„My heart was sick and sore with longing”. On the subject of male longing for love in Friedrich Hebbel’s letters to his wife Christine


Abstract

Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863) left behind an extensive correspondence, which is still not researched in detail. There are letters to his wife Christina (22.02.1852-26.03.1852) which deal with male longing and exceptional kind of love. The descriptions of longing not only show an alternative and emotional masculinity, but also a gender relationship which contradicts the conventional social ideas of the 19th century.


Keywords

Friedrich Hebbel; letters; longing; masculinity


Published : 2022-12-30


Hindinger, B. (2022). „My heart was sick and sore with longing”. On the subject of male longing for love in Friedrich Hebbel’s letters to his wife Christine. Transfer. Reception Studies, 7, 169-188. https://doi.org/10.16926/trs.2022.07.02

Barbara Hindinger  barbara.hindinger@t-online.de
Munich  Germany