Three women's lives

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Three Women's Lives is the work of Natalie Zemon Davis . It appeared in 1995 under the English original title Women on the Margins. Three Seventeenth-Century Lives and was translated into German by Wolfgang Kaiser and published in 1996 by Wagenbach Verlag in Berlin . It is assigned to the genus of microhistory , as it carries out very detailed analyzes of smaller units (in this case at the individual level), and thus enables a view of the details that otherwise threaten to perish.

Interest in knowledge and procedure

With this work Natalie Zemon Davis intended to show how religion affected the life of a woman in the 17th and 18th centuries. She addresses the prevailing gender hierarchies and female self-realization at this time. She also tells the story of three women who went their own, at the time rather unusual paths. All three came from different religious communities and are of different social origins:

Davis takes an observational perspective and analyzes the lives of the three women on the basis of the autobiographies, letters, entomological texts or information left by people around them. Finally, the author compares the three women and looks for similarities and differences in their life paths and life chances. Although the life paths of the three women were similar and they were all confronted with the experience that power structures were placed on women with an additional burden, as well as with a spiritual revelation, a divergence becomes visible due to the different life chances. This is mainly expressed in behavioral patterns that were shaped by the respective religious culture of the 17th century and that shaped the determination of what the lot and vocation for women was. However, all three had a strong life energy and had a sure judgment and eye, which they all used in their own way.

Summary of contents

Davis' book begins with a prologue consisting of a fictional conversation between three women from different religions : a Jewish, a Catholic and a Protestant .

The first story in the book revolves around the Jewish merchant Glikl bas Judah Leib. Glikl, who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries and gave birth to 14 children during that time. She was the first German woman to write a significant autobiography that has survived to this day. She began writing the autobiography, which spans eight books, to overcome the grief over the untimely death of her first husband. Ultimately, however, she wrote these memoirs as a guide and reminder for her children. The original of her biography has not survived today, but a copy made by one of her sons.

The second story of the book is about the French Marie de l'Incarnation. The mother of one son and widowed from the age of twenty, left her son at the age of thirty and lived in an Ursuline convent. Ten years later, she moved to Canada, where she founded the first girls' school in North America for the daughters of settlers. In the thirty years that she spent in Canada until her death, she wrote many letters to her son, most of which, in contrast to her writings written in Algonquin, have survived. She wrote these letters, according to her own statement, without a preconceived plan and, unlike Glikl bas Judah Leib, did not revise them. In 1654 she wrote an autobiography intended for her son's spiritual education.

The third story of the book is dedicated to Maria Sibylla Merian, a Protestant from Frankfurt am Main . The mother of two daughters already enjoyed an excellent reputation as a painter and engraver during their marriage . Their lives, like that of Glikl and Marie, were shaped and influenced by religion. In contrast to the two, she did not lose her husband, but separated from him and joined a pietistic movement. After several years, however, she began to revise her opinion of the Labadists and moved to Amsterdam with her daughters . At the age of 52, she and her daughter Dorothea went on a two-year trip to Suriname to observe and collect insects and plants. The documented trip was published in a volume after her return. Due to the lack of autobiography or letters, Davis relies on the entomological texts and the people around Maria as sources in this third story.

reception

Christine Adam's review of the work praises the descriptive description of the women. Thanks to the wide range of sources, especially Glikl and Marie de l'Incarnation, the reader is vividly aware of what was more difficult with Maria Sibylla Merian because of the sources that do not include personal letters or autobiography. In the introduction to the work, however, the three women ask themselves a crucial question: What do these three stories have in common? Glikl appears to be a very traditional woman, especially when compared to Marie and Maria, who had both challenged gender boundaries more. The two women’s trip to Québec and Suriname also connects them. It is a pity, however, that Davis does not link their experiences more closely by comparing, for example, Merian's view of the natives and natives of Suriname and Guyart's view of the natives of Québec. The comparison is generally an aspect that is missing in the work. While certain topics were dealt with in all chapters, such as the influence of religion on the life of each woman, the gender-specific, individually different experiences that women had and the importance of kinship were somewhat neglected. With more comparative analysis, the three individual parts could have been formed into a whole. Another point of criticism is expressed with the English expression: "living on the margins". Most individuals in human history would have lived "on the margins". Although far from political power or the possibility of cultural influence, these women nonetheless had an influence on their environment.

In her review, Patricia Seed addresses the question: Did these women really live “on the margin”? The unequal stories of the three women always follow the pattern of a classic biography, from birth to marriage and having children to death. Family relationships with parents, husband and children are discussed as well as personal tragedies and successes. Two of the three women were involved in the colonization of the New World; however, this no longer has the same impact on readership as it used to be. However, if the story had been told from the perspective of the natives, the view of the protagonists would have appeared in a different light. From their point of view, Maria Sibylla and Marie de l'Incarnation would hardly have been perceived as “women on the margins”, but just like all the other colonial rulers who determined their lives. The opportunity for the two of them to travel to the New World opened up incredible opportunities for them, as many of the powerful European colonial rulers started from the same humble background as the two women. Thus, their ambitions and social position differ slightly from many of their male counterparts who sought their fortune in the New World. Had Davis taken into account the complexity of the positions of these two women - elite in the New World, marginalized in Europe - the complexity of their stories would have been more evident. All three women occupied ambivalent positions, sometimes very central, sometimes clearly marginalized. It suggests that every social status, including the elite, is similarly complex.

Laura Gowing comments on the issue of gender roles. She is of the opinion that all three women from the work come from completely different religious backgrounds and are nevertheless very similar because of their beliefs. Everyone was trapped in the role models of the 17th century and tried to make the best of their lives within these role models and guidelines. The gender roles were challenged by them and the different beliefs show that religion had only a minor influence on the ideas of gender roles. The representation of the three women's lives allows us a broad view of the social, spiritual and cultural world of women of this time. It enables researchers to take a different point of view and opens up different approaches to this field. The micro-history enables a different perspective on the circumstances and breaks away from a high altitude, which is used in the macro-history. Davis skillfully used the stylistic devices of a biography to expand and deepen the story. The work features among others such as: "Gender, Sex and Subordination in England 1500-1800" by Anthony Fletcher; or “The Prospect before Her: A History of Women in Western Europe. Volume One 1500-1800 »by Olwen Hufton a large increase in possible sources to analyze gender issues in early modernity .

Why does Davis actually portray three different religions? Davis herself says she chose a Jew, a Catholic and a Protestant to investigate the difference religion made in a woman's life at the time, which doors it opened and which closed. In Glikl bas Judah Leib, for example, by reconstructing the autobiography, she is able to get so close to the protagonist that even the modern reader can put himself in the position of the then and Glikl's view of sin and suffering or her relationships with God, the Jewish community, friends and empathize with family. Marie de l'Incarnation also has similar motives: the fear of being abandoned or being abandoned, the fight against melancholy or self-discovery in the face of the problems of everyday life. Marie, under the influence of her religion and its interpretation, comes to different conclusions about what her life path should look like. Maria Sibylla Merian, like the two other protagonists, led an adventurous life shaped by her view of religion. In her review, Charmarie J. Blaisdell highlights the work as an important contribution to various historical sub-areas. The research and methodology of the author are worth mentioning here.

Are the three stories representative of women of the time? According to Karen Ordahl Kupperman, none of the three women's lives described can be described as a typical women's life for the 17th century, since all three had a high level of education. Likewise, all three were successful businesswomen, were able to deal with changing situations and knew the value of goods for their trading partners. Nonetheless, every single biography shows the uncertainties in life at that time and the external influence on the fate of the three women. Each of the three women was influenced by one of the religious movements that existed on the European continent. The religious self-designation led to advantages and disadvantages and influenced their pride and humility. Davis manages to locate the three lives and their leitmotifs and to present them in depth, but refuses to interpret them under the conditions of traditional historical research. Instead, it invites the reader to go on a journey and read meanings into the stories for themselves.

Why does this work belong to the genre of micro-history? Not the choice of subjects, but the approach Davis chooses represents this new way of writing history. She processes three microstories and allows important details such as power relations to flow into the biography of the three women. The work of Davis is counted by Dalia Judovitz as a significant contribution to the field of history as well as biography. The lives presented are exemplary, not because they are of central importance for the writing of history, but because all three were looking for a way to break away from their position on the edge and to overcome their own marginality. They tried to do this by writing autobiographies or doing artistic work, thereby redesigning female identity. These are not universal in their nature, but show the situation and the commitment that women of the 17th century had to put in to free themselves from their situation - regardless of their religion. Although all three were successful businesswomen, as members of the non- nobility they were excluded from the political and social centers and the levers of power.

Press reviews

«This masterpiece of modern historiography cannot be read often enough. Not only because Natalie Zemon Davis succeeds in uncovering the particular difficulties and opportunities of women in the early modern period by taking account of the gender-specific characteristics of their living conditions, but also because she exemplifies how eloquent sources can be when one they are not reduced to their supposed factual content. Three women of different beliefs, who left unusual testimonies and led unusual lives, have found their great biographer in Natalie Zemon Davis. " Rebekka Habermas, Süddeutsche Zeitung

«“ You have all set off for new shores, tried to do something that no one has done before you, ”says Natalie Zemon Davis in the prologue to her three protagonists. After reading the book, one would like to add: This unifying passion for the new and the untried leads the three authors from the 17th century into such different realms that they have little in common. This creates a lot of tension. That Natalie Zemon Davis keeps this open in a mixture of erudition and literary representation is what makes this book so attractive. Barbara Hahn, Die Zeit

«Natalie Zemon Davis singled out three women's lives as examples of the possibilities and limits of female identity and lifestyle in the early modern era - 'femmes fortes', strong women with extraordinary, 'eccentric' fates, but who nevertheless draw conclusions about the 'everyday' Allow peculiarities of the female lifestyle. The look at the 'eccentric' of these women enables a new and surprising as well as relativising view of the political, social and cultural centers of the time and proves once again how much historiography can benefit from this 'new look' that the Women's and gender history has been tried and tested for about twenty years. " Claudia Opitz, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

“Davis keeps changing sides, focusing the historical reconstruction on individual figures or nodes that dictate the actions of the three women and their self-perception, but which over time are also exceeded by them. A look at the possibilities that open up to women or not at a certain moment illuminates the daring of their ventures, their passions and desires better than the mere presentation of facts. " Helga Meise, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

expenditure

  • English original edition: Natalie Zemon Davis: Women on the margins: three seventeenth-century lives. Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1995, ISBN 0-674-95520-X .
  • German translation: Natalie Zemon Davis: Three women's lives: Glikl, Marie de l'Incarnation, Maria Sibylla Merian. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 1996, ISBN 978-3-8031-3584-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Davis, Natalie Zemon: Three women's lives: Glikl, Marie de l'Incarnation, Maria Sibylla Merian . Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-8031-3584-2 .
  2. ↑ Christine Adams: Review of Womens on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives by Natalie Zemon Davis . In: Oxford University Press (Ed.): Journal of Social History . Vol. 30, No. 2, 1996, p. 541-543 .
  3. ↑ Patricia Seed: Review of Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives . In: The William and Mary Quarterly . Vol. 54, No. 3 (Jul., 1997), 1997, pp. 626-627 .
  4. ^ Laura Gowing: Early Modern Gender History: New Horizons? In: History Workshop Journal . No. 45 (Spring, 1998), 1998, pp. 283-290 .
  5. ↑ Charmarie J. Blaisdell: Review of Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth Century Lives by Natalie Zemon Davis . In: American Society of Church History (Ed.): Church History . tape 65 , no. 4 , December 1996, pp. 714-715 .
  6. ↑ Karen Ordahl Kupperman: Review of Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives by Natalie Zemon Davis . In: The University of Chicago Press (Ed.): The Journal of Modern History . Vol. 69, No. 4, December 1997, pp. 804-805 .
  7. ↑ Merry Wiesner-Hanks: Review of Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives . In: The Sixteenth Century Journal . Vol. 27, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), 1996, pp. 1145-1147 .
  8. ↑ Dalia Judovitz: Review of Women on the Margins: Three Seventeenth-Century Lives . In: Biography . Vol. 19, No. 3 (Summer 1996), 1996, p. 302-304 .