The Female Soldier in Street Literature and Oral Culture in the German-speaking Lands between 1600 and 1950: A Marker of Changing Gender Relationships?

This article traces the relationship between gender ideology and the appearance of the female soldier motif in ballads, folktales and chapbooks across the period from 1600 to 1950. The author traces the development of increasingly problematic representations of the female soldier in these narrative genres and relates this to the historical backdrop of the period in question. The article looks at the provenance of tales, ballads and chapbooks containing the motif of the female soldier in order to determine the ways in which they relate to the discourse on gender in various regions throughout the period. It draws distinctions between how the motif is deployed in the ballads and tales, and in the chapbooks, revealing contrasts between peasant perceptions of gender relationships and the ideals that were projected on the population by state authorities. The article demonstrates the ways in which the female soldier, in her many forms, served a central function in both restating and challenging accepted notions on gender in the German-speaking lands.