Cornelia Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s sister, was a gifted writer, we hear. But she died in childbed, 26 years old. Trapped in an unhappy marriage she despised. While her brother was free to roam the world, choose as partner whom he wanted and lived to rise to one of Germany’s most accredited poets.
Unusual for those days her dad allowed Cornelia access to education, she was a knowing young lady speaking six languages, was versed in fencing and horse riding, enjoyed intellectual and literary pursuits and had a rebellious streak, we further hear. In fact, Cornelia was a sounding board and voice of comfort and advice to her brother Johann Wolfgang von Goethe when one of his love relationships went south and he had involved himself in some dubious social connections. Cornelia was Goethe’s confidant and was often the first to know about and critique his literary oeuvres.
Cornelia was an intellectual, a perceptive and observant character as writers usually are, so she was very well aware that her brother Johann Wolfgang lived and breathed the contemporary attitude of women being subordinate to men. Though the two were close as brother and sister, it seems that Johann Wolfgang didn’t miss a patronising opportunity to remind Cornelia of her “womanhood” recommending her getting geared up to fulfil domestic and child bearing chores instead of dreaming of a literary career. That’s surely one way of eliminating the competition, methinks!
Cornelia unfortunately figured there was little she could do about it which she apparently also discussed with some of her acquaintances. Those literary exchanges are caught in Cornelia’s “secret letters” to her friend Katharina Fabricius. The fact that Cornelia wrote this heart-to-heart conversation in French already shows her educational level. She was a German native speaker in a time where only the upper educated class of the 18th century were fluent and corresponding in French.
It’s by the way also telling that only those letters to Cornelia’s female friend (lasting from 1767 to 1769) were preserved. Her brother, famous Johann Wolfgang, chose to burn her letters to him. Of course, he was grieving over the loss of his sister, so maybe an impetuous decision but equally it also shows that he didn’t feel that any of her thoughts were worthwhile to be preserved as a legacy. Or not to be disclosed … showing how much influence Cornelia had on his writing? Or the advice she gave was either too truthful or too embarrassing?
Totally sucks, doesn’t it? How in the world could we have ever accepted that 50% of humanity is excluded from formulating their thoughts, creating their oeuvre and passing their legacy to the next generation in an open reward play field? Because they were women. In previous centuries and not so distant decades marked as half-wits designed for domestic slavery and sexual obedience. Jeez. How did this happen?
Apart from the (as I call them) social dark ages, Cornelia didn’t have any options and no network to make an informed decision what to do next. Cornelia suffered not being allowed to design her life how she wanted to as she was a woman and didn’t see any alternative option other than getting married. She didn’t survive to see it through as we know.
Cornelia apprehended that men took advantage of the status quo and that things were out of whack. Yet even so: Be a woman in previous centuries and try to be on your own. You couldn’t rent your own place and didn’t want or couldn’t stay with your parents, mostly didn’t get an education, couldn’t get a job so you couldn’t care for yourself, couldn’t go anywhere alone without being ostracised from society, couldn’t vote or open your own bank account. And then there was the issue of contraception and children. Try to think and plot life visions when you’re constantly pregnant hence sick or worried or simply not yourself for most of your adult life! I know, what an impossible thing to imagine those days. I am already moaning when my cafe latte doesn’t have the right temperature inconveniencing me at the start of my day.
Now I hear you say: Yeah, whatever, all easy in hindsight, but prove that Cornelia might have been the more accomplished writer than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Touché. I don’t know. And it’s not my point. My idea is about options. What if? The daunting yet enabling question about circumstances, abilities, opportunities and forcefulness to make it real.
And here’s a legacy to celebrate: The Cornelia Goethe Center for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Frankfurt is named after her, as is the Cornelia Goethe Prize that it awards.
Sometimes you have an influence on other people’s life you don’t even imagine and you are not accredited or awarded for. That’s ok as we cannot be aware of every single detail of our life but I believe we should make it a habit of calling out when we think we add value – to a company, to a friend, to family, to acquaintances. Maybe that’s not the case? Fair enough! But if you genuinely have something to say, that’s a good place to start, methinks.
In summary, I believe Cornelia has taught me two things:
#1 – Let’s put our brain skates on and broaden our options’ spectrum.
#2 – Let’s expand the circle of people we feel comfortable to discuss those options with!
I do hope I’ll speak to you later then 🙂