ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the traditional methodologies of comparative literature can usefully be applied to the study of German women writers. It focuses on the comparative literature, following critics such as Susan Bassnett, to take into account the various interrelated areas of intercultural transfer such as translation studies and reception studies. The chapter proposes that comparative research could open up new perspectives on the work of early German women writers and may help to rescue these writers from the margins of one's discipline. The history of women in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be viewed in a European framework. The debates on the 'woman question' were Europe-wide, and there are many parallels between the situation of women across the continent with respect to domestic life, education, work, politics, and their participation in the public sphere. The WomenWriters database seeks to provide a map of the international reception of women's writing.
