Fenitschka. Eine Ausschweisung. Zwei Erzählungen. (Fenitschka. A Debauchery: Two Tales).

ANDREAS-SALOME, Lou.

Verlag: J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart, 1898

Beschreibung

The first of these two stories takes place in Paris and St. Petersburg and is based on experiences from Lou's life. A psychologist, Max Werner, meets a Russian young woman, Fenitschka, in Paris. She is a free spirit who acts unconventionally, distaining class distinctions and commonly accepted social norms. In addition, she is a student in Zurich where, against all standards of propriety, she lives alone. Max is torn in his feelings for her. On one hand, he abhors women who study and think they are intellectually equal to men. He finds such emancipated women unattractive and uninteresting. Still… he must admit that her strength, serenity and natural warmth make Fenitschka very appealing to him. Using a false excuse, he gets her to accompany him to his hotel room. Without suspicion, she trustingly joins him and then realizes she has completely misjudged his intentions. Before anything happens, she leaves the hotel. A year later, Max meets her again unexpectedly during a visit to St. Petersburg. The embarrassing incident in the hotel seems to be forgotten and Fenitschka fascinates him even more than she did before. An unusual relationship unfolds between the two, marked by intimacy but still conflicted by the conventions of the traditional roles of men and women. Is love and, at the same time, deep friendship even possible between two such people?While using traditional narrative structure, this is far from a traditional fin de siècle story, one in which Salomé makes a substantial contribution to both women's writing and to feminist theory. The story's independent heroine is illuminatedand explained through critical dialogue presented within a traditional male-centric narrative structure, one that her female protagonist must break through in order to be fully realized. The second story, EineAusschweifung, tells a tale of female masochism, depicting it as a pathological state while refusing to condemn it. It is presented, rather, as a legitimate response to the existing male-dominated order. It is an unusual story both for its time and among Lou's works, depicting a submissive female subjectivity shaped by the patriarchal power structure. Throughout, it maintains an ambivalent attitude towards this female masochism; recognizing it as a debilitating perversion while simultaneously affirming it as a valid channel for female desire in contemporary society. Original publisher's cobalt blue cloth binding with ornate gilt and black lettering and decorations on front cover and spine. Slight wear to the edges of the cover and spine. Without the front free endpaper and the half-title partially detached. Otherwise, a remarkably pretty copy of this early feminist novel. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 1419

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Fenitschka. Eine Ausschweisung. Zwei ...

Verlag: J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, Stuttgart

Erscheinungsdatum: 1898

Auflage: FIRST EDITION.