Sophie Mereau-Brentano i jej drogi do pisarstwa

Abstract

The article is an introduction to the life and work of the German classicromantic period writer Sophie Mereau-Brentano. It shows all those factors that influenced the formation of her poetic world and consolidated her position as one of the first professional German writers. Particular attention has been paid to the family home, the education gained thanks to the efforts of her father, her collaboration with Schiller, in whose magazine „Thalia” the young Sophie published her first poems, her marriage to Clemens Brentano and her friendship with Achim von Arnim. The article is also an attempt at the general characteristics of Sophie Mereau-Brentano’’ s writing, particularly emphasizing her creation of female characters, striving for self-determination, happiness and love. Much attention has also been paid to the position of the female writer, competing with the male-dominated publishing market. The dilemmas of the split between private life, the role of wife and mother and professional life, the writer, the publisher of a women’s magazine and a translator, the feminine and the masculine world of private and public space are an important key to understanding Sophie Mereau-Brentano’s work and her contemporary perception.