Margarethe Wulff

Margarethe Wulff (also Margaretha Wulff; * 1792 in Marutendorf , † June 1874 in Schleswig ) was a German writer for children and young people who published her works under the pseudonym "Anna Stein" . Wulff was best known for her series of fictional children's diaries and letters, which were published by Winckelmann in Berlin from the 1840s.

Life

Margarethe Wulff was the daughter of a Protestant country preacher and landowner. So far, not much is known about Wulff's life; Before 1851 she lived with her sister in Itzehoe ( Schleswig-Holstein ) in northern Germany , and later with friends in families in Deutsch-Niendorf, Sierhagen and Krummendieck . Until her death in 1874 she finally lived in the St. Johannis Monastery in Schleswig. Wulff only took up her writing activity at the age of 50. She has been publishing her works since the mid- 19th century with the renowned Winckelmann publishing house in Berlin.

Literary work

Wulff wrote mostly children's stories and in the second half of the 19th century mainly so-called "girls' literature". Her work Little Anna is an early example of so-called high-quality literature for girls, because the childlike and growing girls' perspectives have been dealt with in a new way in the context of time. Although the addressees of these later works were girls, their novels are to be distinguished from the "Backfischliteratur", as they do not fundamentally endorse the stereotypical image of society of women, but rather often present their life and development history in the form of diary entries.

With the work Pictures from Children's Life, the author refers to the various social standpoints that are a result of the estates and class societies. The work is about a doll, which in the course of the story falls into the hands of different doll mothers from different social classes. The different treatment of the doll as a toy and a learning object reflects the social status of the doll's mothers. Furthermore, the incorporation of fairy tales, which were rediscovered as folk literary genres in Romanticism , is also a focus in some of her works.

The authors of the 19th century also increasingly adapted to the reading interests of their addressees. This new literary peculiarity is also reflected in Wulff's works, in that they are characterized by a realistic image of the addressee and a tone that is true to a child, in order to be able to do without the adult as an intermediary. Taking up the lifeworld of the addressees also contributed to the decisive success of their works.

Works

Published under the pseudonym "Anna Stein"

• Pearls. Short stories for friendly children aged 5-8. Berlin: Winckelmann 1842.
• 52 Sundays or the diary of three children. Berlin: Winckelmann 1846.
• Pictures from children's life. Stories for girls aged 7 to 10. Berlin: Winckelmann 1849.
• Flowers: Short stories for friendly children from 6-10 years. Berlin: Winckelmann and Sons 1850 [?].
• Book of life for girls aged 12 to 15. Berlin: Winckelmann 1851.
• Diary of three children. Continuation of the 52 Sundays. Berlin: Winckelmann 1852. ➢ Old friends. A supplement to the diaries and life books. Berlin: Winckelmann 1860.
• Little Anna. For entertainment for very nice little girls. Berlin: Winckelmann around 1860.
• Liesbeth. Memories of a small pension for grown-up girls. Berlin: Winckelmann 1864.
• Felicia. Fragments from the life of a young girl. For the more mature female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann 1861.
• Felicia. Fragments from the life of a young girl. For the more mature female youth. Second part. Berlin: Winckelmann 1868 [?].
• Felicia. Fragments from the life of a young girl. For the more mature female youth. Third part. Berlin: Winckelmann 1868 [?].
• Book of life for adult girls. Berlin: Winckelmann 1870 [?].
• Stories for children aged 10-12. Berlin: Winckelmann around 1872.  

Published under the name Margarethe Wulff

• The wonders of the northern polar world or adventures in the ice fields of the north. For educational entertainment for the more mature youth. Reutlingen: Mäcken 1836.
• The Wunderborn. A collection of the most beautiful fairy tales and legends from German districts. Stuttgart: Kröner 1881/82.

Table of contents

"Pearls. Short stories for friendly children from 5 to 8 years."

The 15 individual stories are structured similarly, they are about children who experience typical everyday and play situations. The readers are first introduced to the characters and the respective situation they find themselves in. The stories are about siblings, children and their parents.

In “Bella goes for a walk with her mother” (I) the young girl Bella goes for a walk with her mother and is very exuberant and energetic. She asks her mother if she could pick a bouquet of flowers. This has one condition: Bella must carry her bouquet home independently. If she doesn't make it, she can't eat cake at home. Bella doesn't make it, her mother remains consistent, and the little girl makes up her mind to get better.

The story "Bella does not want to give up her apple" (II) is also about Bella. The child and her mother are out for another walk and want to take a shortcut. The path is not accessible because a river has been crossed, but they are helped by a strange girl. As a thank you, Bella should give him her apple, but she doesn't want to and cries. As a punishment, she is not allowed to see her chickens for a week. During this week she makes sure to be good and in “Bella gives her piece of sugar” (III) she is finally allowed to see her chickens again. She also leaves the last bit of sugar to her friend, which her mother is very happy about.

In the story "Fritz wants to shoot Uncle Conrad to death" (IV) , Fritz and his siblings play with a fortress. Her uncle Conrad annoys her several times, Fritz loses patience and threatens to shoot him dead. Later he is ashamed of it, apologizes and is allowed to eat cake. His uncle admonishes him not to brag any more.

In “Little Ernst can't understand a joke” (V) , little Ernst plays with his big brother. Ernst doesn't understand the brother's joke and is very upset. His big brother is lenient with him. In the following story, "Ludwig plays with little Ernst again" (VI) , the situation is repeated, but this time Ernst is punished for his behavior by his mother. Ernst and his brother make up afterwards.

“The trip to the country” (VII) tells the story of a family who visits a farm. One of the children, Franz, goes to the chicken farm alone, becomes cocky and annoys the turkey. This then chases him across the yard and Franz is filthy. The other children laugh at him, Franz has to be bathed and is reprimanded by the adults.

The story "Christian forgot his rider in the garden" (VIII) is about Christian who forgets his rider in the garden and then gets him taken away by his father. Only after the boy has shown for a while that he can be good does he get the rider back.

In “Uncle Friedrich” (IX) , Uncle Friedrich tells a fairy tale to the children Christian and Bertha. It's about a girl who helps a little man who owns a house made of marzipan. As a thank you, the girl is allowed to eat from the house, but with the siblings, who laughed at the male, the treats turn into stones as soon as they put them in their mouths.

In the story "Uncle Friedrich tells another fun story" (X) , Uncle Friedrich tells another fairy tale, it is about a very small woman named Madame Kolibri, who has a little friend named Mr. Braun. He owns an equipage made of dogs. However, he claims they are horses, which Madame Kolibri finds extremely funny. Madame then buys four big white cats and calls them her white cats. Your little friend owns rats for horses. Herr Braun makes fun of Madame Kolibri's white horses and makes fun of them. He is snooty and extremely proud of his "horses". It comes as it has to and the animals kill each other. Mr. Braun's dogs also die.

In "The Little vegetable seller" (XI) as described Anette plays with her mother, a role playing game. Anette receives a shilling in the game and uses it to buy bread rolls for herself and her family, which everyone is happy about.

In "Moritz wants everything always like to keep to themselves" (XII) is about the brothers Moritz and Georg. Moritz is very reluctant to share, while Georg is described as kind and modest. Moritz receives a large pack of sweets from his uncle and initially gives his brother only one piece, but asks for it back after a short time. Thereupon he feels guilty and offers Moritz to choose some splendid pieces. He does this and when the mother finds out about it, she is happy and proud of her sons.

In “Little Friederike's Christmas Kitchen ” (XIII) , the girl Friederike receives a play kitchen for Christmas. Friederike invites her friends so that everyone can play with the kitchen. Her little sister Adele is also playing, she should grind the sugar in a mortar. Instead she eats it up. Friederike and the others are upset about it, but give Adele another chance. Adele does not do her job properly one more time and the children accuse her with their mother. But she excuses her daughter's behavior and says that the siblings should have supervised and supported little Adele better.

“The children bake a beautiful cake” (XIV) , tells of the fact that Friederike's mother had been sick for a long time and Friederike took care of her. As a thank you and as a reward, the mother cooks and bakes together with her children and their friends, which they really like.

In the last story "Little August accompanies his parents in company and cries" (XV), August is invited to accompany his parents outside the home. The rules of behavior are explained to him beforehand and he is warned that he must not cry. When August does so, he is sent out of the room and is only allowed to come back for the cake. His parents reproach him and his nanny tells him that boys shouldn't be afraid.

Motivation

"Pearls. Short stories for friendly children from 5 to 8 years."

Pearls is one of the works of "Anna Stein". A “Little Stories for Kind Children from 5 to 8 Years”. In these 15 short environmental and family stories , the children should learn what it means to “behave right and wrong” . Each of the educationally valuable educational stories shows a moral at the end . In part, the stories build on each other, so that morality only becomes apparent in the further course of the action. The motive of these stories is above all an education according to religious virtues and morals . Some of these are designed for a certain behavior with gender- specific content . Stories nine ("Uncle Friedrich") and ten ("Uncle Friedrich tells another fun story") can be classified in the fairy tale category. They have a fictional content , which serves to convey a certain moral with the entertainment potential of the fairy tale. With the help of nine illuminated images , the narration and the explanation of these values ​​is probably easier. The illustrations are nine colored panels in chalk lithograph as a frontispiece, these show depictions of children's life. According to this, the children have more points of contact and can identify more easily with the person in the story in order to realize the moral.

Motifs of the respective 15 stories

	history	motive
1	Bella goes for a walk with her mother	Personal responsibility and independence.
2	Bella doesn't want to give up her apple	One hand washes the other, gratitude.
3	Bella gives her lump of sugar	(Builds up from 2) Hospitality and growth. Not being selfish.
4th	Fritz wants to shoot Uncle Conrad to death	Defend yourself with his words, threats are ineffective, discipline, humility.
5	The little Ernst can't understand a joke	Trust, gratitude and humor.
6th	Ludwig plays with little Ernst again	(Builds up to 5) Confidence, persistence, and humor.
7th	The trip to the country	What you don't want someone to do to you, don't do it to anyone else. Respect for animals.
8th	Christian forgot his rider in the garden	Individual responsibility.
9	Uncle Friedrich	(Builds up to 8) Empathy and charity. Do not do anything bad so you will not do anything bad.
10	Uncle Friedrich tells another fun story	(Builds up on 9) What you don't want someone to do to you don't do it to anyone else. Haughtiness comes before the event.
11	The little vegetable seller	Do good and good will happen to you.
12	Moritz always wants to keep everything to himself	Learn to share. The joy of the other usually pleases you more than just your own joy.
13	Little Friederike's Christmas kitchen	Empathy, kindness, self-sacrifice.
14th	The children bake a nice cake	Give good and good will happen to you. Be good and you will be rewarded.
15th	Little August accompanies his parents in company and weeps	Do not be afraid of the unknown. Have courage. Do not whine, etiquette.

Research literature

• Brunken Otto, Hurrelmann Bettina u. Bad luck Klaus-Ulrich (Hrsg.): Handbook on children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Stuttgart 1998.
• Brunken Otto, Hurrelmann Bettina, Michels-Kohlhage Maria u. Wilkending, Gisela (Hrsg.): Handbook for children and youth literature. From 1850 to 1900. Stuttgart 2008.
• Krienke Jutta: "Dearest friend! I want to write to you right away ...". For the training of immediate narration using the example of the use of the letter in children's literature of the 19th century (Stein Anna, Averdieck Elise, Wildermuth Ottilie, Schumacher Tony), Frankfurt am Main 2001.
• Kümmerling-Maibauer Bettina: Children's and youth literature. An introduction. Edited by E. Grimm Gunter et al. Bogdal Klaus-Michael, Darmstadt 2012.
• Stone Anna: Pearls, short stories for friendly children from 5 to 8 years, third edition. With 9 illuminated pictures. Berlin Winckelmann and Sons Publishing House. From approx. 1850. - Online edition: Frankfurt am Main: Univ.-Bibliothek, 2015. - Online resource.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jutta Krienke: "Dearest friend! I want to write to you right away ...". For the training of immediate narration using the example of the use of the letter in children's literature of the 19th century (Stein Anna, Averdieck Elise, Wildermuth Ottilie, Schumacher Tony) . Frankfurt am Main 2001, p. 169 .
2. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.
3. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.
4. ^ Otto Brunken, Hurrelmann Bettina, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.
5. ↑ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Maria Michels-Kohlhage, Gisela Wilkending: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1850 to 1900. Ed .: Gisela Wilkending. Springer, Stuttgart 2008.
6. ↑ Bettina Kümmerling- Maibauer: children's literature. An introduction. Ed .: Gunter Grimm and Klaus-Michael Bogdal. WBG, Darmstadt 2012, p. 41 .
7. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Ulrich-Klaus Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998, p. 80 .
8. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.
9. ↑ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.
10. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998, p. 2 .
11. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998, p. 2 .
12. ^ Otto Brunken, Bettina Hurrelmann, Klaus-Ulrich Pech: Handbook for children's and youth literature. From 1800 to 1850. Ed .: Klaus-Ulrich Pech. Stuttgart 1998.