Yella Hertzka (1873–1948)

Auto/biography and Personal Relationships

Abstract

This article addresses human interaction as a central site of life and biography, and traces the impact of personal relationships on historical and archival records. Corinna Oesch examines the interconnection of personal, political and business life in the correspondence of feminist and pacifist Yella Hertzka, preserved by Viennese music publisher Universal Edition. The author takes Liz Stanley’s method/theorization of auto/biography as a point of departure, reflects on her own involvement with Hertzka’s biography, and discusses the theoretical implications of the research of personal relationships. Looking at the letters exchanged between Hertzka and two of her friends, feminist schoolfounder Salka Goldmann and feminist writer and politician Käthe Schirmacher, Oesch traces the possibilities and limitations of the auto/biographical research of personal relationships.