Rahel Levin Varnhagen (1771 1833) occupied a unique place in German intellectual history. She is known for the salon she initiated in Berlin, which became a center for intellectuals and artists of various social classes especially for writers of the Romantic and the Young Germany schools. Based on research at the rediscovered Varnhagen Collection, Heidi Thomann Tewarson provides a new and comprehensive portrait of this remarkable woman. No longer primarily the sparkling salonniere, Varhagen is recognized as the author of a unique epistolary oeuvre.

Tewarson gives a rich account of...