Maren Eckart, litterature, Dalarna

2008-2013

The study of German biographies from the early modern period investigates how female rulers were depicted in biographies from 1650-1780 during a time when the genre was still being transformed and with biographical narrative structures which were characterized by a high degree of transparency. At that time one could see an interest in famous women's lives, even if the biographical writing traditionally had the character of being a male genre.
There are only few literature studies on pre- and early modern biographical writing about women and the study therefore contributes to increase the knowledge of biographical (re-)constructions and how these texts create gender roles. The study shows in what ways "doing biography" and "doing gender" are closely connected to each other.
The main question of the research was, whether there were specific patterns regarding the biographical writing about famous queens focusing on narrative structures and gender. The project successfully clarifies the multifaceted relationship between gender and genre.
The study was divided (after a revised project application) into two separate investigations that complement each other. This resulted in articles, national and international lectures and planned publication of two monographs which are in manuscript form. These monographs are the project's main results.

Part I consists of a study of early modern biographical texts on the Swedish Queen Christina (1629-1689), as she is portrayed in different German texts (from intrigue biographies and newspaper articles to panegyric writing and life depictions which were written between 1650 and 1750. This study (a manuscript for a monograph exists) was carried out together with Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre, prof. of German at the University of Stockholm. The study highlights how Christina literary was (re-)constructed as a phenomenon of her time and in many ways as an extraordinary person. Anecdotes and gossip on one side constructed a completely different picture of her than panegyric poetry. The study shows narrative patterns and structures in different kinds of texts, where her gendering is constructed with great flexibility - depending on the purpose of the texts - but gender obviously is a key component in the biographical discourse.

Part II focuses on German biographies about female rulers. The study combines aspects of gender-, narrative - and biographical research studies. It examines five longer biographies from 1700-1780 about the famous European queens (such as Elizabeth I of England, Mary Stuart, Scotland / France, two biographies of Maria Theresa of Austria / Hungary and Catharina I, Russia). The results will be published in a monograph and is finished in script form. The study highlights (within the framework of the querelles des femmes-discourse) the relationship between gender and genre in early modern writing about women. It shows how a textual gendering already is created in the prefaces and how this gendering is a key aspect of the making of early modern biographies. The work contextualizes the biographical writing of women's lives in different kinds of biographical texts (eg death sermons, dialogues of death, biographies about rulers and lexicographical depictions). The study clarifies how biographies as a genre were taking shape. As a modification of Philippe Lejeunes autobiographical pact, the study shows how texts became live-stories by a biographical pact, which was established in the prefaces between the authors and readers, and where the aspect of gender is a fundamental aspect. The research analyzes how a literary gendering takes place, and how gender-constructions were functionalized. A central point was to show patterns of gendering. The female rulers were not idealized, but they were literarily (re-)constructed as remarkable, exceptional women. The biographies have in common, that the writers have to justify why they write preferably about women. A recurring reason is being famous. The interest in the lives of the queens reflects the early modern fondness of curiosities. The authors define their works as part of history, where the female ruler's public life and historical events are woven into a single unit with their claim to tell the truth.
The queens´ social position and power did not threaten inherited gender roles. Their political position and legitimacy of their power is not contested by the authors, however, the texts reflect discussions of gender and power which took place in historical conflicts and which were referred to by critical sources. There are also gender gaps in the texts, in which the authors avoid gender aspects in favor of other aspects (for example the noble birth) in order to place the female rulers in the established male canon of rulers´ biographies and historiography. In addition, the study shows reflections of the authors regarding the biographical subject and genre. The study highlights the authors' attitudes towards genre-aspects such as biographical truth and biographical fiction. The project based on the question of early modern biographies about female rulers can be classified as a separate genre. Such general statement cannot be made; however, the study clearly shows the relevance of gender in the biographical (re-)construction. The study both theoretically and empirically produces and contextualizes the importance of gender in early modern biography writing. The model, developed by the biographical pact, shows the importance of gender in biographies, which can be applied to other biographical studies.

Some of the project's main results are that it highlights more or less unknown biographical German texts about female monarchs and show clear patterns when it comes to (re-)construct the famous women's lives in early modern time. The first part of the project illustrates the strategies which authors used when they described the life of the Swedish Queen Christina. It underlines the importance of social gender constructions in various life stories about her, which contributes to the image of the queen, which still can be seen today. The study also focuses on the great narrative transparency of biographical writing as a genre during the early modern period. It also shows as a result the writers awareness of genre and how they position themselves in a biographical discourse to different kind of texts ranging from panegyric and gossip to historiography and journal news. The German biographies (re-)construct the queen as an exceptional person, who stands outside usual social norms and gender roles, but it also marks the queen with negative gender constructions which were said to be typical for women; other texts question Queen Christina's gender identity. As a result the study clearly underlines the relevance and complexity of gender in the biographical (re-)construction of the Swedish queen.
The second part of the study, which focuses on longer biographies about famous female rulers, shows clearly how these texts become biographies by a peritextuell initiated biographical pact between the author and the readers despite the genre's structural openness. As a result this part of the project shows how gender becomes an important category for the making of the genre both by its theoretical framework and the empirical study. The study reveals how gender in different ways can be used in the biographies of female rulers, who were represented as individuals, but remarkably and exceptionally powerful women. The writers do not questions their legitimacy and ability to rule, but the gender and power can be debated as a problem by critical sources and by historical events. The study makes clear that early modern biographies about female rulers are considered to be part of history writing. The life of the female regent goes hand in hand with the history of the country. The project has been able to prove that gender and genre in the early modern biographies about women constitute one unit.

The project's publishing strategy:
The Christina monograph is intended to be published in a German publishing house where contact has been made.
The female regent monograph can be published in Acta series / University of Uppsala. Inquiries are made about a publication in Germany. Publishing contributions must be sought.

International: contact with women's biography research centre in Vienna with the conference-publication, presentations at Sixteenth Century Studies and Conference Conference (SCSC) in the United States (Fort Worth 2011, Cincinnati 2012), presentation and forthcoming publications of an article on the "Nordisch-Baltisches Germanistentreffen" in Bergen 2012

The study opens up for further studies:
* the biographical gendering of women in different social positions and in different kinds of texts
* the gendering of men in early modern biographies
* biographies about female rulers as a common European phenomenon, because these texts flourished in free translations in many countries.
* early modern biographical writing about dead children, ie. remembrance of people with only a short biographies (in death sermons and poems).

Publications

färdigt manuskript till monografi (bifogas i pappersform):
Merkwürdige Frauen. Gender und Genre in frühneuzeitlichen Regentinnenbiographien

nästan färdig manuskript, skriven med Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre som medförfattare, (bifogas i pappersform)
Ein Leben (Be-)Schreiben. Königin Christina von Schweden (1626-1689) in Texten ihrer Zeit.(arbetstitel)

artiklar
„Erzählstrategien in frühneuhochdeutschen Biografien über Königin Christina.“ I:
Am Rande im Zentrum. Beiträge des VII. Nordischen Germanistentreffens Riga 7.-11. Juni 2006. Thomas Taterka, Dzintra Lele-Rozentäle u. Silvija Pavadis (Hrsg.), Berlin 2009, s.23- 31.

Elisabeth Wåghäll Nivre / Maren Eckart “Narrating Life: Early Modern Accounts of
the Life of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) I: Cultural Ways of
Worldmaking. Media and Narratives. Concepts for the Study of Culture. Vera Nünning, Ansgar Nünning a. Birgit Neumann (Hgg.), Berlin/New York 2010, s. 307-327.

„Königin Elisabeth I. und Königin Christina im Totengespräch“ I: Sprache –Literatur – Kultur. Text im Kontext. Beiträge zur 8. Arbeitstagung schwedischer Germanisten in Uppsala, 10.-11.10. 2008. Bo Andersson, Gernot Müller u. Dessislava Stoeva Holm (utg.). Acta universitatis Upsaliensis. Studia Germanistica Upsaliensia 55, Uppsala 2010, s.177-189.

„»Merkwürdige« Frauen in David Faßmanns Totengesprächen.“ I: Frauenbiografieforschung. Theoretische Diskurse und methodologische Konzepte. Susanne Blumesberger u. Ilse Korotin (Hgg.). Biografia. Neue Ergebnisse der Frauenbiografieforschung 9, Wien 2012, S. 120-146

lämnat till peer review o. tryck:
"Gender und Genre in Paratexten frühneuzeitlicher Regentinnenbiographien"
I: Tagungsband nordisch-baltisches Germanistentreffen, Bergen 2012

»Ach schmertz dem nichts die wage hält!«
Identitätszuweisungen in Kindertrauergedichten über die schwedischen Prinzen Gustav und Ulrich (1685). Artikel till symposiet om tidigmodern kulturtransfer, kungliga Biblioteket