Meysenburg, Malwida von (1816–1903)
Meysenburg, Malwida von (1816–1903)
German salonnière and writer. Name variations: Malvida von Meysenburg. Born in 1816; died in 1903.
A socialist and a supporter of the 1848 Revolution, writer Malwida von Meysenburg was forced to leave Berlin in 1852. Thereafter, she lived variously in England, Paris, and Rome, conducting salons that attracted such luminaries as the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807–1882), and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900). During her later years in Rome, she greatly influenced French novelist Romain Rolland (1866–1944), with whom she shared stories about her famous circle of friends. Meysenburg's writings are mostly autobiographical and include Eine Reise nach Ostende (A Journey to Ostend, 1849), and Memoiren einer Idealistin (1876), which was published in English as Rebel in Bombazine: Memoirs of Malvida von Meysenburg (1936).