Feminist Aesthetics Feminist Aesthetics Edited by Gisela Ecker Translated by Harriet Anderson BEACON PRESS BOSTON Beacon Press 25 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 First published by The Women's Press Limited 1985 Introduction and collection copyright © by Gisela Ecker 1985 Translation copyright © by Harriet Anderson 1985 All rights reserved. First published by Beacon Press in 1986 by arrangement with The Women's Press Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America. Printed in the United States of America 90 89 88 87 86 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Feminist aesthetics Bibliography: p. Contents: Is there a feminine aesthetic? I Silvia Bovenschen-The self-reflecting woman/ Elisabeth Lenk-Double focus : on the history of women's writing/ Sigrid Weigel-[e tc.] I. Feminism and the arts-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Ecker, Gisela. NXI80.F4F44 1986 700'. I 85-47946 ISBN 0-8070-6728-8 ISBN 0-8070-6729-6 (pbk.) Gisela Ecker completed her Ph.D. in 1978 at Munich University. She has lectured at the universities of Munich, Cologne, and Sussex. Her publications include a book on sixteenth-century broadsheets and articles on twentieth-century English literature and feminist literary criticism. Contents Acknowledgements Translator's Foreword Preface 11 Introduction 15 I. Silvia Bovenschen: ls There a Feminine Aesthetic? 23 2. Elisabeth Lenk: The Self-reflecting Woman 51 3. Sigrid Weigel: Double Focus: On the History of Women's Writing 59 4. Heide Gottner-Abendroth: Nine Principles of a Matriarchal Aesthetic 81 5. Christa Wolf: A Letter about Unequivocal and Ambiguous Meaning, Definiteness and Indefiniteness; about Ancient Conditions and New View-Scopes; about Objectivity 95 6. Gertrud Koch: Why Women Go to Men's Films 108 7. Jutta Bruckner: Women Behind the Camera 120 8. Christiane Erlemann: What Is Feminist Architecture? 125 9. Eva Rieger: 'Dolce semplice'? On the Changing Role of Women in Music 135 10. Renate Mohrmann: Occupation: Woman Artist- On the Changing Relations Betweeen Being a Woman and Artistic Production 150 11. Gisela Breitling: Speech, Silence and the Discourse of Art. On Conventions of Speech and Femin.ine Consciousness. 162 About the Artists 175 Notes on the Contributors 178 Notes 181 Acknowledgments The following essays have been previously published. We are grateful to the publishers for permission to reprint. Silvia Bovenschen, 'Uber die Frage: Gibt es eine weibliche Asthetik?', Copyright in the translation by Beth Weckmueller, © New German Critique 12 (1977). Sigrid Weigel, 'Der schielende Blick: Thesen zur Geschichte weiblicher Schreibpraxis,' in Die verboregene Frau (Berlin, © Argument Verlag, 1983). Heide Gottner-Abendroth, 'Thesen zu einer matriarchalen Asthetik,' in Die tanzende Gottin (Miinchen, © Verlag Frauenoffensive, 1982). Christa Wolf, from Kassandra. Voraussetzungen einer Erziihlung (Darms tadt, © Verlag Luchterhand, 1983); trans. Jan Van Heurck (London, Virago, 1984), © copyright in the translation by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1984. Gertrud Koch, 'Warum Frauen ins Mannerkino gehen,' in Gislind Naba kowski et al., Frauen in der Kunst (Frankfurt, © Suhrkamp Verlag, 1980). Jutta Bruckner, 'Nachbemerkungen,' in Renate Mohrmann, Die frau mit der Kamera (Miinchen, © Hanser Verlag, 1980). Christiane Erlemann, 'Was ist ferninistische Architektur?' in Luise Pusch (ed.), Feminismus, lnspektion der Herrenkultur (Frankfurt, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1983). Eva Rieger, 'EinJeitung,' in Frau und Musik (Frankfurt,© Fischer Verlag, _ 1980). Renate Mohrmann, 'Beruf Kiinstlerin', © Frau und Kultur (1982). Gisela Breitling, 'Sprechen und Stummsein. Die kiinstlerische Rede. Gedanken Uber Redekonventionen und weibliches Selbstverstandnis ', Die Horen, 28 (1983). Translator's Foreword My priority in translating these texts was to produce a readable English rendering which conveys the sense and style of the original as closely as possible. However, some of the finer shades of meaning have necessarily been lost, as English, both in its vocabulary and structure, often cannot convey the metaphors, associations and word games of the German. An added difficulty is that some of the authors draw on intellectual traditions which may be largely unfamiliar to British readers. Where it was impossible to do so in the text itself I have tried to clarify the more important obscurities in translator's footnotes. As the contributions by Silvia Bovenschen and Christa Wolf were already available in English when we started to prepare this anthology, we have reprinted these earlier translations. Harriet Anderson London, 1984