Die kleine Frau: Her World in Selected Works of Irmgard Keun

Abstract

The concept of die kleine Frau, a notion unique to this analysis, is applied to Irmgard Keun's depiction of young, lower middle class women during the interwar period in her novels Gilgi - eine von uns, Das kunstseidene Mädchen, and Nach Mitternacht. The common process of societal disillusionment culminating in emotional and physical displacement that the protagonists of these novels experience is explored in the context of the everyday and how it was lived by die kleine Frau. As a foundation for the literary analysis of Keun's novels, the socio-economic and -political history of women in Germany from the Weimar Republic through to the prewar NS-Regime is discussed, which further serves to underscore the volatile state of flux that female identity experienced during this time. The concept of der kleine Mann, prominent in 20th century German literature, is explored in order to contextualize Keun's kleine Frau and her distinction from der kleine Mann. Included in the analysis of the common process of societal disillusionment that the protagonists undergo is a discussion of their roles as modern daughters and their consequent incompatibility with the traditional family-unit, which is interpreted as the foundational dimension of their notion of displacement. Finally, the development of the protagonists over the course of the novels, and their common realization of their susceptibility to socio-economic and -political forces is explored. Their inability to establish a satisfying and stable socio-economic position within the social structure culminates in their self-determined flight from their respective situations. This analysis demonstrates that, although each of the novels ends with the protagonist facing an uncertain future, die kleine Frau nevertheless exhibits a paradoxical duality; none of the protagonists are willing to conform to the subjugated societal positions available to them at the end of the novels, and thereby in their flight maintain a degree of self-determination, despite their vulnerability to greater socio-economic and -political forces of the volatile interwar period.