The Wasting Heroine in German Fiction by Women 1770-1914

Inbunden, Engelska, 2004

Av Anna Richards, University of London) Richards, Anna (, Lecturer in German at Birkbeck College

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In this broad-ranging study of German fiction by women 1770-1914, Anna Richards adds a new dimension to existing debates on the association of women and illness in literature. Drawing on a number of primary medical sources, she constructs a history of women's self-starvation, eating behaviour, and wasting diseases in particular, and examines the portrayal of the 'wasting heroine' in works by female and selected male authors in this context. It becomes clear that though the wasting heroine sometimes reinforces popular notions of female fragility, in certain works she represents a rejection of a traditionally female role or allows her author to make a socially critical point about women's status in society. As well as shedding light on many unduly neglected women writers, Richards offers a valuable insight into the literary and historical origins of a modern phenomenon.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2004-01-15
Mått145 x 224 x 17 mm
Vikt402 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieOxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs
Antal sidor236
FörlagOUP OXFORD
ISBN9780199267545

Tillhör följande kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skonlitteratur
Genusvetenskap inom Samhalle och politik
Sociala och etiska frågor inom Samhalle och politik
Europas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Litteraturvetenskap inom Skonlitteratur

Introduction ; 1. 'On peut le comparer [...] a une sorte de maladie': Women and Medicine ; 2. 'Die zarte Pflanze welkte hin': Wasting Women in German Fiction by Men ; 3. 'Ich sterbe, weil ich dich liebte': Conventional Wasting in Fiction by Women ; 4. 'Man stirbt wirklich nicht aus Liebesgram, obschon Ihr Manner dieses gerne glauben mochtet': Alternative Wasting Heroines ; 5. 'Die bleichen, vom Nichtsthun, von Sehnsucht und Enttauschung verzehrten Madchen': Repression and Apathy in Gabriele Reuter ; 6. 'Freiheit will ich! korperlose, schrankenlose!': Helene Bohlau, Hedwig Dohm, and the Emancipatory Value of Illness, Food Refusal, and Vegetarianism ; Conclusion ; Bibliography

The study is impressive in its breadth and depth. Richard elucidates a topic of concern to women today, as the gendered aetiology of depression, for example, indicates.... It systematically traces the trope of illness and health over a century and digests the existing secondary literature in elegant prose. Wasting Heroine contributes much needed literary and historical research on the gendered nature of health.