Ida Boy-Ed (17 April 1852 – 13 May 1928) was a German writer. A supporter of women's issues, she wrote widely-read books and newspaper articles.
Early years Ida Cornelia Ernestina Ed was born in Bergedorf in 1852 to a supportive family who encouraged her to write. Her father had started his own newspaper business. Her creation of short novels and other literary works was deterred when she married Carl Johann Boy at the age of seventeen.
Career
Over her husband's objections in 1878, she moved out of the house she shared with his family. She took her eldest son, Karl, with her to Berlin where she intended to make her living by writing. Despite already being a published author of serialised novels and having experience in newspaper writing, she did not find success with the pieces she wrote at this time. She did, however, use her money to assist other artists. In 1880, she was obliged to move back to Lübeck at her husband's insistence as their divorce was not finalized.Ida Boy-Ed, Sophie.byu.ed, retrieved 11 March 2014
Boy-Ed spent much of her spare time writing while raising her children, but did not become successful until the age of 30. A book of her novellas about the Hanseatic middle classes was the first of about 70 that she published. Boy-Ed studied and wrote about leading German women like Charlotte von Stein, Charlotte von Kalb and the French writer Germaine de Staël. Like them, she tried to support women's issues in her writings although her principal reason for writing was to make money. She achieved a wide readership for her books, as well as the hundreds of newspaper articles that she wrote. Boy-Ed invested in an impressive apartment and was a patron of the arts.
In September 1914, at the outset of the First World War, Boy-Ed's son Walther was killed in France. Undeterred, Boy-Ed wrote of the need for a mother's sacrifice. She published her ideas in 1915 under the title Soldiers' Mothers in which she makes it clear, "A mother is only dust on the road to victory". Boy-Ed's son, Karl, was the naval attaché of the German Embassy at Washington. His younger brother Emil was also a naval officer. Karl recalled that Thomas Mann was amongst the many literary and musical people who visited his mother's home. Boy-Ed died in 1928 in Travemünde and was buried in Lübeck.
Selected works
Ein Tropfen, 1882 Die Unversuchten, 1886 Dornenkronen, 1886 Ich, 1888 Fanny Förster, 1889 Nicht im Geleise, 1890 Ein Kind, 1892 Empor!, 1892 Sturm, 1894 Werde zum Weib, 1894 Die säende Hand, 1902 Das ABC des Lebens, 1903 Die Ketten, 1904 Heimkehrfieber. Roman aus dem Marineoffiziersleben, 1904 Der Festungsgarten, 1905 Ein Echo, 1908 Ein königlicher Kaufmann, Hanseatischer Roman, 1910 Nichts über mich!, 1910 Hardy von Arnbergs Leidensgang, 1911. Charlotte von Kalb. Eine psychologische Studie, 1912 Ein Augenblick im Paradies, 1912 Eine Frau wie Du! 1913 Stille Helden, 1914 Vor der Ehe, 1915 Die Glücklichen 1916 (?) Das Martyrium der Charlotte von Stein. Versuch ihrer Rechtfertigung, 1916 Die Opferschale, 1916 Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt..., 1916 Erschlossene Pforten, 1917 Aus Tantalus Geschlecht, 1920 Glanz, 1920 Um ein Weib, 1920 Germaine von Stael. Ein Buch anläßlich ihrer..., 1921 Brosamen, 1922 Fast ein Adler, 1922 Annas Ehe, 1923 Das Eine, 1924 Die Flucht, ca. 1925 Aus alten und neuen Tagen, 1926 Gestern und morgen, 1926
References
Bibliography
Dreyer, Elsa: Unvergessene Frauen (…) Ida Boy-Ed in Lichtwark Nr. 9, August 1949, Hrsg.: Lichtwark-Ausschuß, Bergedorf. Siehe jetzt: Verlag HB-Werbung, Hamburg-Bergedorf. Mann, Thomas: Briefe an Otto Grautoff (1894–1901) und Ida Boy-Ed (1903–1928), Hrsg.: Peter de Mendelssohn, Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1975 Saxe, Cornelia: Ida Boy-Ed. In: Britta Jürgs (Hg.): Denn da ist nichts mehr, wie es die Natur gewollt. Portraits von Künstlerinnen und Schriftstellerinnen um 1900. AvivA Verlag, Berlin, 2001, ; S.193-215 Wagner-Zereini, Gabriele: Die Frau am Fenster. Zur Entwicklung einer weiblichen Schreibweise am Beispiel der Lübecker Schriftstellerin Ida Boy-Ed (1852–1928). Dissertation Univ. Frankfurt/M. 1999
External links