After her divorce, Caroline Auguste Christiani began to write. In her work, which was probably also influenced by her own life, she depicted the tension between the genders, juxtaposing traditional female role models with new, alternative ways for women to live their lives, which mostly completely contradicted the idealistic view of the woman in the early 19th century. In line with her call for equality, which only existed for men in the
French Revolution, she called for
women's right to an independent way of life, which could also absolutely still be traditional marriage.
Gustav's Aberrations Her debut novel ''Gustav's Aberrations'' was published anonymously. She narrated the story from the perspective of the male protagonist, detailing his feelings towards different women in his life. He repeatedly idealises them and is then repulsed when he discovers a real, independent person instead of his ideal. Gustav ashamedly recognises the societal gap between the genders. Chastened and suffering from a sexually transmitted disease he returns to his first true love. However, he then wants to get divorced because the ideal of their marriage cannot be fulfilled: they do not have any children and, as a consequence, he believes he will make his wife unhappy. Like the previous wives, the wife and her wishes are not part of his imagination. The book ends with Gustav's premature death and his widow's second marriage, which produces many children.
Honeymonths Her
epistolary novel The Honeymonths, which was written not long after her divorce, is a response to Wilhelmine Karoline von Wobeser's publication
Elisa, or the wife as she should be, which was a bestseller at its time, and in which von Wobeser creates the ideal image of the selfless woman. In 1800, Caroline Auguste's partner Fischer had written an appendix for the fifth edition in which he outlined man's right to supremacy and demanded subservience from women. Caroline Auguste Christiani's
The Honeymonths was released anonymously. The female protagonist, the virtuous and gentle Julie, is, like in
Elisa, trapped in an unhappy marriage of convenience and actually willingly sacrifices herself for her selfish husband, who is described as unlikeable, instead of choosing to love another man. In contrast, her friend Wilhelmine repudiates the contemporary image of women, refuses an
arranged marriage and instead demands a
temporary marriage and women's right to keep their children after a divorce. She urges Julie to take a stand and warns her not to become like Elisa. Julie ends up remaining a widow, whereas Wilhelmine finds her love.
Protégé In
The Protégé, Fischer addresses the question of how women deal with power and how men deal with powerful women. The protagonist, the ruler Iwanova, resembles
Catherine the Great. She is pitted against young Maria, the embodiment of the ideal woman in
Rousseau's sense. Both women are connected to Prince Alexander from whose perspective the story unfolds. The prince rejects the ruler's love for two reasons: at first, he deems his career more important and later on he recognises the selfless love of Maria. Iwanova allows their marriage, but she murders the couple during their wedding night. Nevertheless, Iwanova is depicted positively, while Alexander is the one who does not get along with a strong woman.
Margaret In the novel
Margaret, two women opt against marriage. Rosamunde, who is a dancer, would prefer to dedicate her time for art and Margaret decides against the love of a prince and the
upward mobility that would have come with the relationship. Instead, she dedicates herself to social work.
William In her short story
William the Negro, published in 1817, the protagonist is a black man. William, a freed
slave living under the protection of Sir Robert, a rich Englishman, falls in love with Molly who is the daughter of an impoverished businessman. However, their love story fails, which has less to do with the prejudices from Molly's relatives than with Robert who actually wants to serve his friend as messenger of love but himself falls in love with Molly. William leaves Molly and becomes one of the leaders of the
Haitian Revolution, turning the French colony
Saint-Domingue into
Haiti, the first state governed by black people. Although Fischer does not completely discard contemporary racism, she does clearly speak out against
slavery and argues in favour of human rights for all people.
Other Caroline Fischer published a few narratives in magazines between 1816 and 1820, but then stopped. Carl Wilhelm Otto August von Schindel wrote in his 1825 book
German Female Writers of the 19th Century: "Rather than those of other people, she has been gathering her own thoughts about women for eighteen years now in order to put them together in a book. Considering her circumstances she has not been able to determine when and if the book will be released." It was never published. ==Publications==