Novellistic Representation of die Berufstätige during the Weimar Republic

Novellistic Representation of die Berufstätige during the Weimar Republic Renny Harrigan The flapper, an eternally young woman with Bubikopf and Cupid's bow on her slightly parted lips, has become a symbol for the entire decade of Germany's goldene zwangizer Jahre, if the picture on the cover of Thilo Koch's book of the same name is any indication.! The particular image of the flapper reflects what was certainly the most visible change in women's lives during the Weimar Republic: the emergence of the female whitecollar worker in the newly created semi-skilled jobs of a bourgeoning service and sales sector. Insofar as the "career woman" aped the fashions of the culturally dominant middle class, she too can be called a flapper. Although women's lives were changing in other areas even more dramatically,2 it is here that we have the clearest and most immediate break with tradition. The present study analyzes the image of the flapper personified sociologically by the white-collar worker in three representative novels of the Weimar Republic. Social history is used as a means of understanding the multifaceted reality of the period for women in both its emancipatory and its regressive aspects. Political economists and sociologists have stated that the treatment of women—or anyone defined as Other by the dominant culture, I would add—can be used as an index of a society's respect for human and civil rights. A growing literature on Weimar history, politics, society, and culture written by a new generation of German historians has applied this principle to the short-lived Republic. Led by Renate Bridenthal, Claudia Koonz, and Tim Mason in the English-speaking world,3 the traditional view of the Weimar Republic as one bringing great advances for women has been overturned. Thus, an important gap has been filled in the general literature which had already recognized Weimar liberalism as seductive, fragile, and lacking in substance.4 97 The issues which these historians raise are similar to those which arise when reading the fiction of the period. To what extent, for example, did the Nazi victory reverse, to what extent did it continue, the attitudes and expectations of the democratic republic which preceded it? Certainly, women made progress during this period but how do we reconcile our image of increasing female liberation with our knowledge of the anti-feminist policies of an increasingly popular Nazi party during the Weimar period? This study demonstrates that the independence of the flapper—here die Berufst ätige—was not quite what it appeared to be and provides thereby but one indication of the direction we must take to answer this question. An analysis of the image of the flapper also begins to expose ideology functioning at its deeper, unconscious level. Walter Kiaulehn describes the optische Wandlung of women during the Weimar Republic with the following words: Sie waren leichter und luftiger geworden, vielleicht auch etwas kantiger, ersetzten aber diese fehlende Fülle durch eine neue Grazie. Ihrer alten Verspieltheit war ein neuer spöttischer Zug beigemischt. Bei der Berlinerin war die Verwandlung besonders verblüffend. Sie hatten alles Provinzielle abgestreift, . . . vor allem das stern- äugige Kokettieren mit Naivität und Ahnungslosigkeit . Pie neue Berlinerin hatte klare Augen, und ihrer äußerlichen Sachlichkeit stand die kleine Beigabe von Sarkasmus gut.5 Kiaulehn's observations are concerned primarily with the feminine externals under which he surmises a new psychology. His urban women are no longer naive and sentimental, but matter-of-fact and just a little sarcastic . These women apparently know what to expect and are perhaps no longer in need of male protection. In an even match, such an assumption would be of no import, but can we assume the match is even? There is certainly a marked difference between this image of female beauty and that of the Victorian lady who preceded her. According to Stefan Zweig, the latter 's attire, "in jeder Einzelheit die Natur vergewaltigend ," consisted of a corset, buttons to the neck, and "außer ein paar Putzend russischer Studentinnen [als 98 auch die ins Ausland vertriebenen deutschen Studentinnen , RKH] [konnte] jede Frau Europas ihr Haar bis zu den Hüften entrollen."6 Zweig...