Caroline von Wolzogen

Caroline von Wolzogen (née von Lengefeld; 3 February 1763 – 11 January 1847) was a German writer in the Weimar Classicism circle. Her best-known works are a novel, Agnes von Lilien, and a biography of Friedrich Schiller, her brother-in-law.

Early life Caroline von Lengefeld was the oldest child of an aristocratic family in Rudolstadt; she was raised and educated with a younger sister, Charlotte. Though her family belonged to the lower nobility, after her father died the financial situation was somewhat troubled. At 16, Caroline became engaged to Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Beulwitz (1755–1829), a prominent local courtier, through the arrangement of both families. Much of her long engagement was spent with her family in Switzerland, a trip paid for by von Beulwitz; they married shortly after Caroline's return in 1784. In the early 1790s, inspired by her friendship with Schiller and other literary figures in Weimar, Caroline began writing herself; her first substantial work was a dramatic fragment in classical form, Der leukadische Fels, in 1792. The novel describes a young woman raised by a stepfather and growing up in isolation in the countryside, poor but educated in both classical and modern learning. A meeting with a much older and wealthier man, with whom she falls in love, begins a process of discovery of the world at large, including the politics and scandals of court life. Agnes eventually discovers that her own background, previously unknown to her, ties her closely to that world, which she eventually embraces. As one critic has said, despite its interest in female subjectivity, "Agnes von Lilien is less about the establishment of a new society than it is about the restoration of the old to new legitimacy." The novel was republished in 1988, and has gotten much more widespread and sympathetic treatment since.

After Schiller's death in 1805 and the subsequent growth of his literary reputation, Caroline von Wolzogen began collecting correspondence and reminiscences of her and her sister's life with the poet. These were published under the title Schillers Leben (Schiller's Life) in 1830, the first biography of Schiller to be published. In the biography, Caroline depicted her subject as a man continually beset by illness and dying young, but whose determination to carry on with his literary efforts nonetheless is cast as heroic.

Publications Karoline von Wolzogen's published works as cited by An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers, unless otherwise indicated.

Briefe aus der Schweiz [Letters from Switzerland], 1792 Der Leukadische Fels [The Leucadian Rock], a play. Leipzig: Göschen, 1792. Agnes von Lilien. Berlin: J. F. Unger, 1796, 1798, 1800, 1801. Republished Stuttgart: W. Spemann, 1884. Walther und Nanny [Walther and Nanny], 1802. Erzählungen von der Verfasserin der Agnes von Lilien [Tales from the Author of Agnes von Lilien]. Tübingen : J. G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung, 1826 Schillers Leben. Verfasst aus Erinnerungen der Familie, seinen eigenen Briefen und den Nachrichten seines Freundes Körner [Schiller's Life. Composed out of Memories of the Family, His Own Letters and News From His Friend Körner]. Stuttgart: J. B. Cotta, 1830. Adele, 1839. Cordelia. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1840. Das neue Jahr [The New Year], 1842. Literarischer Nachlass der Frau Caroline von Wolzogen [Literary Remains of Lady Caroline von Wolzogen]. Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel, 1849. Gesammelte Schriften [Collected Works]. Hildesheim: Olms, 1988.