scholarly journals Femme Fatale Frame and Gendered Social Collective Emotion

2015 ◽  
Vol null (31) ◽  
pp. 145-181
Author(s):  
Young-Hyun So
Keyword(s):  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Collective Emotion ◽  
Social Collective

The Rhetoric of Seduction; or Materiality under Erasure

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-208
Author(s):  
Marcus R. Pyle
Keyword(s):  
Femme Fatale

Operatic versions of the femme fatale, the preeminent figure of European modernist aesthetics, compel and allure because we witness her coming into material presence through the course of her opera. Through vocalizing, the femme fatale manifests her corporeality under imminent threats of erasure by coopting and manipulating the offstage world as represented by the orchestra. The Seguidilla seduction scene in George Bizet's Carmen and the “Dance of the Seven Veils” in Richard Strauss's Salome raise the question of how subjectivity and material presence, especially of the femme fatale character, are depicted sonically, dramaturgically, and metaphysically.

Erzählerische Unzuverlässigkeit in Frank Wedekinds Mine-Haha oder Über die körperliche Erziehung der jungen Mädchen

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-96
Author(s):  
Yvonne Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Frank Wedekind

Von Frank Wedekind (1864-1918),1 dem Skandalautor und enfant terrible der Literaturszene um 1900, sind heutzutage vor allem das immer noch gern an Schulen gelesene Drama Frühlings Erwachen und die Figur Lulu als prominenteste femme fatale der deutschen Literatur bekannt. Wedekinds Prosatexte fristen demgegenüber eher ein Nischendasein. Dabei ist jedoch Mine-Haha wahrscheinlich einer der merkwürdigsten Erzähltexte seiner Zeit, in dem sich zudem zentrale Diskurse der Jahrhundertwende auf interessante und provozierende Weise überkreuzen und amalgamieren.2 Der vollständige Titel der Erzählung in ihrer 1903 publizierten Gestalt lautet: Mine-Haha oder über die körperliche Erziehung der jungen Mädchen. Aus Helene Engels schriftlichem Nachlaß herausgegeben von Frank Wedekind.3 Als Wedekind den Text zu schreiben begann, war eine Publikation in dieser Form und mit diesem Titel allerdings nicht geplant. Er ist aus einem Projekt zu einem utopischen Roman hervorgegangen,4 dessen Anfänge wahrscheinlich bereits in der Zeit um 1889/1890 liegen, wobei Wedekind damals noch an den Titel Hidalla oder Das Leben einer Schneiderin dachte. Aus dieser Frühphase ist das zu Lebzeiten Wedekinds unpubliziert gebliebene Exposé Eden erhalten,5 in dem sich Hinweise darauf finden, wie die Erziehungseinrichtungen und der rituell-religiöse Hintergrund des Romans, wenn er fertig gestellt worden wäre, vielleicht ausgesehen hätten.6 Die Erzählung in ihrer 1903 bzw. 1912 vorliegenden letzten Fassung wurde zum größten Teil 1895 verfasst. Der Roman selbst blieb unvollendet. Der Gedanke eines Roman-Projekts beschäftigte Wedekind jedoch auch noch späterhin. So finden sich umfangreiche Notizen aus den Jahren 1906/7, die auf eine zeitweilige Wiederaufnahme unter dem Titel Die große Liebe schließen lassen.7

Sherry C. M. Lindquist and Asa Simon Mittman. With a Preface by China Miéville, Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders. New York: The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018, 175 pp., more than 90 colored ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 284-284
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Narrow Sense ◽  
The World ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
Morgan Library ◽  
Illustrated Book

This wonderfully illustrated book accompanied an exhibition that took place at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, from June 8 to September 23, 2018, authored by two well established and respected art historian*s, who provide us with a sweeping view of the world of monsters and many other related creatures in medieval fantasy. While previous research mostly focused on monsters in the narrow sense of the word, i.e., grotesque and oversized human-like creatures normally threatening ordinary people in their existence, Lindquist and Mittman pursue a much broader perspective and incorporate also many other features in human imagination, including wonders, aliens, Jews, Muslims, strangers in general, the femme fatale, sirens, undines, mermaids (but there is no reference to the Melusine figure, though she would fit much better into the general framework), devils, and evil spirits. However, I do not understand why ‘gargoyles’ have been left out here. This vast approach allows them also to address the beasts from the Physiologus tradition, then natural wonders, giants, and then, quite surprisingly, religious scenes in psalters (148), depictions of nobles playing chess (150; where are the wild men alleged surrounding the players?), the whore of Babylon (153), figures from the Apocalypse, and anything else that smacks of wonder.

Becoming the Demon Woman

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Faxneld
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Silent Film ◽  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Individual Level

Chapter9 analyses individuals who, both on and off the stage, actively assumed the role of the demon woman. Three persons are considered in detail: Sarah Bernhardt, the Italian marchioness Luisa Casati, and silent film actress Theda Bara. They chose—or, in Bara’s case, were chosen—to embody the (more or less supernatural or occult) femme fatale, as constructed mostly by male authors and artists. Seemingly, they felt this was empowering or useful for commercial, subversive, or other purposes. The analysis attempts to tease out some of the implications this enactment of a disquieting stereotype had on an individual level as well as in a broader cultural context. This also applies to the unknown women who wore jewellery depicting devils, demons, or Eve—a rebellious token clearly drawing on motifs familiar from Satanic feminism.

Queering Delilah with Critical Theory and Gendered Bible Hermeneutics

2020 ◽  
pp. 493-507
Author(s):  
Caroline Blyth
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Reading Habits ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
Queer Spaces ◽  
Holy Man

Close your eyes and think of Delilah. Whom do you see? What does she look like? More often than not, this biblical character is visualized in both interpretive traditions and cultural retellings of Judges 16 as a femme fatale par excellence—a fatal woman whose exotic feminine allure and lethal sexuality ultimately destroyed Samson, that most heroic Hebrew holy man. In this chapter, I use gender-queer theory to interrogate the very “straight” ways in which these retellings make sense of the multiple ambiguities surrounding Delilah’s character within the biblical narrative. I take an intersectional approach, interpreting Delilah’s sexuality, gender, and ethnicity through a queer lens to conjuring up a myriad of alternative performances that her persona may inhabit. By so doing, I invite readers into delightfully queer spaces in the text that challenge essentialist reading habits and bring to light critical theoretical insights about Delilah’s interpretive and cultural afterlives.

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