How did feminist writers such as Karin Struck and Verena Stefan explore women’s identity in 1970s Germany?

In the 1970s, the feminist movement in Germany fostered a wave of innovative literature that challenged conventional norms. A central theme of this period was the encouragement for women to write through their bodies rather than relying on traditional rationality, making the distinctiveness of feminine sensibility a significant subject of debate.1

Writers like Karin Struck and Verena Stefan explored women’s identity by centering their personal experiences and physical realities:

• Karin Struck: In her novel Klassenliebe (1973; "Class Love"), she provided an exploration of female sexuality, contributing to the discourse on how women’s identities are shaped by both personal and social structures.1
• Verena Stefan: Her work Häutungen (1975; Shedding) became a classic of German feminism. It utilized a collection of notes and jottings to trace a young woman’s search for identity, moving away from traditional narrative forms to document a subjective, evolving sense of self.1

These works were instrumental in establishing a new literary space where women could articulate their own experiences, effectively shifting the focus toward the interiority and bodily autonomy of the female subject.1