The Education of Fanny Lewald

An Autobiography

By Fanny Lewald
Edited and translated by Hanna Ballin Lewis

Subjects: Women's Studies
Series: SUNY series, Women Writers in Translation
Paperback : 9780791411483, 362 pages, November 1992
Hardcover : 9780791411476, 362 pages, November 1992

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Translator's Note

Introduction

BOOK ONE
At Home

BOOK TWO
The Years of Suffering

BOOK THREE
Liberation and the Wandering Life

Endnotes

Bibliography

Description

The Education of Fanny Lewald is the autobiography of the most popular and prolific German woman writer of her period (1811-1889). The author of more than fifty books of fiction, travel memoirs, and articles about current events, Lewald was a friend or acquaintance of many of the prominent intellectual, artistic, and political figures of nineteenth-century Europe. Her autobiography is clearly and engagingly written. We see her developing from the bright, oldest child of a middle-class Jewish family in East Prussia into a successful writer and financially independent woman. And we see her struggles with a patriarchal society along the way.

Hanna B. Lewis is Professor of German and Coordinator of Foreign Languages at Sam Houston State University.

Reviews

"This is a very important work. The autobiography is a central text for studies of nineteenth-century German women writers. It touches on psychological, religious, economic, and gender issues, and is also a valuable book for subsequent women writers. " — Thomas Fox, Washington University, St. Louis

"Lewald's autobiography is widely recognized as an important example of this genre for the nineteenth century. It is also an important document for social historians. " — Margaret Ward, Wellesley College