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Recasting Historical Women: Female Identity in German Biographical Fiction

Hardback

Main Details

Title Recasting Historical Women: Female Identity in German Biographical Fiction
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Dr Stephanie Bird
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:224
Dimensions(mm): Height 234,Width 156
Category/GenreLiterary studies - from c 1900 -
Literary studies - fiction, novelists and prose writers
ISBN/Barcode 9781859739624
ClassificationsDewey:833.0099287
Audience
General
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations bibliography, index

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Berg Publishers
Publication Date 1 April 1998
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This book presents critical readings of eight contemporary German novels which feature historically documented women as their main protagonist, and which reconstruct women's lives by combining source material and invention. Protagonists include Cornelia Goethe, Caroline Schlegel-Schelling, Karoline von Guenderrode and Charlotte Corday. Through a thorough examination of these novels, the wider complexities of female identity, feminism, literary technique and historiography are illuminated and discussed. The author examines how historical events are used to substantiate ideological positions and how the narrators consider this problematic aspect of their project.

Author Biography

Stephanie Bird University College London

Reviews

'(a) fruitful and complex examination of specific women... [...](Bird) offers intriguing presentations of the contexts in which these historical women functioned - versus contemporary historical settings - and gives attention to gender issues and to the functions of famous figures like Goethe in each relevant text. Extended quotations in German, good scholarly apparatus, an extensive bibliography, and copious references to lesser-known texts make this an excellent volume for upper-level undergraduates through faculty and interested specialists.' Choice 'The merit of Bird's approach is that, while ever alert to their weaknesses and limitations, she engages with the texts on their own terms, allowing for differences between them and refraining from pressing them into the service of an overarching theoretical construct.' Modern Language Review