We invite proposals for scholarly contributions to Part II of a forthcoming book project that brings renewed attention to two influential nineteenth-century German writers: Amalia Schoppe (1791–1858) and Helmina von Chézy (1783–1856). This interdisciplinary project combines: (1) an annotated edition of selected correspondence between Schoppe and Chézy—translated into English for the first time—and (2) an edited volume of original scholarly essays (in German or English) that illuminate the literary, cultural, and gender-historical contexts surrounding these authors and their epistolary world.

Project Overview
Through a feminist New Historicist framework, the book examines the complex and ultimately fractured friendship between Schoppe and Chézy. Their correspondence reveals a shared commitment to women's right to professional authorship and self-determination, even as their divergent responses to gender norms, domestic expectations, and public scrutiny eventually drove them apart.
The volume highlights key themes, including: gender performativity and the negotiation of respectability, the fragility and resilience of nineteenth-century female literary networks, the challenges of professional authorship for women writers, and the dramatic 1844 rupture of their twenty-four-year friendship following their only in-person meeting.

Possible topics (focused on Schoppe and Chézy) include:
•    Their correspondence as a source for literary, social, and cultural history
•    Schoppe’s and Chézy’s contrasting performances of gender, domesticity, and respectability
•    Professional authorship and economic precarity in their careers
•    Their participation in, and experiences of, women’s literary networks
•    Public reception, reputation, and scandal in their lives
•    Comparative readings of their literary works
•    Unpublished archival materials related to either writer
•    The 1844 rupture of their friendship and its cultural significance
•    Translation, transmission, and reception of their writings

Submission Guidelines
Proposal length: 300–500 words
Language: English or German
Include: brief author bio (100–150 words)
Deadline: February 28th, 2026
Notification: mid-May 2026
Final essays: 6,000–8,000 words (English or German, probably due in spring 2027)
Please send proposals and queries to: Juliane Wuensch, jwuensch@skidmore.edu

About the Volume
This book will be the first English-language presentation of the Schoppe–Chézy correspondence and the most comprehensive scholarly assessment of their intertwined careers, personal lives, and contributions to nineteenth-century literary culture. It seeks to bring their voices—and the gendered struggles they navigated—into broader international conversations on women’s writing and historical epistolary practices.
 

Contact Information

Juliane Wuensch, PhD
Assistant Professor of German
German Section Coordinator
Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866