Introduction
Sub-Topic 1
Sub-Topic 2

Courtship: Introduction

When Johann Christoph Gottsched met Luise Kulmus in 1729 he was the son of a poor pastor in rural Prussia who had become an unsalaried professor in Leipzig. His ...

The base for the Gottscheds' enterprise was Leipzig, where Johann Christoph Gottsched was professor of philosophy and, prior to their marriage, had already established himself as a leading figure in the introduction of rationalist thought in Germany. In 1735 Luise Kulmus married Gottsched with at least the implicit understanding that, until children arrived, she would contribute to this effort. As the couple remained childless, in the end her contributions to this effort proved enormous. Usually, while the difference in their talents has been observed, the nature of her own interests have been conflated with those of her husband and her particular influence on their project has received little attention. Some have even doubted her desire to undertake the work. To be sure, social conventions did not permit public airing of differences, but the vitality and spirit with which she initiated her own projects and participated in his would not have been possible without general agreement and even enthusiasm on her part. Attending more closely to her works will enable us to able to gage her particular influence on their mutual undertaking, and the evaluation of these will be aided by a general understanding of her rather unusual youth and education in Danzig, the city of her birth.