Iris. Quarterly for women
Iris. Vierteljahresschrift für Frauenzimmer was a literary magazine aimed specifically at women, which appeared from 1774 to 1778. The editor was Johann Georg Jacobi , alongside him Wilhelm Heinse acted as co-editor from 1774 to 1776. In the first few years the paper was self-published in Düsseldorf , from the fifth volume it was finally published in Berlin by Haude and Spener . With a print run of 800 to 1000 copies, Iris was one of the best-known magazines of its kind in Germany at the time - numerous well-known authors published articles there.
Financial difficulties and the resulting differences with the Berlin publisher ultimately delayed printing, so that the last issue - dated 1776 - was not published until 1778 and Iris was finally discontinued.
Contributors
The impetus for founding the Iris was provided by Johann Georg Jacobi , who primarily linked financial motives with the publication. He became editor-in-chief. However, Wilhelm Heinse was responsible for the business and administrative tasks : Among other things, he conducted the correspondence and took care of the dispatch of the copies. However, both also wrote articles for the magazine, especially for the first volumes. Over time, other well-known personalities took part with their own texts. For example, Sophie von La Roche regularly published the sequel to friendship letters from the second volume . She did not remain the only author: Anna Louisa Karsch , her daughter Caroline Louise von Klencke or Caroline Rudolphi mainly contributed poems.
Even initial opponents and skeptics were finally won over to the magazine, such as Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . He had initially sharply criticized the purely financial motives for founding the Iris, but later he published a first version of the Singspiel Erwin and Elmire and some poems in the Iris.
However, not all authors can be clearly identified, as most of the texts are only signed with initials - in some cases there is no signature at all. For example, Caroline Luise von Klencke signed “Caroline von **” and Goethe signed “P.”, “DZ”, “N.” or not at all. It is therefore unclear whether other authors contributed to the iris in addition to the previously known people.
content
The title of the magazine alluded primarily to the Greek goddess Iris , who is considered to be the personification of the rainbow. Jacobi referred to the broad target group he was aiming for: ideally, women of all walks of life and of all ages should read his magazine. Therefore, the content of the magazine covers a wide range of topics.
On the one hand, the focus of the sheet shifted in the course of time from anacreontics and sensitivity to later texts of a different style, which for example contained elements of Sturm und Drangs . On the other hand, in addition to the literary contributions, there are also material articles. For example, some of them deal with literature and contain reading recommendations or are articles on literary theory . Furthermore, some essays were also used to educate the readers about ideal norms , behaviors and virtues that the authors believe they should conform to - above all articles on cleanliness, order or sensitivity.
The political articles by Heinse , which explained recent political events in selected European countries, and world history for women by Johann Georg Schlosser, were unusual for a magazine addressed to women at that time . The latter was a novelty among women's magazines and was intended to cover history from the beginning to the present - a project that had to be broken off with the discontinuation of the Iris, so that only Assyrian and Persian history was thematized.
literature
- Jürgen Wilke : Literary magazines of the 18th century (1688–1789). Part 2: Repertory. Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-476-10175-4 .
- Regina-Kathrin Belda: "Iris": Presentation and analysis of a literary women's magazine from 1774 to 1776. Diploma thesis, Hamburg 1988.