Among German women writers of the eighteenth century, Friederike Helene Unger occupies both a privileged and an enigmatic position. Of aristocratic descent, unusually well educated, married to the Berlin printer and publisher Johann Friedrich Unger, and childless, she had the preparation, time, and access to the world of letters that many of her female contemporaries could only dream of. Yet being neither daughter, wife, lover, nor muse of any of the literary "giants," she never even carved out a space in their biographies. Her many works appeared anonymously and have often been attributed to other authors. Except for an occasional mention in nineteenth-century dictionaries and in histories of printing, no information is available about this writer who was a best-selling author in her life-time, known for her sharp and witty pen and her satirical depictions of courtly and bourgeois mores.

Friederike Helene von Rothenburg was probably born in...