In the third case, I have selected examples of a variety of Günderrode’s literary work.

By contrast to other female writers around 1800, such as Therese Huber, Dorothea Schlegel and Sophie Mereau, what makes Günderrode stand out is that she does not write novels. This is a mark of her literary and intellectual ambition. The majority of her literary work consists of dramas. Dramas were the most highly regarded literary form around 1800, and were traditionally the preserve of male writers.

The first piece in the case is, however, a satirical epic, or mock-epic. It is part of Günderrode’s early work or juvenilia, to the extent that it’s possible to talk of early work for an author who was only producing literary work for seven years. The manuscript was written in 1798, so in the first year that Günderrode spent in the Damenstift, and when she was eighteen years old. It is part of a verse epic with the title Geschichte der schönen Göttin und edlen Nympfe Kallipso [The story of the beautiful goddess and noble nymph Kallipso]. It is written in a verse form called ‘Knittelvers’ – short, rhyming verse, and makes use of Hessian dialect. From the title alone, it appears to draw on Homer’s Odyssey, but really it is also drawing on other sources such as Emmanuel Schikaneder, who wrote the libretto for an opera about Telemachus. This verse epic by Günderrode is the only work of hers to also contain her own drawings.

So here, in the section and drawing on display, we can see Mentor, Telemachus’s tutor, as he is being driven away by Kalypso, who is mourning the departure of Odysseus. Kalypso drives Mentor away by throwing stones and sand at him, and both he and Telemachus escape on the little ship to Ithaca, Odysseus’s home (and where Odysseus is). The tone of this epic is comic, but plays with pathos as well.

The second piece in the case is the manuscript of ‘Ein apokaliptisches Fragment’ [An Apocalyptic Fragment]. It was written after 1802 and was first published in Gedichte und Phantasien [Poems and Fantasies] in 1804, Günderrode’s first collection. An Apocalyptic Fragment is one of the best-known works by Günderrode and it is written in almost lyrical prose. It portrays a sort of inner landscape in which the speaker attempts to answer the question of what the relationship might be between the individual and nature. This fragment expresses a fundamental philosophical idea in Günderrode’s work, and in the style of the Book of Revelation. This revelation states that the individual is part of nature and nature is everything that exists, so nature is creation. At the same time, nature is also the creator and the creative force which gives rise to all that is. The manuscript is not a fair copy, and is interesting precisely because of this. Only at a later stage did Günderrode start numbering the sections of the text, so that the fragment resembles a series of Bible verses.

Günderrode is now known predominantly for her lyric poetry. This exhibition features a sonnet by Günderrode that has been hitherto unknown. It was discovered by a researcher at the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Dr. Holger Schwinn, whilst conducting work the Martinus-Bibliothek in Mainz. The volume that contains the sonnet, which you can see as the third piece in this case, was originally owned by Friedrich Schlosser. Schlosser was a lawyer and he is responsible for the fact that there is a surviving copy of Günderrode’s final collection, Melete, at least in partial form of the first five sheets, which you can see in the case set into the wall behind you. Schlosser’s summer residence of Stift Neuburg, near the city of Heidelberg, became a popular place for Romantic authors such as Friedrich Schlegel and the Brentanos to gather, and Schlosser also maintained a friendship with Goethe.

The book presented here is evidence of Schlosser’s collecting practices. It contains handwritten copies of Günderrode’s poems and also a printed copy of a drama by Günderrode that has been pasted in. At the end of the book, a handwritten copy of a sonnet has been attached, which appears to be addressed to Günderrode’s lover, Friedrich Creuzer; she also collaborated with Creuzer during the composition of Melete. The sonnet is entitled ‘Zueignung‘ (dedication). Creuzer is here addressed as „Silenos“. In Greek mythology, Silenus was the teacher of the wine-god Dionysus, and Creuzer felt a certain affinity for Silenus. The themes of the poem match up with Günderrode and Creuzer’s shared Neoclassical interests, and you can read the poem (in German) on the corresponding transcription board.