Giving Birth And/To the New Science of Obstetrics: Fin-De-Siècle German Women Writers’ Perceptions of the Birthing Experience
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GIVING BIRTH AND/TO THE NEW SCIENCE OF OBSTETRICS: FIN-DE-SIÈCLE GERMAN WOMEN WRITERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE BIRTHING EXPERIENCE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Barbara Wonneken Wanske Graduate Program in Germanic Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Professor Barbara Becker-Cantarino, Co-Adviser Professor Katra Byram, Co-Adviser Professor Anna Grotans Copyright by Barbara Wonneken Wanske 2015 ABSTRACT The end of the nineteenth century marked the slow shift from home births towards an increased hospitalization of birthing, which became a firmly established practice in twentieth-century German-speaking countries. In this project, I analyze and contextualize representations of birthing, birthing assistants, and the medicalization of the female body in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Helene Böhlau’s Halbtier! (1899), Ilse Frapan’s Arbeit (1903), and Gabriele Reuter’s Das Tränenhaus (1908). Böhlau, Frapan, and Reuter wrote their novels at the cusp of a new approach to birthing, and their protagonists grapple with the transition from giving birth at home with minimal medical intervention to viewing birth as a pathological condition that requires support from medical personnel. By bringing together theoretical discourses on the body and on medicalization, I examine what effect the restructuring of birthing assistance, and later the development of the medical specialty of obstetrics, had on women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and how women perceived these changed birthing conditions. I argue that each of these literary works challenges the medical history narratives that have portrayed medical advances in obstetrics as a positive change for women across the world. Rather, these works take up questions of female agency and the human cost resulting from medical advancements. I identify the three authors’ preoccupation with unwed mothers’ birthing experiences and the socio-economic and ii moral factors that influence their patient care and access to health care as a crucial commonality between the works examined. The project begins with a historical overview of the medicalization of birthing in German-speaking countries and of the changing discourses about the female procreative body from the 1750s onwards. The subsequent three literature chapters focus on the portrayal of women’s perceptions of the birthing experience, the locales in which women give birth (i.e. birthing clinic, rural birthing house, or at home), and birthing assistants and their interactions with each other and with their female patients. This approach enables me to compare how perceptions of these themes were mediated and represented in literary texts by multiple women writers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The project concludes with a discussion of all three novels and what their representations of birthing can tell us about the broader issues the novels address. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my family. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my dissertation co-adviser Professor Barbara Becker-Cantarino, whose unwavering support and intellectual guidance has directed me through my journey as a graduate student and made the completion of this project possible. To my dissertation co- adviser Professor Katra Byram for pushing my thinking to the next level, supporting me through the dissertation process, and providing generous and thoughtful feedback. To Professor Anna Grotans for her honesty, advice, and help along the way. Without these three professors, this project would have not been possible, and I thank them for being excellent examples of what women can achieve in the academy. To my friends across the world whose friendship has been invaluable over the years. To my friends Angelika and Erhard Witt, Elizabeth and Stephan Ruch, Hans-Erich and Irene Andrews, and Katharina Schwarz, who have followed my journey in North America with great interest while keeping me connected to my home. To my friends Jennifer LaFerriere and Anne Joly, whose enduring friendship and willingness to make me part of their families is one of my greatest joys. To my Columbus family Kris Fromm, Jaclyn Kurash, Kristen Hetrick, Lizzie Gordon, Hannah Washington, Marissa Stewart, Lauren Winkler, Sam Flores, Kathrin Frenzel, Hannah Ewing, Sylvia and Marcus Fischer, Lindsay Bernhagen, Justin Acome, Michael Murphy, and Jennifer Barajas. Their friendship and support have made these seven years in Columbus a wonderful experience. v To my family, without whom none of this would have been possible. To my brothers Jakob and Johannes and my sister Christina, whose support and perspective keep me grounded and focused on what is important. To Massimo, whose companionship made writing this dissertation more enjoyable. To my parents, whose trust in my ability to finish graduate school got me through the ups and downs of completing this degree. To my mother, for being an exceptional role model, and to my father, for never tiring of debating with me. It is from them that I have my love of learning, and for that, I will always be grateful. vi VITA 2004................................................................Abitur, Halepaghen Gymnasium Buxtehude, ........................................................................Germany 2008................................................................B.A. Honors with Specialization in English/ ........................................................................Minor in German, University of Ottawa, ........................................................................ Canada 2010................................................................M.A. German Studies, The Ohio State ........................................................................University 2008 to 2013 .................................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University 2014 to 2015 .................................................Graduate Instructional Consultant, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Germanic Languages and Literatures vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Vita .................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Social History of Birthing in German-Speaking Countries ..................... 17 1.1. The Process of Medicalization ............................................................................... 19 1.1.1. The State’s Health Care Agenda ..................................................................... 22 1.1.2. The Rise of the University-Trained Doctor ..................................................... 25 1.1.3. The Demand for and Acceptance of Medicalization ....................................... 32 1.1.4. Disciplining the Patient in the Newly-Formed Clinics .................................... 34 1.2. The Medicalization of Birthing .............................................................................. 39 1.2.1. The Development of Birthing Clinics ............................................................. 43 1.2.2. (Female) Patient Treatment in Birthing Clinics .............................................. 49 1.2.3. The Four Phases of Midwifery ........................................................................ 57 1.2.4. Negotiating Power: The Professionalization of Midwifery ............................. 64 Chapter 2: Helene Böhlau’s Halbtier! (1899) .................................................................. 79 2.1. The Representation of Birth and Death in Art ....................................................... 87 2.2. The Bourgeois Birthing Experience ....................................................................... 91 2.3. Midwives and Armengeburten ............................................................................. 103 2.4. The Anatomy of Giving Birth at a Birthing Clinic .............................................. 112 viii Chapter 3: Ilse Frapan’s Arbeit (1903) ........................................................................... 126 3.1. Using the Poor Body for its Anatomy: (Female) Medical Students and Lower- Class Patients............................................................................................................... 134 3.2. Becoming a (Female) Doctor: Clinics, Hubris, and Humanity ............................ 148 3.3. Birthing and Regaining Humanity: A New (Feminine) Model of Doctoring ...... 158 Chapter 4: Gabriele Reuter’s Das Tränenhaus (1908) ................................................... 168 4.1. Women’s Solidarity at the Tränenhaus ................................................................ 178 4.2. The Problematic Situation of the Traditional Midwife .......................................