No Time for Mothers: Courasche's Infertility as Grimmelshausen's Criticism of War

This article examines the thematization of the heroine's barrenness in Grimmelshausen's Courasche in light of Renaissance medical texts in order to demonstrate that Courasche's infertility constitutes an anti-war argument on the part of her creator. The chaos of war is inconsistent with the conditions believed at the time to promote fertility; war is additionally depicted as leading to a weakening of the social reins of control. The unruly woman, who inverts the traditional gender hierarchy, represents a world turned upside down; here she is "unnaturally" infertile in part because she is "unnaturally" dominant, but the war is what has given her the opportunity to assert that dominance. (V.V.O.)