Femmes Fatales in European Romanticism

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Gerhart Hoffmeister (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence 1770-1886

Places

Europe (Location)

Resources

Recommended Reading

Throughout the literary history of the Western traditions the most enduring heroines either fit in the angelic mold of the innocent girl or its counterpart of the more spectacular devilish provenance, with the innocuous married woman relegated to the sidelines unless a catastrophe occurs (ancient example: Clytemnestra; for famous protagonists in nineteenth-century novels see Theodor Fontane, Effi Briest; Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina). The paradigmatic figures at the end of the extremes are Mary and Eve. Mary morphed into the madonna angelicata (angel-like Madonna) of the Italian school of poetry, of Dante’s Beatrice and the French troubadours, whereas Eve – incarnation of evil passion, temptation of man, and the …

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3430 words

Citation: Hoffmeister, Gerhart. "Femmes Fatales in European Romanticism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 January 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=14897, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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