Ehe, Familie und Emanzipation

E. Marlitt, Wilhelmine von Hillern, Ursula Zöge von Manteuffel, Wilhelmine Heimburg, and Emilie Mataja have one thing in common: they are successful yet forgotten female writers from the second half of the 19th century. This study focuses on these bestselling authors, who have been dismissed by contemporaries and research alike, and seeks to demonstrate that their literary success is by no means "accidental," but can be traced back to specific functions that their works fulfill. The present investigation deliberately addresses the most frequently mentioned criticism of literature written by women, namely its structurally uniform and repetitive structure. The novels are not only analyzed in terms of plot structure but are also contextualized socio-historically and critically evaluated for their emancipatory function for both authors and readers.