Popular Fiction in the Age of Bismarck
E. Marlitt and her Narrative Strategies
Series:
Terry May
This study is the first in English to examine E. Marlitt’s complete fiction. It situates her prose against the backdrop of women’s discourse and nineteenth-century historical developments in the German Empire. It synthesizes findings of both American and German scholarship to show how her social constructs advanced a liberal political agenda while resisting the conventional view of «natural» gender roles. The book provides a context for recognizing Marlitt’s clever use of the conventionality and acceptability of the romance genre to reposition the image of middle-class women. Her emphasis on personal autonomy, educational opportunities and new fields of professional engagement for women advanced altered images of family, class and national identity. Ultimately, this study of a popular author illuminates domestic, middle-class issues that underwent significant transformations equal to the Empire’s public developments under Bismarck’s politics.
About the author(s)/editor(s)
Extract
Terrill John May completed his PhD at Cornell University and taught German and French for most of his career at St John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, where he also directed the college Foreign Study Program. His interest in E. Marlitt grew during a sojourn as a visiting guest professor at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität in Jena, Germany, near Marlitt’s hometown in Thuringia. His research interests include the ironic novel, German cinema and East German literature.
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