1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812126203321

Autore

Arons Wendy <1964->

Titolo

Performance and femininity in eighteenth-century German women's writing : the impossible act / / Wendy Arons

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

ISBN

1-281-36074-0

9786611360740

0-230-60073-5

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (281 p.)

Collana

Palgrave studies in theatre and performance history

Disciplina

830.9/928709033

Soggetti

Women authors, German - 18th century

German literature - Women authors - History and criticism

German literature - 18th century - History and criticism

Performance in literature

Femininity in literature

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [239]-261) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1 "Sophie" and the "Theater"; 2 Performance as Power: The History of Lady von Sternheim; 3 The Performance of a Lifetime: Karoline Schulze-Kummerfeld; 4 Antitheatricality and the Public Woman: Marianne Ehrmann's Amalie: A True Story in Letters; 5 The Eye of the Beholder: Elise Bürger's "Aglaja" and F. H. Unger's Melanie, the Foundling; 6 Play's the Thing: Sophie Mereau's "Marie" and "Flight to the City"; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Sommario/riassunto

In this book, Wendy Arons examines how women writers used theater and performance to investigate the problem of female subjectivity and to intervene in the dominant discourse about ideal femininity. Arons shows how contemporary demands for sincerity and authenticity placed a peculiar burden on women in the public sphere, especially on actresses, who - like professional writers - overstepped the boundaries of what was considered proper behavior for women.  Paradoxically, in their representations of ideal women engaged in performance, these writers expose ideal femininity as an impossible act, even as they



attempt to perform it in their writing and in their lives.