author
Grete Meisel-Hess
1879–1922
A bold early feminist voice from Vienna and Berlin, she wrote fiction and essays that challenged the sexual and social limits placed on women. Her work sits at the crossroads of literature, social reform, and the intense debates of the early 1900s.
2 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Prague on April 18, 1879, and raised in Vienna, Grete Meisel-Hess became known as an Austrian Jewish writer, essayist, and feminist. She studied philosophy, sociology, and biology, and brought those interests into her writing, which often explored women's independence, sexuality, and the pressures of modern life.
She wrote novels, short stories, and essays, including the novel Fanny Roth, and became part of the wider conversation around social and sexual reform in the German-speaking world. After moving to Berlin in 1908, she continued publishing work that argued for women's rights and a freer, more self-determined life for women.
Meisel-Hess died in Berlin on April 18, 1922. Though she is less widely read today than some of her contemporaries, she remains an important figure in the history of feminist thought and Austrian modern literature.