Compassionate and Dreaming: On the Emotional Com-unity of the First German Women Students

Abstract

This article explores the concept of an emotional community among the first German women students around the turn of the twentieth century, analysing both journalistic and literary texts. Moving beyond terminological disputes surrounding ‘emotions’ and ‘affects’, it adopts Sara Ahmed’s inclusive approach, where affect is seen as integral to emotion. The study draws on Barbara Rosenwein’s definition of emotional communities as groups sharing common interests, values, and goals, often reinforced by texts. Through an analysis of excerpts from Ilse Frapan’s novels, Wir Frauen haben kein Vaterland and Die Arbeit, and articles from women’s magazines Die Studentin and Frauen-Rundschau, the paper investigates how specific emotions – namely compassion and a mix of pride and impostor syndrome – were expressed, cultivated, but also suppressed within this nascent community. It argues that these texts not only reflected but actively shaped the emotional landscape of early women students, highlighting the crucial role of literature in fostering a sense of shared experience and identity.