Aneignung und Abgrenzung

Abstract The Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele (1641–1657) by the Nuremberg author Georg Philipp Harsdörffer are characterised by both European and national images. This article aims to analyse the autostereotypes and heterostereotypes that appear in the three hundred dialogues. In addition, they are read in close relation to the linguistic purist endeavours pursued by the author. For Harsdörffer, French and Italian literature in particular represent the standards that should be achieved through a German conversational literature. This leads to an ambivalent argument. While on the one hand he argues in favour of emulating Romance literature, on the other hand he emphasises the prominent position of the German language, including a decidedly linguistic purism. At the same time, however, Harsdörffer connects his ideal concept with the idea of a peaceful, united Europe. The Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele are thus to be read in the context of an explicit pluralism in which national and European images remain deliberately ambivalent.