"Reisen, sollte ich &en! England sehen! " A Study in Eighteent h-century Travel Accounts: Sophie von La Roche, Johanna Schopenhauer and Others by Helen Lowry A thesis submitted to the Department of German Language and Literature in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen's University Kingston, On tario, Canada October, 1998 Helen Lowry, 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A W OüawaON K1AW Canada canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distri-bute or sen reproduire, prêter, distniuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantiai extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent êîre imprimes - reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. -. 11 ABSTRACT This study considers the travel accounts of Great Britain by Sophie von La Roche and Johanna Schopenhauer as disparate representatives of the Geman anglophilia prevalent in the latter stages of the long eighteenth century. These women journeyed to Britain as products of the burgeoning bourgeois inclination to travel in an age of gemgraphical and metaphysical discovery. The circumstances under which they travelled and wrote are examined, and particular attention is paid to how they expressed their observations of social, political and religious issues. Many men roamed the Continent on the "Grand Tour," creating a plethora of books on travel and tourism. Although not many women participated in this organized educational venture, these trips brought them out of the domestic realm and broadened their horizons such that these Reisen aiso became Bildungsreisen. Thus, travel and writing about interculturd experiences were a contribution to a woman*s sel f-representation and. in some cases, self-preservation. After the reader is inuoduced to these two women and their works in chapters one and two, chapter three compares their accounts to Hester Piozzi's and Ann Radcliffe's descriptions of Germany to dernonstrate a transcultural thematic correlation in women's mvel writing, and to display the British attitude to Germany. These writers* backgrounds mincide with the German women's, ail reflecting the values and perspectives of their respective culture's upper middle class. Chapter four then scnitinizes the British traveiogues of Karl Philipp Moritz and Iohann Wilhelm von Archenholz, which depart from a similar cultuml point as the German women's, and uses them to illustrate the varying degrees with which Germans accepted British society as a cultural model. .-. Ill ACKNO WLEDGEMENTS 1 would like to thank the following institutions: Queen's University, for a Dean's Travel Grant which allowed me to conduct research in Great Bntain at the John Rylands Library , Manchester and the British Museum Library , London. The generous granting of a thesis bursary upn my retum provided me with time to write. The DAAD's short- term research grant enabled archiva1 research at the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek and the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv in Weimar, and the Frankfurtet Univenitatsbibliothek. My appreciation goes also to Dr. Jochen Golz, Director of the GSA and the libmians of a11 these aforementioned institutions who facilitated my research activities. 1 would also like to thank the John Rylands Library in particular for allowing me to quote from Hester Pioai's unpublished joumals. To the faculty of the German Department of Queen's University, particularly Dr. Pugh and Dr. Reeve, for their availability and openness to answer questions and for their criticai input, 1 would like to express my appreciation. My most sincere thanks go to my Doktonnufrer, Dr. Chnsta Fe11 , for her support, constructive criticisrn and humour. I would like to thank my friends, particularly Brigitte and Bill McConnell, for ail their support. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, Sean and Dorothy Lowry, who have helped me through my Iife and university career in ways too numerous to COunt. 1 dedicate this project to my mother. who has given me so much in life, but especially her support and patience. Thank you, Mom, for al1 the phone calls and the pep talks, the cornmutes, and, most of all, for instilling in me a love of travel. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................... .., .... .............................................................. -1 Chapter One: Sophie von La Roche ...................... .. .................................-31 Chapter Two: Johanna Schopenhauer......................................................... -73 Chapter Three: Hester Pioui and Ann Radcliffe in Germany ........................... 113 Chapter Four: Johann Wilhelm von Archenholz and Karl Philipp Moritz in Britain .................... .. ............................................... 181 Conclusion ....................................................................................... -245 Works Consulted ................................................................................ 252 Vita ................................................................................................ 273 lNTRODUCTION Sophie von La Roche (1730- 1807) and Johanna Schopenhauer (1766- 1838) are wo writen of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries who produceci a large corpus of writing, both fictional and non-fictional; they are ah,however, two writers to whom Gemanisn'k has afforded but scmt attention as regards their contribution to mve1 Iiterature. The present stud y narrows the spotlight to concentrate on their British travelogues. The analysis will compare them to four other travel writers, focusing on the years between 1782 and 18 14' in order to contextualize them as women travel writers and as participants in the phenomenon of anglophilia. Scholarship has previously examined travel accounts of Great Bntain by German men, but investigations into women's travel accounts such as these will contnbute to a more complete picture of Germany's view of British society. Indeed, the exclamation marks in the title of the study, "Reisen, sollte ich reisen! England sehen! " , a quotation frorn Johanna Schopenhauer's autobiography Jugendleben und Wanderbilder ( 138), allude to the enthusiasm which was felt in Germany for Britain in the late eighteenth century. While ail the writers under investigation here enjoyed travelling and wrote of their experiences abroad, for women like La Roche and Schopenhauer, travel became a means to be at liberty from the domestic sphere, if only temporarily. Although previous cnticism has dealt only cursonly with their work in favour of more prominent writers of the accepted literary canon, it will be show that these two 1 have here provideci for the temporal scope of ail six travel writers in this study . 1782 is the earliest year of travel (Moritz)and 1814 is the last year of the publication of a travel account (Schopenhauer). 2 women represent the two ends of the spectrum of German anglophilia. Robson-Scott, in his discussion of this eighteenth-century phenornenon, deems the initial phase ''anglomaniaTWand the later cnticism of it a reaction to the trend. La Roche's and Schopenhauer's works evidence a chronologicai development in attitude, but such stark temporal delineations as Robson-Scott outlines them may be too extreme. While La Roche's 1788 account of her 1786 joumey reflects far more enthusiasm than Schopenhauer's 18 13- 18 14 record of her 1803 trip, personai experience and attitude affect the traveller's perspective also; therefore, one should avoid applying generalizations to individual wri ters. Chapten one and two will deal with La Roche and Schopenhauer in their own right in order to introduce the reader to two women travel writers with whom he/she may not be farniliar and also to provide a bais for the cornparisons which will corne in later chapters. Fully aware of the gendered perspective of their own writing, La Roche and Schopenhauer both daim to offer a viewpoint which men cannot. True, such complementarity mns the risk of falling into the Rousseauian argument that women and men have separate and distinct roles in society based solely on their gender (as evidenced in his Émile for example), but neither of these women desired to be called a gelehnes Frammmer. Hence, although they deal with topics found in travel accounts written by men, the reader is always aware that the perspective and activities are derived from a femde setting. In chapter three La Roche and Schopenhauer are compareci to the only two British women of their generation to publish travelogues on Germany: Hester Lynch Piovi 3 (174 1- 182 1) and Ann Radcliffe ( 1764- l823).* This section establishes that women mvel writers in Gennany and Britain were dealing with similar themes in their works, even though the styles nîight Vary. since al1 these women refiect the values and perspectives of their respective culture's upper middle class.