bavarikon4UThe womens movement correspondence
After the founding of the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung geistiger Interessen der Frau" (Society for the encouragement of women's intellectual interests - 1894) and the first "Allgemeiner bayerischer Frauentag" (Bavarian Women's Day - 1899), an organised network of women writers was established in 1913 in Bavaria for the first time with the founding of the "Münchner Schriftstellerinnen-Verein" (Munich Female Writers Society) by Carry Brachvogel (1864-1942) and Emma Haushofer-Merk (1854-1925). According to its statutes, the purpose of the association was "to bring female writers and journalists living in Munich together to discuss professional issues and to represent artistic and scientific interests". Activities included meetings "to discuss all relevant issues", "to represent the interests of the profession and of individuals" and literary events.
Just as the members were expected and called on "to protect their interests and reputation in every way in business dealings" – the highly topical demand for equal pay for men and women in particular – so were the chairs committed to the their members' rights and actively corresponded with publishers, editors and institutions.
Such correspondence, however, was not only demanded professionally; even before this, representatives of the bourgeois women's movement were involved in private and business correspondence, exchanged written information or formed networks accordingly. Towards the end of 1891 Gabriele Reuter (1859-1941) wrote to her friend Emma Haushofer-Merk: "Don't the slogans 'realism', 'liberalism', 'naturalism', 'modernity' confuse us all? I am becoming more and more aware of the fact that you have to use the greatest strength and work to get to know yourself and to prove everything you produce by your own doing. It is of course very difficult to fathom what our own doing actually consists of!" (quoted by Richardsen, Passionate hearts, fiery souls, p. 78) The letter makes clear the search for one's own true self and its struggle for the right form of expression in literature.
A selection of letters written by women with cultural and literary personalities from Munich is presented in the following. The focus here is on correspondents who can be placed directly or indirectly in the context of the bourgeois women's movement: In the first part, the Munich female writers correspond with each other (Baudissin, Blum-Erhard, Brachvogel, Freudenberg, Klingenfeld, Kurz, Raff, Reuter, Stieler) or with their affiliated institutions and friends ("Frauenklub von 1900", Hanfstaengl, Schaeuffelen); in the second the male correspondence partners dominate (Bernstein, Ganghofer, Halbe, Hertz, Heyse, Hildebrand, Ibsen, Jensen, Mensi von Klarbach, Pixis, Reck-Malleczewen, Ruederer, Scherer). The letters to Helene Raff (1865-1942), Maria Janitschek (1859-1927) and Emma Klingenfeld (1848-1935) are one focal point.
