Elisabeth Halden

Elisabeth Halden (pseudonym for Agnes Breitzmann , born May 27, 1841 in Templin , † October 10, 1916 in Berlin ) was a German children's and youth author who has published a large number of children's and youth books in the course of her life.

Life

Elisabeth Halden was born in Templin , in the north of Brandenburg, as the daughter of a doctor. She had several siblings, all of whom, with the exception of her little sister, died very early. Halden had a good relationship with her parents. That is why she often accompanied her father to the family's rural practice. All in all, she had a beautiful and imaginative childhood, which she later used as inspiration in her works. Not yet of legal age, Halden and her younger sister first lost their father and then their mother. Therefore, the two girls moved to Magdeburg to live with their great aunt , who took them into her care. Due to the old age of their great aunt, Halden and her sister did not feel particularly comfortable in their house. Halden took on the role of mother for her sister and then took care of her himself. For her love, the young writer took in six other girls to bring up in the house, because she wanted to enable her sister to have a real family life. Living together with the girls gave Halden the opportunity to empathize with the life and way of thinking of young girls. It was from this knowledge that her first stories emerged. In general, Halden used the circumstances of her life as inspiration for her literary work. After a while, Halden and her sister moved to Bad Nauheim because of a heart disease . The two young women then began to travel to several European countries. In 1898 Halden moved to Berlin and died there in 1916 in the Friedenau district . The writer remained unmarried until the end of her life and always lived from her literary work.

Literary work

Halden's work includes around 50 books for children and young people that have been widely received over decades and have been reprinted several times. Along with  Bertha Clément , Marie von Felseneck and Henny Koch, she is one of the most successful and productive writers of her time. She wrote family, boarding school and travel stories that are primarily aimed at young girls. Her novels, in which predominantly female protagonists are at the center, can thus be assigned to the so-called Backfisch - and girls' literature . Halden occasionally makes use of historical elements and figures in her stories, for example in her literary interpretation of the historical personality Queen Luise of Prussia ( From the days of Queen Louise , 1879). Some of her works also reflect the socio-historical reality of young, employed women of the Wilhelmine era. So she addresses z. B. in her novel In Heimat und Fremde (1897) the increasing mobility and autonomy as well as the difficult labor market situation of young teachers in Europe. Halden also wrote a number of stories and fairy tales for children, in which an idyllic picture of nature and anthropomorphic animals are often depicted.

Works

• The Nest, Halle 1883
• Aunt Adelgunden's nieces , Berlin 1885
• In snow and ice , Breslau 1886
• What love can do , Breslau 1888
• Reseda (from the 3rd edition: Gertrud ), Erlangen 1889
• Girls' stories , Stuttgart 1890
• Mamsell Übermut , Berlin 1891
• Eva's apprenticeship years , Berlin 1892
• From the days of Queen Luise , Leipzig 1893
• Colorful stones , Leipzig 1893
• The castle by the sea , Berlin 1893
• True happiness , Berlin 1894
• Uncle Fritz , Breslau 1894
• The roses from Hagenow , Berlin 1895
• At the gate of life , Berlin 1896
• Something new , Berlin 1896
• The Waldfräulein , Stuttgart 1896
• At home and abroad , Berlin 1897
• Tried and tested , Stuttgart 1897
• Gertrud. Story for young girls , Berlin 1897
• The Ritzewitz family , (continued from: Die Rosen von Hagenow ), Berlin 1998
• New stories for girls , Stuttgart 1898
• Children's stories , Berlin 1899
• Queen Louise , Berlin 1899
• A noble woman , Stuttgart 1900
• 500 years ago , Berlin 1900
• The general's daughter , Stuttgart 1900
• Goldschmied's little daughters , Berlin 1901
• From a rosy time , Stuttgart 1902
• In the doctor's house , Stuttgart 1902
• In the fight for the crown , Nuremberg 1902
• Mamsell high spirits as a bride , Berlin 1902
• From his golden youth , Stuttgart 1903
• The children's joy and sorrow , Stuttgart 1903
• Funny stories , Stuttgart 1903
• The sisters , Nuremberg 1903
• Cliffs , location not known 1905
• Our swallow home , Stuttgart 1905
• Holiday stories , Stuttgart 1906
• On Christmas Eve , by E. Halden. And other stories by M. Frohmut, O. Schwahn, L. Ideler, A. Dalwig-Hohenrode. Reutlingen 1906
• Ladybird , Stuttgart 1907
• Mamsell high spirits as a young woman , Berlin 1908
• Orphan , Stuttgart 1909
• Strong loyalty , Berlin 1911
• The fifth wheel , Nuremberg 1912
• Schön-Elschen, the Countess of Nuremberg , Berlin 1913
• New funny holiday stories , Stuttgart 1914
• Three Christmas Stories , (with Anna Schieber ) Stuttgart 1921
• Animal stories , Stuttgart 1925

literature

• Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Maria Michels-Kohlhage, Gisela Wilkending (eds.): Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1850 to 1900 (Volume 5). 1st edition. Metzler, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-01687-4 .
• Hans Eich: Halden, Elisabeth In: Klaus Doderer (Ed.). Lexicon of children's and youth literature: personal, country and material articles on the past and present of children's and youth literature: In three volumes (Volume 1, A – H). 2nd Edition. Beltz, Weinheim 1977, ISBN 3-407-56511-9 , pp. 519-520.
• Aiga Klotz: Children's and Young People's Literature in Germany 1840–1950. Complete list of publications in German. (Volume 2). Stuttgart, Metzler 1992, ISBN 978-3-476-00703-2 .
• Sophie Pataky: Lexicon of German women of the pen. Complete new typesetting of both volumes in one book. Contumax, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-8430-4451-6 .
• Gisela Wilkending (Ed.): Girls' literature from the imperial era. Between female identification and crossing borders . Metzler, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 978-3-476-01963-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sophie Pataky: Lexicon of German women of the pen. Complete new typesetting of both volumes in one book. Contumax, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-8430-4451-6 , p. 88.
2. ↑ Hans Eich: Halden, Elisabeth. In: Klaus Doderer (Ed.). Lexicon of children's and young people's literature: personal, country and material articles on the past and present of children's and young people's literature: In three volumes (Volume 1, A - H). 2nd Edition. Beltz, Weinheim 1977, ISBN 3-407-56511-9 , pp. 519-520.