Fragile Families: Marriage and Domestic Life in the Age of Bourgeois Modernity (1750-1900)

Joachim Eibach

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2023

Fragile Families

Marriage and Domestic Life in the Age of Bourgeois Modernity (1750-1900)

Joachim Eibach
Translated by: Alissa Jones Nelson

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111081700

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the era of bourgeois modernity (1750–1900), the family is as valued as it is vulnerable. It constitutes a community of care, conflict, and emotion. Time and again, it is evoked as a bond of love as well as a moral institution. Yet both love and morality are fragile. A more detailed exploration reveals that domestic life during this period was much more colorful, open, and dynamic – and also more prone to crisis – than one might expect given the vaunted view of the family that characterized the heyday of the bourgeoisie.

This book rewrites the history of the modern family. Self-narratives – primarily diaries – written by members of eight families from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria serve as sources for this research. The focus extends far beyond the bourgeoisie. With a micro-historical eye, the author reconstructs family histories from the peasant milieu to the patrician elite, from the parsonage to the educated bourgeoisie; he considers the domestic life of a journeyman craftsman, a couple’s descent from the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie, the effects of an itinerant childhood among the proletariat, and the strain of being caught between a bourgeois family and artistic individuality. Many of these aspects point beyond bourgeois modernity to the family in our time.

Author / Editor information

Joachim Eibach, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Chapter 1 Fragile Families? Stylish Staging and Everyday Disorder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2 Research and Sources Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
Chapter 3 Love and a House of His Own: The Peasant Ulrich Bräker Seeks a Wife Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
Chapter 4 Pious Everyday Life in the Bailiwick and the Patrician Milieu: Henriette Stettler-Herport Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Chapter 5 Bourgeois Marriage and Open Domesticity: Ferdinand and Caroline Beneke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter 6 The Parsonage as Labyrinth: Ursula and Abraham Bruckner-Eglinger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
Chapter 7 A Traveling Journeyman’s Home: Friedrich Anton Püschmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Chapter 8 Marital Crisis and Social Decline Among the Petite Bourgeoisie: Barbara and Johann Baumgartner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Chapter 9 Growing Up Among the Proletariat: Friedrich Engels’ Report and Adelheid Popp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Chapter 10 From a Bourgeois Family to an Artists’ Marriage: Paula Becker and Otto Modersohn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Chapter 11 The Family: Decline or Resilience? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
List of Figures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Index of Persons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Scholars in the fields of early modern studies, social and cultural history, family history.
Pages
- Front matter: 9
- Main content: 293
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 7
- Coloured Illustrations: 16
- Tables: 1

eBook

Published: October 24, 2023
ISBN: 9783111081700

Hardcover

Published: October 24, 2023
ISBN: 9783111080888