Undines and Melusines in Contemporary German Women’s Literature (Bachman, Neuwirth, Fischmuth) Cover Image

Ondyny i meluzyny we współczesnej niemieckojęzycznej literaturze kobiet (Bachmann, Neuwirth, Frischmuth)
Undines and Melusines in Contemporary German Women’s Literature (Bachman, Neuwirth, Fischmuth)

Author(s): Nina Nowara-Matusik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Gender Studies, Studies of Literature, Recent History (1900 till today), Austrian Literature, Culture and social structure , Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: gender; feminism; nymph; undine; melusine; Austrian literature; Ingeborg Bachmann; Barbara Neuwirth; Barbara Frischmuth; 20th century; myth

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt at a gender reading of the motif of undine and melusine in three texts by contemporary Austrian writers: Ingeborg Bachmann („Undine Goes”), Barbara Neuwirth („Nimm diese Rosen, Schöne”) and Barbara Frischmuth („Otter”). In the introduction, the author describes the mythological and literary context in which this motif functions, and then places the analyses of the above mentioned works against this background. Another important issue is the question of the feminist progressiveness of the texts under examination: basing on the assumption that Bachmann’s work is characterised by (pre)feminist thinking, the author places in its context the texts by Neuwirth and Frischmuth, written several decades later.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 9-29
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish