Ursula Püschel (1 June 1930 – 10 August 2018) was a German literary critic, journalist and writer.[1] One focus of her activities was the work of the writer Bettina von Arnim, a representative of the Vormärz-Literatur.
Born in, after Abitur in 1948, Püschel studied history and German studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin. She completed her studies in 1952 with the Staatsexamen. She then worked at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin in the Bettina von Arnim Archive until 1955. In 1965, she was awarded her doctorate with the Dissertation Bettina von Arnims politische Schriften[2] presented at the Humboldt University.
In the following years she worked - in addition to her scientific work - for the press, radio, theatre, television and film. Since 1985, Püschel has worked as a freelance literary critic and essayist. She was particularly interested in literary criticism of publications by and about women.
The Bettina von Arnim Archive, now in the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, came to the Akademie der Künste Berlin when manuscripts by Achim and Bettina were found in Arnim's mansion Schloss Wiepersdorf after the end of the war, which had not been sold at the auction of Arnim's estate in 1929. Among the papers, Püschel discovered handwritten drafts by Bettina von Arnim for the Poland brochure ("To the dissolved Prussian National Assembly"), which appeared anonymously in January 1849, in which she demanded a Poland free of Prussian property claims. Her authorship was denied in 1906 by the literary scholar, who knew the estate.[3] Püschel published this brochure in 1954 for the first time since 1849 and for the first time with the name Bettina von Arnims as author.
Apart from a number of essays and books, Püschel's most important work was the publication of the writer's correspondence with King Frederick William IV of Prussia, which - as an important part of her work - except for a small part - had not been published until then and was still largely unknown. In 2004, the essay volume Bettina von Arnim - politisch was published.
Püschel died in Bernau bei Berlin at the age of 88.[4]