Caroline von Briest

Caroline Philippine von Briest (better known as Caroline de la Motte Fouqué; 7 October 1773 – 20 July 1831) was one of the most prolific German women writers of the Romantic period.

She wrote novels, short stories, fairy tales, as well as essays, on Greek mythology, on the history of fashion, and travelogues. Her numerous works gained her a high degree of celebrity.

Early years

Caroline Philippine von Briest was born in Nennhausen in 1773 (1775 is also mentioned). She grew up at the Nennhausen estate, which belonged to her father, Philipp Friedrich August Wilhelm von Briest (1749–1822), who had served in the Prussian Army. Her mother was Caroline Wilhelmine Zinkow (or Zinnow), and she had a younger brother, August Jakob Friedrich von Briest (1789–1790). After her mother's death, her father married Marie Friederike Helene von Luck, and they had two children, Caroline Friederike Auguste von Briest and Clara Friederike Charlotte von Briest. The home was frequently visited by literary men from Berlin.

Career

Briest first married Friedrich Ehrenreich Adolf Ludwig Rochus von Rochow (1770–1799), a young officer, who possessed an estate in the neighbourhood, and was attached to a regiment quartered at Potsdam. None of her work during this period was published.

She married writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in 1803. It was a second marriage for both. Together they had one daughter, Marie Luise Caroline de la Motte Fouqué (1803–1864). Fouqué retired from the army with claims of poor health and lived at the Nennhausen estate, publishing his first book in 1804; her first book was published two years later.

Several of Briest's novels, her Letters as to the Purpose and Tendency of Female Culture (Berlin, 1811), as well as her Letters on Greek Mythology (Berlin, 1812), are of note. Some of her narrative poems are distinguished for their insight into matters of the human, particularly the feminine, heart.

Regarding the literary quality of her works, Arno Schmidt in his authoritative biography of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, quotes E. T. A. Hoffmann as follows: "In the afternoon to see Frau Fouqué who bored and displeased me terribly by reading from one of her very bad novels" (30 January 1815) – followed by a second similarly dismissive statement. Schmidt continues by commenting: "After having read ten of her books I do have to agree with him; the best among them are the novels Roderich and the tale Der Delphin, although they do follow well-known models very closely; in addition, some pieces in her books, for example the poems in Frau des Falkenstein, were not written by her but by her husband."

She wrote approximately twenty novels and sixty stories, as well as poems, theoretical tracts and cultural historical essays; there were also romances and comedies. She sought anonymity for some of her work by referring to herself as "author of the Roderich novels", or using the pseudonym "Serena".

Drei Mährchen (1806), Feodora (1814), Frauenliebe (1818) and Die graue Maske (1829) are some of her works with Beytrag zur Geschichte der Zeit (1829/30) considered her most important. Her work has been criticized for abandoning her originality in favour of imitating Motte Fouqué's style, hoping to share in his popularity. Her writings continued until 1829 with her last publication, Resignation. Her letters and short essays were collected after her death under the title "The Writing Table, or Old Times and New" (Cologne, 1833). 1816, Das Heldenmädchen aus der Vendée 1818, Frauenliebe 1820, Ida 1820, Lodoiska und ihre Tochter 1821, Die blinde Führerin 1821, Heinrich und Maria 1821, Briefe über Berlin 1822, Vergangenheit und Gegenwart 1822, Die Herzogin von Montmorency 1823, Die Vertriebenen 1824, Neueste gesammelte Erzählungen 1825, Bodo von Hohenried 1826, Die Frauen in der großen Welt. Bildungsbuch beim Eintritt in das gesellige Leben 1829, Resignation