The Rise and Fall of the Femme Fatale in British Literature, 1790–1910

Heather L. Braun

• Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781683937005
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: Literature

The Rise and Fall of the Femme Fatale in British Literature, 1790–1910explores the femme fatale's careerin nineteenth-century British literature. It traces her evolution—and devolution—formally, historically, and ideologically through a selection of plays, poems, novels, and personal correspondence. Considering well-known fatal women alongside more obscure ones, The Rise and Fall of the Femme Fatale sheds new light on emerging notions of gender, sexuality, and power throughout the long nineteenth century. By placing the fatal woman in a still-developing literary and cultural narrative, this study examines how the femme fatale adapts over time, reflecting popular tastes and socio-economic landscapes.

Table of contents

• Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Literary Form and the Nineteenth-Century Femme Fatale
• 1 Gothic Ballads and the Supernatural Femme Fatale
• 2 The Realist Novel and the Romanticized Femme Fatale
• 3 From Sensation Novel to Vampire Tale: The Erotic Femme Fatale
• 4 Decadence, Self-Awareness, and the Decline of the Femme Fatale
• Conclusion: Reprising the Femme Fatale
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author