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Teacher and/or Mother: Personal and Political Transformations in Hilde Maria Kraus's Nine Months

Teacher and/or Mother: Personal and Political Transformations in Hilde Maria Kraus's Nine Months Abstract: Published in 1931, Hilde Maria Kraus's Nine Months ( Neun Monate ) defies both social and literary norms in that the novel's protagonist, Olga, chooses to continue her teaching career after the birth of her child. Kraus's novel, however, draws on a concept of "spiritual motherhood," whose conservative, essentialist elements appear to relativize the novel's emancipatory potential. In this article, I examine the protagonist's complex process of personal transformation: she experiences how the personal intersects with the political, as she begins to critique social and political inequalities based on class and gender. I show that while Olga eventually embraces the teaching profession as a means for social reform, she differs from the more traditional proponents of spiritual motherhood in that she challenges bourgeois concepts of marriage, morality, and class privilege. I argue that her version of spiritual motherhood is infused with socialism and a more radical type of feminism, thus making her decision to combine both career and motherhood truly exceptional. (EK) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Women in German Yearbook: Feminist Studies in German Literature & Culture University of Nebraska Press

Teacher and/or Mother: Personal and Political Transformations in Hilde Maria Kraus's Nine Months

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Publisher
University of Nebraska Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 University of Nebraska Press
ISSN
1940-512X
Publisher site
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Abstract

Abstract: Published in 1931, Hilde Maria Kraus's Nine Months ( Neun Monate ) defies both social and literary norms in that the novel's protagonist, Olga, chooses to continue her teaching career after the birth of her child. Kraus's novel, however, draws on a concept of "spiritual motherhood," whose conservative, essentialist elements appear to relativize the novel's emancipatory potential. In this article, I examine the protagonist's complex process of personal transformation: she experiences how the personal intersects with the political, as she begins to critique social and political inequalities based on class and gender. I show that while Olga eventually embraces the teaching profession as a means for social reform, she differs from the more traditional proponents of spiritual motherhood in that she challenges bourgeois concepts of marriage, morality, and class privilege. I argue that her version of spiritual motherhood is infused with socialism and a more radical type of feminism, thus making her decision to combine both career and motherhood truly exceptional. (EK)

Journal

Women in German Yearbook: Feminist Studies in German Literature & Culture – University of Nebraska Press

Published: Oct 13, 2000

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