Performance and Femininity in Eighteenth-Century German Women's Writing: The Impossible Act (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781403973290)

In this book, Wendy Arons examines how women writers used theater and performance to investigate the problem of female subjectivity and to intervene in the dominant discourse about ideal femininity. Arons shows how contemporary demands for sincerity and authenticity placed a peculiar burden on women in the public sphere, especially on actresses, who - like professional writers - overstepped the boundaries of what was considered proper behavior for women. Paradoxically, in their representations of ideal women engaged in performance, these writers expose ideal femininity as an impossible act, even as they attempt to perform it in their writing and in their lives.

Author: W. Arons
ISBN-10: 1403973296
ISBN-13: 9781403973290
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 10/03/2006
Pages: 270
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 8.55h x 5.81w x 0.80d