Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662-1728): The Literary Works and a Selection from her Correspondences. An Annotated and Contextualized Hybrid Edition

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stephan Kraft; Professorin Dr. Isabelle Stauffer; Professor Dr. Thomas Stäcker
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556080241

The aim of the project is to produce an annotated edition of the literary works of the gallant poet Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662-1728), together with a selection from her correspondence, and to publish it in hybrid book form and as an open access PDF. In addition, the transcribed letters will be delivered to the DFG-funded project “PDB18” where they will be made searchable together with the other texts in the systems of the ULB Darmstadt, and simultaneously presented with the commentaries and introductory texts and, where possible, the digital copies. During her lifetime, Aurora von Königsmarck was regarded as a paragon of gallant behavior and poetry and was active in all major genres and several languages. There are also numerous gallant letters written by and to her. To this day, this multifaceted oeuvre is hardly recognizable due to its highly disparate presence. None of the older printed collections contains more than about a quarter of the material scattered in contemporary manuscripts and prints – and even this in a rather random compilation and by no means in a representative selection. Since gallant texts are to a large extent written in communicative contexts, the edition is not primarily organized according to genre, but rather follows the author’s working phases and the spatial and temporal focus of her life in a series of larger blocks. For this reason, the texts or groups of texts will also be accompanied by classifications in the continuous text in addition to the selective commentaries on individual passages, so that the project as a whole comprises both editorial and content-related elements. The publication is scheduled for February 16, 2028, the 300th anniversary of Aurora von Königsmarck’s death.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants