Welcome to this library guide providing an overview of feminist fiction written in German from the late nineteenth century to the present. The guide features texts, translations, and selected criticism.
All of the materials featured here are available either for checkout or online use through the IU Bloomington Libraries.
Please note that library catalog records may contain terms and language that are offensive or harmful by modern standards. Contact Catherine J. Minter to report catalog records containing harmful language.
Translation of Hedwig Dohm's 1894 novella about an aging widow, Werde, die Du bist!
Gabriele Reuter's bestselling novel about a middle-class girl who refuses to conform to gender and class expectations. Originally published in German in 1895.
Two novellas by Lou Andreas-Salomé featuring remarkable female protagonists. Originally published in 1898.
Gabriele Tergit's 1931 satire about the rise to stardom of an unappealing male protagonist in Weimar era Berlin.
Translation of Irmgard Keun's bestselling novel about the limited options available to working-class women in Weimar Germany, Das kunstseidene Mädchen.
Translation of prize-winning satirical novel by Renate Rasp, Ein ungeratener Sohn (1967) – a searing critique of the West German family.
Translation of Christa Wolf's Nachdenken über Christa T. (1968), a novel that raises questions about the role of femininity in GDR socialist ideology.
New translation of Ingeborg Bachmann's 1971 novel about a writer living in Vienna, and her relationships with two different men.
GDR novel from 1974 by Irmtraud Morgner examining questions of gender and the future of socialism.
Verena Stefan's autobiographical classic from 1975 exploring a woman's search for identity against the background of the feminist movement.
Brigitte Schwaiger's bestselling novel from 1977 about a young woman experiencing the constraints of a conventional marriage.
Translation of Christa Wolf's 1983 novel examining patriarchy and social relations.
Award-winning novel from 1983 by Elfriede Jelinek about repressed female sexuality.
Translation of Herta Müller's 1989 novel about a Romanian woman who emigrates to Germany in the 1980s.
1998 novel by Turkish-German writer Emine Sevgi Özdamar about a young woman who emigrates to Berlin from Istanbul in the 1960s.
Jenny Erpenbeck's novella about the inner life of a mysterious young girl, Geschichte vom alten Kind (1999), together with translations of four stories by the same author.
Controversial novel published in 1999 about the dissolution of a marriage – and a house.
2012 novel by Jenny Erpenbeck presented in five "books" exploring the intersection of Jewish and female identity over the course of the twentieth century.
Werde, die Du bist! by 
Aus guter Familie by 
Der Rangierbahnhof by 
Fenitschka; Eine Ausschweifung: zwei Erzählungen by 
Halbtier! by 
Das Weiberdorf: Roman aus der Eifel by 
Ellen Olestjerne: eine Lebensgeschichte by 
Das Tränenhaus by 
Gilgi, eine von uns by 
Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm by 
Eine Zierde für den Verein: Roman vom Rauchen, Sporteln, Lieben und Verkaufen by 
Das kunstseidene Mädchen by 
Erzählungen, 1933-1947 by 
Die Riesenzwerge: ein Beitrag by 
Ein ungeratener Sohn by 
Ländliches Fest; Erzählungen by 
Nachdenken über Christa T. by 
Malina by 
Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer Spielfrau Laura: Roman in dreizehn Büchern und sieben Intermezzos by 
Häutungen: Autobiografische Aufzeichnungen, Gedichte, Träume, Analysen by 
Entmannung: Die Geschichte Ottos und seiner vier Frauen by 
Wie kommt das Salz ins Meer? by 
Meine ungehörigen Träume: Geschichten by 
Eine Schädigung by 
Kassandra: Erzählung by 
Die Klavierspielerin by 
Dieser Tage über Nacht by 
Reisende auf einem Bein by 
Mutterzunge: Erzählungen by 
Die Brücke vom goldenen Horn by 
Geschichte vom alten Kind by 
Regenroman by 
Kältere Schichten der Luft by 
Der Geschmack von Apfelkernen by 
Axolotl Roadkill by 
Aller Tage Abend by 
