CKCU Literary News
Wednesday October 29th, 2025 with Hans G. Ruprecht & Bettina Johl
The compelling story of 18th c. poet and publisher Wilhelmine MÜLLER, born Maisch (1767-1807) presented (in German) by literary scholar Dr. Giovanna-Beatrice Carlesso in conversation with CKCU- Literary News correspondent and guest editor Bettina Johl.

More on Wilhelmine Müller by Dr. Giovanna-Beatrice Carlesso,‘Die zweideutige Würde der Dichterin’: Literarische Selbstbehauptung um 1800 am Beispiel von Wilhelmine Müller, geb. Maisch’ • Publications of the English Goethe Society 2024-09 | Journal article, Pages 241-258 | Published online: 21 Oct 2024. Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/09593683.2024.2401327 ABSTRACT During her lifetime, the now-forgotten author and editor of women’s almanacs Wilhelmine Müller, née Maisch (1767–1807), was the most published poet in pocketbooks and periodicals, especially from Southern Germany. Tracing Müller’s career, this article examines her strategies for asserting herself in the literary field around 1800. The pastor’s daughter, who came from a modest background, relied on male mentors to establish herself as a writer. To this end, Müller actively engaged in networking. She confidently displayed her affiliation with poetry circles in Stuttgart and Vienna and curated her public image, referring to her connections to the high nobility. Both in her poems and in her paratexts, Müller reflects on her agency and advocates for women’s rights to education and intellectuality. However, her self-presentation remains ambivalent: she strategically oscillates between self-confidence and humility to defend herself against prejudice and ‘gender censorship’. KEYWORDS: Wilhelmine Müller, - female authorship, female agency, gender literature around 1800 🔻Wilhelmine Müller: Gedichte, neu herausgegeben, kommentiert u. mit einer Einführung versehen von Giovanna-Beatrice Carlesso, Brackenheim 2015, ISBN 978-3-939333-08-1. 🔹Key references: Nicole Seifert FRAUEN LITERATUR Abgewertet, vergessen, wiederentdeckt. Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch Erscheinungsdatum 9.9.2021 ISBN 978-3-462-00236-2 Liste deutschsprachiger Autorinnen (Wikimedia-Liste) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_deutschsprachiger_Autorinnen?wprov=sfti1#1876_bis_1900