“Delusive beauty”: femmes fatales in English Romanticism

1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-3-89971-520-0
Verlag: V&R unipress

Buch, Deutsch, Englisch, 224 Seiten, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 610 g

The femme fatale as a nineteenth-century motif has been well-researched and a whole body of critical literature attests to her haunting fascination for literary critics. This study interrogates literary definitions of the femme fatale and challenges the notion that the femme fatale is a “post-Romantic”, late nineteenth-century type. Whilst arguing for a more precise discrimination, it considers the earlier emergence of the motif in English Romanticism and focuses on a period where femmes fatales do not appear with marked frequency, but where cultural history emphasises their quality. Tracing such contemporary contextualisations, this study argues for the existence of a multiplicity of different types of fatal women even in Romanticism and for their continuous line of development through to the pervasive motif of the femme fatale in decadent writing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Rummel, Andrea

Weitere Mitwirkende

Becker, Thomas

Baumann, Uwe

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft

Leseproben

The femme fatale as a nineteenth-century motif has been well-researched and a whole body of critical literature attests to her haunting fascination for literary critics. This study interrogates literary definitions of the femme fatale and challenges the notion that the femme fatale is a “post-Romantic”, late nineteenth-century type. Whilst arguing for a more precise discrimination, it considers the earlier emergence of the motif in English Romanticism and focuses on a period where femmes fatales do not appear with marked frequency, but where cultural history emphasises their quality. Tracing such contemporary contextualisations, this study argues for the existence of a multiplicity of different types of fatal women even in Romanticism and for their continuous line of development through to the pervasive motif of the femme fatale in decadent writing.>

Über Autor(innen)

Rummel, Andrea
Andrea Rummel teaches English Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Gießen, Germany. She studied English and International Law at the universities of Bonn, Germany, and Oviedo, Spain. Femmes fatales in English Romanticism is her doctoral thesis.

Becker, Thomas
Dr. Thomas Becker ist Leiter des Archivs der Universität Bonn und Lehrbeauftragter am Institut für Geschichtswissenschaft, Abteilung für rheinische Landesgeschichte.

Baumann, Uwe
Prof. Dr. Uwe Baumann lehrt Anglistik: Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft an der Universität Bonn.