"Als wenn Du mein Geliebter wärest." Liebe und Begehren zwischen Frauen in der deutschsprachigen Literatur 1750-1850

Love and desire between women as motives in German literature are treated dramatically different over the course from 1750 to 1850, as numerous interpretations of literary texts show; questions and methods used include close reading, feminist literary criticism, gender studies, queer theory, and historical discourse analyses, with socio-historical studies of female ›homosexuality‹ ante verbum as background.
In the 18th century women add their share to the cult of friendship: Luise Gottsched’s letters to Dorothee Henriette von Runckel speak openly about love, passion, and desire. In 1775 Anna Louisa Karsch confesses openly her love à la Sappho. Marriages of convenience offer emotional space for women loving women, as marriage, love and desire still not necessarily match.
Around 1800 marriage becomes more an more intimate and romantic; in response, all-female couples begin to think of themselves as being sexually and emotionally exclusive. In literature, Caroline Fischer in her novel Die Honigmonathe (1802) depicts the union of two women as utopian, whereas Friederike Helene Unger in Bekenntnisse einer schönen Seele (1806) describes it as real. In Therese Huber’ novel Die Ehelosen (1829) as well as in Die Günderode (1840) and Clemens Brentano’s Frühlingskranz (1844) by Bettine von Arnim, the relationship between two women is incompatible with traditional marriage. Female characters though, who refuse to marry a man and love and only love women, defy expectations of society. When lesbian loves become marginalized, literary works make use of double speech, ambiguity and subtexts, like in Amalie von Imhof’s Die Schwestern von Lesbos (1800) or Franz Grillparzer’s Sappho (1818). For publication Annette von Droste-Hülshoff heavily reworks love poems originally inspired by women: the taboo becomes inconceivable.
While some texts build and decorate a new Closet, others discuss patriarchy and start to fight for emancipation as Fischer’s novel Die Honigmonathe (1802), Paulus’ Wilhelm Dümont (1805), Unger’s Bekenntnisse einer schönen Seele (1806) and Huber’s Die Ehelosen (1829). Bettine von Arnim finally combines in Die Günderode (1840) love between women with the revolutionary fight for a new society, thus preparing the ground for a lesbian emancipation movement in German literature.