Writing Scenes in the Correspondence of Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg and Sigmund von Birken

Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg (1633–94) maintained a correspondence with the prominent Nuremberg literary figure Sigmund von Birken (1626–81) from 1662 until Birken's death. During this time, with Birken's assistance, she published her first anthology of devotional poems and four of her five planned volumes of meditations on the life of Christ. Despite the correspondence's rich contents and an illuminating annotated edition of the letters, this material has received little attention. I argue that a close reading of the letters, particularly the writing scenes inscribed in them, offers a more well-rounded understanding of Greiffenberg, as the writing scenes reveal Greiffenberg sharpening her distinctive style and pushing through barriers to her writing. The letters, I argue, generate an energetic creativity of their own that deserves the same amount of scholarly attention as her published works.