Placing Droste’s Ledwina : ‘Jugendwerk’ or ‘Gescheiterte Frauenliteratur’?

This article is a reassessment of Annette von Droste‐Hülshoff’s novel fragment Ledwina. The text is approached from a feminist perspective in an attempt to place it within the context of early feminist social criticism. Droste’s text is identified as an example of specifically feminine autobiography, or autogynography. The discussion begins with a brief examination of the narrative strategies employed by women writers in the drive for acceptance in nineteenth‐century literary circles. Two strategies are identified: that of ‘manly writing’ and the ‘ideology of influence’. Both strategies can be found in Droste’s later works and are seen to deny the feminine voice. It is then suggested that Ledwina, in contrast to Droste’s other prose works, does in fact seek to create a feminine voice. This is achieved by means of focalisation through female characters and the creation of a Romantic heroine. The attempt to create a feminine voice is seen to have failed and possible reasons for this are put forward. The crux of this failure is seen to be Droste’s vehement attack on prevailing patriarchal social structures through the depiction of the gender‐ based dichotomy of positive sisterhood/negative brotherhood. The text is ultimately seen to fail due to the inability of the writer to identify a suitable, that is to say, socially acceptable strategy to voice her social criticism.