:<i>The Maiden's Mirror. Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries</i>

This article examines the thematization of the heroine's barrenness in Grimmelshausen's Courasche in light of Renaissance medical texts in order to demonstrate that Courasche's infertility constitutes an anti-war argument on the part of her creator. The chaos of war is inconsistent with the conditions believed at the time to promote fertility; war is additionally depicted as leading to a weakening of the social reins of control. The unruly woman, who inverts the traditional gender hierarchy, represents a world turned upside down; here she is "unnaturally" infertile in part because she is "unnaturally" dominant, but the war is what has given her the opportunity to assert that dominance. (V.V.O.)

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Select Bibliography on German Social History and Women Writers

Zantop¹,

Blackwell²

1989

fgs

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:The Maiden's Mirror. Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective^*

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective^*

No Time for Mothers: Courasche's Infertility as Grimmelshausen's Criticism of War

Select Bibliography on German Social History and Women Writers

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:The Maiden's Mirror. Reading Material for German Girls in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective*

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective*

No Time for Mothers: Courasche's Infertility as Grimmelshausen's Criticism of War

Select Bibliography on German Social History and Women Writers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective^*

Changing One’s Mind: Transformations in Reformation History from a Germanist’s Perspective^*