • Reading culture
  • History of masculinity and femininity 
  • “Battle of the sexes” narrative between men and women
  • History of literary form/genre

Introduction

Gina Kaus’ article, “Die Frau in der modernen Literatur”, was published in 1929 in Die literarische Welt, an influential literary magazine during the late Weimar Republic published by the Rowohlt publishing house. In it Kaus provides a critical overview of historical attitude toward and expectations of writing and reading women as frivolous, vapid, and even dangerous. She traces the rise of the modern female author, a “creature” who breaks with the stereotypes of the past and asserts her creativity and autonomy as a woman who writes—Kaus claims that can now speak of a distinct corpus of literature called “women’s literature.” She deconstructs assumptions about what men can and do write, breaking with the idea that women are limited to romance novels and are excluded from objectivity. She challenges the idea of “masculine” or “feminine” literary forms and styles.

Preparation

This is an excellent text to teach in class, as it is both short and very easy to understand. Students, from 232 onward, could easily read and complete an assignment on this text in a single class session or as homework.

You will need a PDF copy of the article, it was featured in Die Literarische Welt, Nr. 11 March, 1929

Text and Discussion

Here are some questions to begin a discussion of this article:

  1. According to Kaus, what were the old stereotypes of women authors?
  2. How does Kaus define the transformation between the women authors of the past and the state of women authors in her contemporary period (the 1920s)? What does she hypothesize is responsible for these changes?
  3. How does Kaus define “Frauenliteratur”? How would you define it?
  4. What is the relationship of gender and of masculinity and femininity in particular to specific genres of literature?
  5. Do gendered codings of certain genres and kinds of literature still exist today?