The fifth and final case is structured around the theme of literary collaboration in Romanticism. German Romanticism was known as the age of Sympoesie and Symphilosophie, that is, a form of thinking and writing that was collaborative, dialogic work among like-minded individuals, a form of writing and thinking that was innovative and could not contained.

Günderrode is no exception to this. Two sonnets about Adonis in the collection Melete were presumably not written by Günderrode herself, but by her lover Friedrich Creuzer. Günderrode was dependent on male mediators to secure the publication of her work, which always bore pseudonyms, which was common for female and for some male writers at this time. In Günderrode’s case, there were several men who assumed this function: initially it was Christian Nees von Esenbeck for Gedichte und Phantasien [Poems and Fantasies] and Poetische Fragmente [Poetic Fragments]. Christian Nees von Esenbeck also wrote a review of Poetic Fragments for the periodical, the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, and sent Günderrode detailed advice on the conception and structure of her drama about the prophet Muhammad.

On the left side of the case, you can see a letter by Nees von Esenbeck to Günderrode from 1804. The topic here is Günderrode’s Mahomed play, and Nees von Esenbeck addresses a dramaturgical problem: how can a prophet like Mahomed, who foresees all, possibly be the main character of a drama? In this, Nees von Esenbeck is rather sceptical about the conception of Günderrode’s Mahomed play, and how its plot may be dramatically ineffective.

It is characteristic of Günderrode’s literary ambition that she does not take on advice, as is the case here.

Despite the fact that Günderrode was dependent on the assistance and mediation provided by male acquaintances, she could also assert her position as a writer in her own right. Equally, she was well-connected, and her links to the literary circles in Frankfurt and Heidelberg were a matter of mutually beneficial exchange.

In late 1805, Clemens Brentano approaches Günderrode and asks for her help in looking for poems for second volume of the Des Knaben Wunderhorn [The Boy’s Magic Horn], a collection of German folk poems and songs. You can see this letter on the right side of the case, and in it, Brentano asks, on behalf of himself and his collaborator Achim von Arnim, whether Günderrode can send them some poems and songs for this collection.