New article out on gender ideologies and German garden theory
/Antonia Weiss, PhD researcher and member of the Freedom of the Streets team, has just had an article published. The piece appeared in the most recent issue of Eighteenth-Century Studies (volume 55, issue 4) and is available online at http://doi.org/10.1353/ecs.2022.0049. A preprint will be made available on our website very soon.
In my newly published piece, I revisit the contentious issue of the separate spheres and suggest that we look to the spatial typology of the garden as a critical case study to expand our understanding of how gender and space intersected in early modern ideology. Focusing on the transformation of German garden discourse during the long eighteenth century, I explore how both male and female authors instrumentalized the motif of the garden in their efforts to affirm or critique gendered social positions. In my text, I discuss a range of printed material covering the period between 1680 and 1810. The article consists of three main sections. The first part offers a discussion of the garden theories contained in German oeconomic manuals and their role in establishing the garden as a microcosm of social relations. In this section, I also reflect on early modern processes of professionalization and their depiction in the garden imagery that accompanied the oeconomic texts. In the second part, I turn to developments during the second half of the eighteenth century, specifically the emergence of the English landscape garden as a revolutionary change in garden culture and its junctures with equally radical shifts in predominant gender ideologies during this time. In the third section, I analyze the work of a little-known Prussian writer, Christine Dorothea Gürnth, whose writings subverted the widespread use of garden theory as a medium for affirming women’s subordination. Gürnth was a true pioneer when it came to claiming gardens on behalf of women and she is, I believe, a fascinating figure. Up until now, there was very little literature about her, and I hope that my article will contribute to making her a better-known author.
This article was a long time in the making and began as a pilot study that I submitted after the very first year of my PhD research. I presented parts of it at the graduate workshop at Dumbarton Oaks that I attended in 2019, and the discussions there as well as those with my supervisors and the FOSGUS team helped to sharpen the argument. Thank you to everyone who contributed in small and big ways to getting this piece published!
I hope you all enjoy the piece – since its all about refreshing green spaces, it’s the perfect summer read to take with you on your break!’
The kitchen garden. Illustration from Wolf Helmhard von Hohberg, Georgica Curiosa, 2 vols. (Nürnberg: Endter, 1682), vol. 1. Courtesy of SLUB Dresden/Deutsche Fotothek.
