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Innocence and the Language of the Body in Discourses of the ‘Jahrhundertwende’
Author(s) -
Grant Alyth F
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
german life and letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1468-0483
pISSN - 0016-8777
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0483.00139
Subject(s) - precept , innocence , femininity , power (physics) , aesthetics , gender studies , human sexuality , sociology , taboo , reading (process) , literature , psychoanalysis , psychology , philosophy , art , linguistics , physics , theology , quantum mechanics , anthropology
This article discusses the status of innocence as a precept governing the behaviour of middle‐class girls at the ‘Jahrhundertwende’ by examining a range of discourses of the period – lexical definitions, etiquette manuals, sociological and feminist discussion of the nature of femininity, and fictional texts by women writers. It argues that the increasing awareness of the unviability of the precept is mirrored in a tendency to externalise virtue, i.e. to judge an inner moral state by ‘reading the body’. The language of the body serves as text when to speak of sexuality is still a taboo. Further, the focus on the female body can be seen as intrinsic to the sexual power struggle: the denial of the right of young women to sexual knowledge is symptomatic of the male desire to deprive women in general of control of their bodies. Hence, although the precept of innocence was obviously not viable, it still held an important place in the discourses of the time. In discussing the dress and the rules for comportment that confine their bodies, and in ironically subverting literary images, women fought for the right to self‐determination and a meaningful place in society.