Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 “Schwimme mit mir hinüber zu den Hütten unserer Nachbarn”: Colonial Islands in Sophie von La Roche's Erscheinungen am See Oneida (1798) and Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul et Virginie (1788)
- 2 “Hier oder nirgends ist Amerika!”: America and the Idea of Autonomy in Sophie Mereau's “Elise” (1800)
- 3 A “Swiss Amazon” in the New World: Images of America in the Lebensbeschreibung of Regula Engel (1821)
- 4 Amalia Schoppe's Die Auswanderer nach Brasilien oder die Hütte am Gigitonhonha (1828)
- 5 Inscribed in the Body: Ida Pfeiffer's Reise in die neue Welt (1856)
- 6 Mathilde Franziska Anneke's Anti-Slavery Novella Uhland in Texas (1866)
- 7 “Ich bin ein Pioneer”: Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz's Die Lieder der Mormonin (1887) and the Erotic Exploration of Exotic America
- 8 Seductive and Destructive: Argentina in Gabriele Reuter's Kolonistenvolk (1889)
- 9 Inventing America: German Racism and Colonial Dreams in Sophie Wörishöffer's Im Goldlande Kalifornien (1891)
- 10 Aus vergangenen Tagen: Eine Erzählung aus der Sklavenzeit (1906): Clara Berens's German American “Race Melodrama” in Its American Literary Contexts
- 11 “Der verfluchte Yankee!” Gabriele Reuter's Episode Hopkins (1889) and Der Amerikaner (1907)
- 12 Reframing the Poetics of the Aztec Empire: Gertrud Kolmar's “Die Aztekin” (1920)
- 13 Synthesis, Gender, and Race in Alice Salomon's Kultur im Werden (1924)
- 14 Land of Fantasy, Land of Fiction: Klara May's Mit Karl May durch Amerika (1931)
- 15 An Ideological Framing of Annemarie Schwarzenbach's Racialized Gaze: Writing and Shooting for the USA-Reportagen (1936–38)
- 16 “Fighting against Manitou”: German Identity and Ilse Schreiber' Canada Novels Die Schwestern aus Memel (1936) and Die Flucht in aradies (1939)
- 17 Mexico as a Model for How to Live in the Times of History: Anna Seghers's Crisanta (1951)
- 18 East Germany's Imaginary Indians: Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich's Harka Cycle (1951–63) and Its DEFA Adaptation Die Söhne der Großen Bärin (1966)
- 19 Finding Identity through Traveling the New World: Angela Krauß's Die Überfliegerin (1995) and Milliarden neuer Sterne (1999)
- 20 Discovery or Invention: Newfoundland in Gabrielle Alioth's Die Erfindung von Liebe und Tod (2003)
- 21 Tzveta Sofronieva's “Über das Glück nach der Lektüre von Schopenhauer, in Kalifornien” (2007)
- 22 “Amerika ist alles und das Gegenteil von allem. Amerika ist anders.” Milena Moser's Travel Guide to San Francisco (2008)
- Bibliography: The New World in German-Language Literature by Women
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
7 - “Ich bin ein Pioneer”: Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz's Die Lieder der Mormonin (1887) and the Erotic Exploration of Exotic America
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 “Schwimme mit mir hinüber zu den Hütten unserer Nachbarn”: Colonial Islands in Sophie von La Roche's Erscheinungen am See Oneida (1798) and Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul et Virginie (1788)
- 2 “Hier oder nirgends ist Amerika!”: America and the Idea of Autonomy in Sophie Mereau's “Elise” (1800)
- 3 A “Swiss Amazon” in the New World: Images of America in the Lebensbeschreibung of Regula Engel (1821)
- 4 Amalia Schoppe's Die Auswanderer nach Brasilien oder die Hütte am Gigitonhonha (1828)
- 5 Inscribed in the Body: Ida Pfeiffer's Reise in die neue Welt (1856)
- 6 Mathilde Franziska Anneke's Anti-Slavery Novella Uhland in Texas (1866)
- 7 “Ich bin ein Pioneer”: Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz's Die Lieder der Mormonin (1887) and the Erotic Exploration of Exotic America
- 8 Seductive and Destructive: Argentina in Gabriele Reuter's Kolonistenvolk (1889)
- 9 Inventing America: German Racism and Colonial Dreams in Sophie Wörishöffer's Im Goldlande Kalifornien (1891)
- 10 Aus vergangenen Tagen: Eine Erzählung aus der Sklavenzeit (1906): Clara Berens's German American “Race Melodrama” in Its American Literary Contexts
- 11 “Der verfluchte Yankee!” Gabriele Reuter's Episode Hopkins (1889) and Der Amerikaner (1907)
- 12 Reframing the Poetics of the Aztec Empire: Gertrud Kolmar's “Die Aztekin” (1920)
- 13 Synthesis, Gender, and Race in Alice Salomon's Kultur im Werden (1924)
- 14 Land of Fantasy, Land of Fiction: Klara May's Mit Karl May durch Amerika (1931)
- 15 An Ideological Framing of Annemarie Schwarzenbach's Racialized Gaze: Writing and Shooting for the USA-Reportagen (1936–38)
- 16 “Fighting against Manitou”: German Identity and Ilse Schreiber' Canada Novels Die Schwestern aus Memel (1936) and Die Flucht in aradies (1939)
- 17 Mexico as a Model for How to Live in the Times of History: Anna Seghers's Crisanta (1951)
- 18 East Germany's Imaginary Indians: Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich's Harka Cycle (1951–63) and Its DEFA Adaptation Die Söhne der Großen Bärin (1966)
- 19 Finding Identity through Traveling the New World: Angela Krauß's Die Überfliegerin (1995) and Milliarden neuer Sterne (1999)
- 20 Discovery or Invention: Newfoundland in Gabrielle Alioth's Die Erfindung von Liebe und Tod (2003)
- 21 Tzveta Sofronieva's “Über das Glück nach der Lektüre von Schopenhauer, in Kalifornien” (2007)
- 22 “Amerika ist alles und das Gegenteil von allem. Amerika ist anders.” Milena Moser's Travel Guide to San Francisco (2008)
- Bibliography: The New World in German-Language Literature by Women
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
Summary
Die Lieder der Mormonin (Songs of the Mormon Woman) was first published anonymously in 1887 by Hermann Dürselen in Leipzig and also (at least as claimed on the frontispiece) by A. Booth in Utah. The first edition was not in book form, but was a scroll, with poems printed on both sides of paper, glued together and attached to two ornately carved wood spindles. The narrative formed by the hundred poems follows the sexual journey of the protagonist and her husband—from their initial flirtation to the coupling climax, followed by his departure and abandonment in favor of another wife. Its exotic form and erotic content caused a sensation in the German-speaking world and it was banned in Austria as pornographic. After two editions of the scroll, it was published in book form in 1888 and went through at least seven editions by 1900.
While the poetry was initially published anonymously, it was later revealed to be the first published work of fiction by Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkowitz, a woman not unknown to celebrity or scandal. She was born into a Jewish family in 1852 in Moravia and studied to become a teacher, learning Czech, Italian, French, English, and Hungarian. Over the course of her life, she lived and worked in Budapest, Munich, and Vienna, where she was well known in literary, artistic, and intellectual circles.
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- Information
- Sophie Discovers AmerikaGerman-Speaking Women Write the New World, pp. 92 - 101Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014