SOURCE: Tewarson, Heidi Thomann. “1833 Rahel Varnhagen, Salonnière and Epistolary Writer, Publishes Rahel: Ein Buch des Andenkens für ihre Freunde, a Collection of Letters and Diary Entries.” In Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German Culture, 1096-1996, edited by Sander L. Gilman and Jack Zipes, pp. 136-42. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.

In the following essay, Tewarson introduces the epistolary tradition in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Germany, tracing its private and public manifestations and noting its contended status as literature. Tewarson uses this background to examine the style of Rahel's writings and to note her influence on the genre.

The unusual work, bearing only the author's first name in the title, was both a modest and daring endeavor. It left open the question of authorship while at the same time alluding to the biblical Rachel. Clearly intended to memorialize Rahel and edify...