The Value of a Diligent Housewife: Rereading Amalia Schoppe's Fairy Tales through a Socialist Feminist Lens

Abstract: Feminist scholars have often dismissed Amalia Schoppe (1791–1858) as perpetuating patriarchal gender roles and Biedermeier stereotypes in her written work. This article argues that Schoppe's writing is more political and subversive than previously acknowledged. An analysis of two of her fairy tales from 1828, "Fromm Gertrud" (Pious Gertrud) and "Die fleißige und mitleidige Hausfrau" (The kind and diligent housewife), shows that a rereading of Schoppe's work is necessary to evaluate her potential for feminist scholarship. Schoppe's housewife tales include details that subvert the traditionally accepted concept of housework and child-rearing, portraying it as domestic labor that needs to be acknowledged as such and should also be compensated. The tales reveal that Schoppe was either familiar with early-nineteenth-century socialist theories or came to similar conclusions motivated by her own experiences as a working woman who was for decades the sole breadwinner of her family.