Elizabeth and Her German Garden
The 1898 comic journal of a garden and a marriage, published anonymously. Its author became famous as 'Elizabeth', later known as Elizabeth von Arnim.
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- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- 1889
- Form
- Novels
- Authorship
- Revealed: Elizabeth von Arnim
- Attribution source
- Wikidata P50 (Q5363788); Wikipedia note
- How it came out
- later books credited 'the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden'; the identification became public in the author's lifetime
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
Elizabeth and Her German Garden appeared anonymously in 1898 and ran through printing after printing, a wry first person account of an Englishwoman making a garden on a Pomeranian estate while managing a husband she calls the Man of Wrath. The author withheld her name and her later books were credited to 'the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden', turning the anonymity itself into a brand. The writer, Mary Annette Beauchamp, Countess von Arnim, became publicly identified in her lifetime and is now known to literature as Elizabeth von Arnim. The case shows anonymity evolving into a pen name in real time.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Elizabeth and Her German Garden?
Elizabeth and Her German Garden was published anonymously and is documented as the work of Elizabeth von Arnim. (later books credited 'the author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden'; the identification became public in the author's lifetime). Source: Wikidata P50 (Q5363788); Wikipedia note.
Can I read Elizabeth and Her German Garden for free?
Yes. Elizabeth and Her German Garden is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at Project Gutenberg.
When was Elizabeth and Her German Garden published?
Elizabeth and Her German Garden was published in 1889 without an author’s name.
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