Gender and the Production of Interior Space in Weimar Republic German Literature, 1929-1933

INSIDE THE CITY: GENDER AND THE PRODUCTION OF INTERIOR SPACE IN WEIMAR REPUBLIC GERMAN LITERATURE, 1929-1933 Sara Kristina Farner Budarz A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature. Chapel Hill 2014 Approved by: Eric Downing Clayton Koelb Kata Gellen Richard Langston Priscilla Layne © 2014 Sara Kristina Farner Budarz ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Sara Kristina Farner Budarz: Inside the City: Gender and the Production of Interior Space in Weimar Republic German Literature, 1929-1933 (Under the direction of Eric Downing) This dissertation examines the interplay of gender and the production of interior space within the literature of the late Weimar Republic (1929-1933). Reading interior space through the lens of spatial analysis (following in the tradition of Henri Lefebvre and the Spatial Turn), I argue that the three spaces examined in this study - the home, the white- collar office, and the café- are sites in which questions of power, agency, and gender are renegotiated. While the dominant theorization of the city within the context of the literature produced during the Weimar Republic has focused almost exclusively on the exterior spaces of the city and their historical novelty, this research asserts that a theorization of the urban experience cannot be complete without an incorporation of interior spaces. Highlighting the drastic changes interior spaces underwent during this era, this project argues that a focus on interior space allows us to gain a more complex, nuanced understanding of cultural phenomena witnessed during this era, including shifts in housing as a result of the rise in urban population, the sharp rise in white-collar female employment, and the establishment of a famed café culture in Berlin. Within the context of Das Neue Bauen, this project asserts that interior spaces were not only subjected to modernist design, which led to a reconfiguration of use and appearance, but also underwent drastic changes due to the legal iii changes of 1919 which granted women full access to these interior spaces and thereby led to their destabilization. Focusing on the role of gender in the production of space, this work examines how the ideology embedded within space objectified and displaced women in particular, thereby problematizing their conception of self. These issues are explored in the works of Erich Kästner's Fabian (1931), Gabriele Tergit's Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm (1931), Irmgard Keun's Gilgi (1931) and Das kunstseidene Mädchen (1932), Christa Anita Brück's Schicksale hinter Schreibmaschinen (1930), and Hans Fallada's Kleiner Mann, was nun? (1932). iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for so many things: for having been allowed to spend the most recent years of my life in pursuit of knowledge, for the music that sustained my writing frenzy, for the cafés and their coffee which fueled it, for the wine that accompanied the gray Berlin winter skies and brought out the Hemingway-esque moments in writing, for all of the beautiful meals made for me by friends which helped me stay nourished during the final months of writing, for yoga and running which kept me sane and strong throughout grad school, for the pile of books, always growing and waiting to be read and reminding me of why I love what I do, for Berlin, the city of inquiry and the city I feel at home in, for long strolls through beautiful cities, for amazing friends who have opened up their homes to me this past year, for the travels around the world that gave me new insights, for the existence of audiobooks that allowed me to keep up with other literary interests, for my garden that provided a lesson in life cycles, for time spent on porches, for late nights in Durham and the conversations that marked them and changed me, for seeing bats fly at night, and for Lucy, for always getting me to where I needed to go. But most of all, I am grateful for the people whose paths have crossed mine during these years and who have added light and color to it. This work may never have come to fruition if it had not been for the wonderful friends who encouraged me and, through their presence, made these past years beautiful. It is to them that I am indebted for making the v process of writing a dissertation less solitary, enriching it with conversations, and providing distractions when life needed them. While I have learned so much during these past years- academically and more broadly about the world we inhabit- what I have learned above all else is to be grateful for those in our lives and to always seize the moment when it arises to thank them for their existence. This is one of those moments. So thank you: To my advisor, Eric Downing, for inspiring admiration when first sitting in his class, and whose insights into literature continue to inspire reverence. I am immensely grateful for the freedom he has always given me in allowing me to follow my interests and for trusting that, in the end, I would know which path to pursue. His trust in my abilities forced me to live up to them and made me the scholar I am today, and for this, I am grateful. To Kata Gellen, both for her insight into my research and for her true kindness. To Clayton Koelb, for once having told me that the sign of true scholarship is when you start writing and suddenly realize your research has to go in a completely different direction than planned, and you have the courage to accept that, scrap everything, and start anew: I am thankful for these words that rang in my mind and encouraged me through the many shifts and turns this work took before taking the shape it now has. To Dick Langston and Priscilla Layne, for serving on my committee and providing helpful insights into my project. And to the University of North Carolina for the dissertation completion award that allowed me to spend my last year of research and writing fully emerged in the topic and gave me the freedom to spend time abroad while doing so. Within the department Silia Kaplan was one of the first people I met while visiting as a prospective student, and she is one of the best things (PhD aside) to come out of it. For a vi friendship that will last long after our years at UNC are a distant memory, for support and encouragement, for being one of the very few people who can always make me laugh, and for being the reason Luna is in my life, I am truly grateful. Your passion for life and travel has always been an inspiration to me. Hopefully we will all find ourselves on a beach in the Caribbean again sometime soon. To Lindsey Brandt, thank you for keeping me motivated through cold days in Berlin, for your encouragement and ideas regarding my writing, for long discussions about the validity of finding one’s passion, and for discovering that all I really needed to motivate me to write was the offer of free whiskey. To Tin Wegel, thank you for allowing me the freedom to develop into the teacher I am today by learning to trust my instincts on how to teach and create a great atmosphere in the classroom, even if that meant sitting on desks while teaching. Thank you for your encouragement when I needed it most, for amazing teaching assignments, and for showing a confidence in my ability as a teacher right from the start. Any accolades I have received for my teaching, I owe to your mentorship. And to my other colleagues, for their friendship: to Annegret Oehme, Andrea Doser, Melanie Unger, Anja Wieden, and Jenny Orr. Outside of the department, I am thankful for the beautiful people who came into my life in other ways. To Lee Bryant, for her gentle spirit, for being a soul mate, for having conversations that are as windy as our lives are, and for being able to, in all moments, paint a beautiful picture of our future lives. Thank you for thinking we are rock stars and projecting that when I couldn't see it. And for opening up your home to me: Kiel will forever hold a special place in my heart. Our bakery awaits. To Liz Turner, for not only being brilliant in her field and loving it with all of her heart, but for also being one of the most caring individuals I know: you are my role model for a successful career. Thank you for our vii beautiful long talks on your porch, for dinners, for hiking, for opening up your home to me, for introducing me to beets and the best yoga class ever, for encouraging me to follow my heart, and for checking in on me even when there was an ocean between us. To Christine Hendren, for being a bad-ass scientist and an artist, for introducing me to the concept of 'instead', for believing that messy stories are the most beautiful, for afternoons spent at Dain's, and for being one of the most open, loving, caring individuals I have ever met. To Charles de Lannoy, for being Curls, for modeling a drive in life that few others have, and for being able to tell amazing stories: thank you for long walks and some of the most beautiful and challenging discussions of my life - and for always assuming I was wrong, whether about religion or how to boil an egg.

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