„O Kinder, möchtet Ihr dergleichen nie erfahren“. Weibliches Erfahrungswissen und Schreibgewohnheit in der Autobiographie Margarethe Elisabeth Milows (1748–1794)

The autobiography of Margarethe Elisabeth Milow, a merchant’s daughter from Hamburg,
is not only a precious source for the living conditions of protestant middle-class
women in the 18th century, but it also illustrates that writing was practised as one habit
among many others. The paper shows that the formally heterogeneous text owes its
existence to strict routines, which Milow carried out conscientiously until her death.
As she addresses her report to her children, it can also be read as an educational text:
Fulfilling the demand of the admired theologian Julius Gustav Alberti for a progressive
religious education centred on the life of the individual, Milow places herself as
a narrator matured by female experience who finds instructive exempla in her own
life story. Finally, the paper reveals a tension in Milow’s writing: On the one hand, she
writes (family) history out of a strong sense of duty, on the other hand, she writes for
the pleasure of exploring her talent to tell effectively constructed stories.