Luise Aston

German author and feminist

• Born: November 26, 1814
• Birthplace: Gröningen an der Bode (now in Germany)
• Died: December 21, 1871
• Place of death: Wangen im Allgäu, Germany

Aston was one of the pioneers of the modern feminist movement. Through her writings, she advocated emancipation and equal rights for women. She was also a prominent figure in the failed German revolution of 1848.

Early Life

Born Luise Hoche, Luise Aston (loo-EE-sur AHS-tahn) was the youngest daughter of Dr. Johann Gottfried Hoche, a conservative Lutheran minister and adviser to the church, and his wife, Luise Charlotte Berning Hoche, a disinherited German duchess. Aston received private schooling and was well educated, especially in music and literature. Many of her ideas were shaped in response to growing up during a period of harsh political and intellectual repression. At the time of her childhood, Germany was a collection of mostly small states governed by a quasi-feudal system that favored the rulers and oppressed the working class and peasants. Aston’s concern over the social injustices and inequalities that she observed as a child became her lifelong motivation for seeking changes in society and government. She was attracted to radical ideas such as liberalism, nationalism, and equality for women.

Life’s Work

In 1835, Luise Hoche married Samuel Aston, an English industrialist from Magdeburg who was twenty-four years her senior. Although the details surrounding the marriage are debated, it is generally believed that it was an unhappy union, which ended in divorce in 1838. Some time later, the couple reconciled at their daughter’s sickbed, and they remarried in 1841. Once again, however, the marriage failed, and the couple again divorced in April, 1844.

After her second divorce, Aston’s life changed radically. She moved with her daughter to Berlin, the capital of the powerful Prussian state. There she began to live as a writer, working for social and political change. She socialized with a group of young intellectuals known for their all-night merrymaking and liberal ideas. Her unconventional behavior gained her notoriety among the Berlin bourgeoisie. In addition to being known for her outspoken opinions, she developed a reputation for smoking cigars, drinking beer, wearing trousers, and practicing free love. Berliners often referred to her as the “German George Sand,” comparing her to the androgynous French writer.

Aston’s behavior and beliefs were seen as a threat to society by Prussian authorities. The accusations against her included contact with extremist writers, founding a club for emancipated women, and atheism. On March 21, 1846, she was ordered to leave Berlin or face imprisonment, so she retreated to nearby Köpenick. The ensuing period between 1846 and 1850 was Aston’s most productive. All of her published works appeared for the first time during these years. Her activities were documented through police and newspaper reports as well as through her writings. There is clear evidence that during this time, she fought for the democratization of society, relief for the oppressed working class, and emancipation of women.

Aston began her literary career in 1846 with a collection of twelve poems in a publication called Wilde Rosen (wild roses). These poems all focused on women’s issues. The first five poems compared marriage to something like a prison or a funeral; the remaining seven were more optimistic and celebrated the image of a free woman. Also in 1846, Aston published Meine Emancipation, Verweisung, und Rechtfertigung (my emancipation, expulsion, and vindication). In this autobiographic commentary, she expressed her views on her expulsion from Berlin. A believer in the power of the press, she used this document to develop a public forum. She defended and justified her views and called for the liberation of women.

In 1847, Aston published her first novel, Aus dem Leben einer Frau (from a woman’s life). In this partly autobiographical work, the main character undergoes an awakening process from traditional values to more liberal ideas. Although the main character is forced into an arranged marriage, she remains faithful to her husband until he tries to offer her as a prostitute to an aristocrat in exchange for a business loan.

In the spring of 1848, Aston returned to Berlin as the city erupted into revolutionary violence. Through much of the year, she participated as a nurse in the military campaign against Denmark in the disputed provinces of Schleswig-Holstein. For a few months in 1848, she edited a weekly journal, Der Freischärler (the volunteer) and wrote most of its articles. By the end of 1848, the revolution collapsed, and Aston was once again expelled from Berlin by the police. Her dream for a democratic and united Germany was defeated.

Aston wrote two other novels: Lydia , published in 1848, and Revolution und Conterrevolution (revolution and counterrevolution), published in 1849. Lydia is the story of two female characters with diametrically opposed models of femininity. One lives and thinks much as Aston does. The novel deals this new model of the emancipated woman and the problems encountered by men trying to cope with this new model. Revolution und Conterrevolution sets the same characters in the 1848 revolution. Its main character is a leader and fighter. Representatives of the church and aristocracy are seen as traitors who aid the counterrevolutionary forces. Working-class people are seen as the heroes of the story.

Aston’s last work, published in 1850, is a collection of poems titled Freischärler-Reminiscenzen (reminiscences of the volunteers). These poems deal with the 1848 revolutionary events, as well as women’s issues and the need for change.

Little is known about the last twenty years of Aston’s life. After being expelled from Berlin in 1848, she traveled a good deal and finally settled in Bremen in 1849. There she married a physician named Daniel Eduard Meier. She had met him during the fighting in Schleswig-Holstein and shared his political beliefs. Aston accompanied her husband on assignments to Austria, Russia, the Ukraine, and Hungary, after which they returned to Germany in 1871. Aston died on December 21 of that year in Wangen im Allgäu. By the time of her death, she was mostly forgotten by her contemporaries and was unknown to the younger generation of feminists and intellectuals.

Significance

In many ways, Luise Aston’s life serves as an inspiration for modern activists and liberals. Her deeply held convictions regarding the inequalities of society led her to live an unconventional lifestyle while carrying the torch for democracy and equal rights for women in the face of societal rejection and the threat of imprisonment.

The greatest gift that Aston shared with the world was her writings. Through her firsthand accounts, she offered a glimpse of what life was like in nineteenth century Germany for a radical female intellectual. She broke the literary mold by creating politically engaged women characters who acted on their own initiative, and she introduced the literary theme of social consciousness. She left behind a clear record of her convictions. Although her efforts were not always viewed favorably in her day, her words can be used to inspire other radical thinkers for years to come.

Bibliography

Adler, Hans. “On a Feminist Controversy: Louise Otto vs. Louise Aston.” In German Women in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, edited by Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres and Mary Jo Maynes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986. This author examines the writings of Louise Otto and Louise Aston in regard to the emancipation movement. Religious belief in relation to the feminist movement is examined. Extensive notes.

Goodman, Katherine. “The Cases of Aston and Meysenbug.” Dis/Closures: Women’s Autobiography in Germany Between 1790 and 1914. New York: Peter Lang, 1986. Goodman examines Aston’s partly autobiographical work Aus dem Leben einer Frau. Bibliography.

Joeres, Ruth-Ellen Boetcher. “Radicality, Gender and the Ambiguity of Representation.” In Respectability and Deviance: Nineteenth-Century German Women Writers and the Ambiguity of Representation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Joeres focuses on the ambiguity in Aston’s writings. Includes an illustration of Aston.

Jones, Michael. “Emancipation and Louise: Female Perspectives on the Events of 1848.” In Das schwierige neunzehnte Jahrhundert, edited by Jürgen Barkhoff, Gilbert Carr, and Roger Paulin. Tübingen, Germany: Max Neimeyer Verlag, 2000. Compares Luise Aston’s novel Revolution und Conterrevolution with Drei verhängnissvolle Jahre (1867) by Louise Otto (1819-1895). Extensive footnotes.

Kontje, Todd. “Feminists in the ’Vormärz.’” In Women, the Novel, and the German Nation 1771-1871: Domestic Fiction in the Fatherland. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Gives an excellent overview of the life and writings of Luise Aston and offers a historic framework for better understanding her works.

Peterson, Uta. “Louise Aston (1814-1871) Germany.” In Women Writers in German-Speaking Countries: a Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, edited by Elke P. Frederiksen and Elizabeth G. Ametsbichler. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1998. Sections include a brief biography, major themes and narrative/poetic strategies, and a survey of criticism. Extensive bibliography.