Dr. Ulrike Wagner contributes chapter on Fanny Lewald for The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers in the German Tradition

Dr. Ulrike Wagner, professor of literature and German, and director of the German Studies Program at Bard College Berlin, has contributed a chapter to the recently-published Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers in the German Tradition investigating the work of Fanny Lewald.

Wagner’s chapter takes up a line of investigation that has played a crucial role in the critical literature on German author Fanny Lewald (1811–1889), namely the relationships among her life, her work, and the philosophical tradition of the Enlightenment. “Lewald is an exception among nineteenth-century women writers in that reason is the leading category of her self-understanding and activity as a writer,” Wagner explains. “While critics have always acknowledged her commitment to Enlightenment values and beliefs, the specific ways in which key philosophical tenets and controversies of the period shape her writing and thinking have received little attention. In conversation with recent criticism, I focus on this neglected area of scholarship and ask what it really means to study Lewald as an Enlightenment thinker.”

This Oxford Handbook consists of 31 chapters that chronicle the work of women philosophers in the German tradition throughout the nineteenth century. According to the Oxford University Press description, “The volume explores how women often took philosophical premises and positions in innovative and radical directions, and thereby sheds new light on the major movements of the period and their continuing philosophical potential.”

The digital edition of the book is available for purchase, and the hardcopy is available for preorder.

Post Date: 03-21-2024