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.
Contents
Contents
Extract
Acknowledgements
A Note on Sources
Introduction: E. Marlitt Reconsidered
1 Liberalism in the Early Works of E. Marlitt
2 Developing Parameters: Schulmeisters Marie to Blaubart
3 Das Heideprinzeßchen: The Pedagogical Process
4 The Kulturkampf in the Domestic Realm: Die zweite Frau and Im Schillingshof
5 E. Marlitt, Feminine Representation, and Codified Closure
6 E. Marlitt’s Secondary Characters as Models and Mentors
Afterword: E. Marlitt’s Ideological Orientation
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