The Life of High Countess Gritta von Ratsinourhouse: (Das Leben Der Hochgrafin Gritta Von Rattenzuhausbeiuns (European Women Writers) - Softcover

Von Arnim, Bettine; Von Arnim Grimm, Gisela

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803296207 ISBN 13: 9780803296206

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1999

Synopsis

Appearing for the first time in English, this delightful story of the adventures of twelve young girls will appeal to readers of all ages. Gritta, neglected by her father, is uprooted when her new stepmother insists she enter a convent school. Strictly supervised by the nun Sequestra, Gritta slips into melancholy. A mishandled bird, however, awakens Gritta to the realization that she and her friends must flee their walled-in life. Following her heart and employing her wits, Gritta leads the escape. The runaway girls are eventually shipwrecked near the principality of Sumbona. They establish a Robinson Crusoe–like existence and later found their own cloister.

 

Their community is sustained by the industry and talents of each of the girls. Mayeli paints, Harmony composes, and Wildberry, an herbalist, learns nature’s secrets and gains access to supernatural powers that will guarantee the future of the community. Gritta chooses to marry Prince Bonus of Sumbona, but when she sees the twelve cells in the cloister, she realizes with a pang of longing that she will never occupy the one meant for her.

 

This enchanting tale, coauthored in the early 1840s by Gisela von Arnim Grimm and her mother, Bettine von Arnim, lay undiscovered in an archive for nearly a century. Through humor and delicate satire, the authors criticize the place of women and children in nineteenth-century German society.

About this title

About the Author

Lisa Ohm is an assistant professor of German at the College of St. Benedict and Saint John's University in St. Joseph, Minnesota.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803296207
• ISBN 13: 9780803296206
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 154