Reviewed by:

• Elisa von der Recke. Aufklärerische Kontexte und lebensweltliche Perspektiven ed. by Vera Viehöver, Valérie Leyh, and Adelheid Müller
• Nicole Pohl (bio)

Enlightenment cosmopolitanism was a defining discourse of the eigh teenth century—a global event, comprehensible only in a global context connected through “contact zones” (Mary Louise Pratt), “zones of exchange,” and cultural transfer (Greenblatt, Espagne) in a process of complex mutual exchanges and influence. The lens of cultural transfer questions the usefulness of the concepts of “nation” and “country,” particularly in a period when nationalism and the nation state as a political entity had only slowly been emerging. It is also useful in geopolitical regions where borders of dukedoms, kingdoms, and states had been in constant flux, and where different cultures and ethnic groups had intermingled. This is particularly valid for the Baltic territories in the eighteenth century and the small Dukedom of Courland, home to the writer, diarist, and salonnière Elisa von der Recke. The history of the Enlightenment in the Baltic regions has only recently become a focus of scholarly interest. In this context, scholars have identified von der Recke’s important contribution to Baltic German literature and her political engagement for the survival of Courland, and the liberation of the serfs.

Elisa Charlotte von der Recke, the focus of this fascinating collection of essays, was born in 1754 in the Duchy of Courland. She spent some of her childhood with her grandmother, Starostin Constanze von Korff, in Mitau, the capital of Courland, a centre of polite society. Through her stepsister, Anna Charlotte Dorothea von Kurland, wife of Peter Biron, the Duke of Courland, von der Recke was also well connected to European aristocratic circles, and was indeed, as Anna Gajdis [End Page 308] explores in her essay in this volume, an important negotiator in Poland and Russia for the future fate of Courland. In another essay, Doris Schumacher uses the portraits of von der Recke as evidence that she tried to downplay her aristocratic background by fashioning herself as a classical, enlightened, and educated woman.

The political position and government of the small Dukedom of Courland, now in Latvia, had been chaotic since the collapse of the German Order State in 1560. The Treaty of Wilna in 1561 created the Dukedom Courland as a Polish fief, with Gotthard von Ketteler as the first Duke of Courland in 1562. When the last member of the Ketteler family passed away, Ernst Johann Biron (1690–1772) was elected Duke in 1737. After a difficult reign, he abdicated in 1769 in favour of his son, Peter Biron. With the gradual annexation of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Courland’s independence was compromised. Finally, on 16 March 1797, Russia seized control of Courland, and the dukedom ceased to exist. Though the region was ethnically diverse, the Baltic German nobility dominated, both culturally and socially.

In 1771, Elisa married Kammerherr Georg Peter Magnus von der Recke (1739–95), but they separated in 1776, and divorced in 1781. Her diaries, travel accounts, poetry, and epistolary exchanges with Europe’s most illustrious characters, such as Catherine the Great, Alexander I, King Stanislaus August, Rahel Varnhagen, Moses Mendelssohn, David Friedländer, Giacomo Casanova, and Friedrich Nicolai, reveal the cosmopolitical outlook and socio-cultural inter connectedness of von der Recke. The essays by Dorothee von Hellermann, Helmut Watzlawick, and the whole of section 5, “Networks and Sociability,” document these intricate networks.

The fifteen essays collected in Elisa von der Recke. Aufklärerische Kontexte und lebensweltliche Perspektiven continue these explorations but widen the scope to a transdisciplinary and transnational enquiry. As the editors highlight in their introduction, the essays are dedicated to a range of disciplines, including Jewish Studies, History, Theology, Art History, Music, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies, to underscore that von der Recke moved around a Europe that was culturally heterogeneous as well as socially and politically entangled through dynamic, dynastic networks and cultural transfer.

This important and valuable collection...

审核人：

• 伊丽莎·冯·德·雷克（Elisa von der Recke）。AufklärerischeKontexte和lebensweltliche Perspektiven编辑。由VeraViehöver，ValérieLeyh和AdelheidMüller撰写
• 妮可·波（Nicole Pohl）（生物）

启蒙世界主义是近代世纪的一个决定性话语，这是一个全球性事件，只有在通过“联系区”（玛丽·路易斯·普拉特），“交流区”和文化转移（格林布拉特，西班牙）联系起来的全球背景下才能理解。复杂的相互交流和影响的过程。文化转移的镜头质疑“民族”和“国家”概念的用处，特别是在民族主义和民族国家作为一个政治实体刚刚兴起的时代。它在公国，王国和州的边界不断变化，不同文化和种族混杂在一起的地缘政治地区也很有用。这对于18世纪的波罗的海地区和作家，对话家，和沙龙Elisa von der Recke。波罗的海地区的启蒙运动历史直到最近才成为学术关注的焦点。在这种情况下，学者们已经确定了冯·德·雷克（von der Recke）对波罗的海德国文学的重要贡献以及她对库兰德（Courland）的生存和农奴解放的政治参与。

艾丽莎·夏洛特·冯·德·雷克（Elisa Charlotte von der Recke）是这本引人入胜的论文集的重点，他于1754年出生在库兰公国。她与祖母Starostin Constanze von Korff一起度过了童年时光，她是礼貌社会的中心库尔兰（Courland）的首府米陶。通过她的继父安娜·夏洛特·多萝西娅·冯·库兰德（库尔兰公爵彼得·比隆的妻子），冯·德·雷克也与欧洲贵族圈子建立了良好的联系，而且正如安娜·加迪斯[书尾第308页]在她的论文中探索的那样卷，是波兰和俄罗斯对于库尔兰未来命运的重要谈判者。在另一篇文章中，多丽丝·舒马赫（Doris Schumacher）使用冯·德·雷克（von der Recke）的肖像作为证据，证明她试图通过将自己塑造成古典，开明和受过教育的女性来淡化自己的贵族背景。

自1560年德国命令国崩溃以来，小国库兰公国的政治地位和政府一直处于混乱状态。1561年威尔纳条约确立了波兰公国库尔兰公国，戈特哈德·冯·凯特勒（Gotthard von Ketteler）库尔兰在1562第一公爵当克特勒家族的最后一个成员去世，恩斯特约翰·比隆（1690至1772年）当选为杜克在1737年艰难的统治后，他于1769年把王位让给他的儿子，彼得·伯龙。18世纪末，随着俄罗斯，普鲁士和奥地利逐渐将波兰吞并，库兰德的独立性受到了损害。最终，在1797年3月16日，俄罗斯夺取了对库兰的控制，而公国则不复存在。尽管该地区种族多样，但波罗的海德国贵族在文化和社会上均占主导地位。

1771年，艾丽莎（Elisa）嫁给了Kammerherr Georg Peter Magnus von der Recke（1739–95），但他们于1776年分居，并于1781年离婚。伟大的亚历山大一世，斯坦尼斯劳斯国王奥古斯特，拉赫尔·瓦尔纳哈根，摩西·门德尔松，大卫·弗里德兰德，贾科莫·卡萨诺瓦和弗里德里希·尼古拉，都揭示了冯·德·雷克的世界政治观和社会文化相互联系。Dorothee von Hellermann，Helmut Watzlawick的论文以及第5节“网络和社交性”的整个部分记录了这些复杂的网络。

Elisa von der Recke收集的十五篇论文。AufklärerischeKontexte和lebensweltliche Perspektiven继续进行这些探索，但将范围扩大到跨学科和跨国研究。正如编辑在介绍中所强调的那样，这些论文专门研究了一系列学科，包括犹太研究，历史，神学，艺术史，音乐，性别研究和文化研究，以强调冯·德·雷克（von der Recke）曾在欧洲度过一段时光。通过动态的，王朝的网络和文化转移，文化上的异质性以及社会和政治上的纠缠。

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