Gabriele Reuter
Gabriele Reuter was a German author born in 1859 in Alexandria, Egypt. She spent her early years in a region marked by the geopolitical interests of Germany, England, and France before returning to Germany with her mother after her father's death. Reuter began her writing career in support of her family, initially drawing inspiration from her childhood experiences in Egypt. Her first novel, "Glück und Geld," published in 1888, did not garner much attention, prompting her to refine her writing through the advice of other authors. A significant turning point in her career came between 1887 and 1891, leading to her focus on the authentic experiences of women in her works.
Reuter's literature often explored the frustrations of middle-class women, notably in her successful novel "Aus guter Familie," published in 1895. She was actively involved in literary circles and advocated for women's rights, though she maintained a nuanced stance on the women’s movement. Her later works, including "Das Tränenhaus," addressed themes relevant to social issues, such as the plight of unwed mothers. Reuter's writing output diminished between the World Wars, and during the rise of the Nazi regime, she shifted her focus to children's literature and family narratives. She passed away on November 16, 1941, in Weimar, Germany.
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Gabriele Reuter
Author
- Born: February 8, 1859
- Birthplace: Alexandria, Egypt
- Died: November 16, 1941
- Place of death: Weimar, Germany
Biography
German author Gabriele Reuter was born in 1859 in Alexandria, Egypt, the daughter of a successful merchant. She spent most of her childhood in Egypt at a time when Germany, England, and France were vying for control of the Suez region. After her father’s death in 1872, she and her ailing mother returned to Germany, where they would remain for the rest of their lives. Reuter took on the responsibility of supporting her family through the publication of literary works. Her early stories were based on her experiences in Egypt, but German society, with both its attendant social problems and its numerous prospects, provided Reuter with profuse literary inspiration and numerous opportunities for publication.
Her first novel, Glück und Geld: Roman aus dem heutigen Egypten, set in Egypt, was published in 1888, with little fanfare. Reuter then realized she needed to improve her writing style and sought out other writers for advice. She considered the years from 1887 to 1891 to be her artistic and personal turning point. Critic Karl Frenzel advised Reuter to write about her most intimate experiences. Armed with this advice, Reuter began writing about women as they really lived, often portraying women who should have been happy in their middle-class lives and marriages but who were frustrated and lonely. Her novel Aus guter Familie: Leidensgeschichte eines Mädchens (1895), met with great success despite the doubts of her writer friends and her publisher.
Reuter’s novels continued to be colored by her myriad childhood experiences in Egypt but focused on the limitations and obstacles faced by the typical middle-class German woman. She also wrote articles on the writers Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, published in 1904 and 1905, respectively. She was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage and she became a prominent member of the literary communities in the German cities of Weimer, Berlin, and Munich. Reuter believed it was her duty as a writer to articulate and speak out for the women condemned to the sphere of domesticity who suffered their unhappiness in silence. While not politically aligned with the women’s movement, Reuter’s novel Das Tränenhaus (1909) is about the movement’s goal of creating a home for unwed mothers.
Between the World Wars, Reuter ceased to write as much as she had previously and suffered from financial difficulties. When Adolf Hitler came to power in the 1930’s, Reuter avoided writing social commentary, shifting her focus to a children’s book and a fictionalized family history. Reuter died on November 16, 1941, in Weimar, Germany.