Fouqué who bored and displeased me terribly by reading from one of her very bad novels" (30 January 1815) – followed by a second similarly dismissive statement. Schmidt continues by commenting: "After having read ten of her books I do have to agree with him; the best among them are the novels Roderich and the tale Der Delphin, although they do follow well-known models very closely; in addition, some pieces in her books, for example the poems in Frau des Falkenstein, were not written by her but by her husband." She wrote approximately twenty novels and sixty stories, as well as poems, theoretical tracts and cultural historical essays; there were also romances and comedies. She sought anonymity for some of her work by referring to herself as "author of the Roderich novels", or using the pseudonym "Serena". Drei Mährchen (1806), Feodora (1814), Frauenliebe (1818) and Die graue Maske (1829) are some of her works with Beytrag zur Geschichte der Zeit (1829/30) considered her most important. Her work has been criticized for abandoning her originality in favour of imitating Motte Fouque's style, hoping to share in his popularity. Her writings continued until 1829 with her last publication, Resignation. She died at Nennhausen in 1831, aged 57. Her letters and short essays were collected after her death under the title "The Writing Table, or Old Times and New" (Cologne, 1833). Selected works References External links Editionsprojekt Caroline de la Motte Fouqué - Werke und Schriften (German website of the project editing her collected writings) (under 'L', La Motte Fouqué) 1773 births 1831 deaths Writers from Brandenburg German women novelists German women poets German essayists German women essayists 19th-century German writers 19th-century German women writers