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Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic
In 1846, Edgar Allen Poe wrote that 'the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetic topic in the world'. The conjuction of death, art and femininity forms a rich and disturbing strata of Western culture, explored here in fascinating detail by Elisabeth Bronfen. Her examples range from Carmen to Little Nell, from Wuthering Heights to Vertigo, from Snow White to Frankenstein. The text is richly illustrated throughout with thirty-seven paintings and photographs.
The argument that this book presents is that narrative and visual representations of death can be read as symptoms of our culture and because the feminine body is culturally constructed as the superlative site of "other" and "not me," culture uses art to dream the deaths of beautiful women.
The argument that this book presents is that narrative and visual representations of death can be read as symptoms of our culture and because the feminine body is culturally constructed as the superlative site of "other" and "not me," culture uses art to dream the deaths of beautiful women.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Elisabeth Bronfen
88 books26 followersElisabeth Bronfen is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Zurich and, since 2007, Global Distinguished Professor at New York University.
She did her PhD at the University of Munich, on literary space in the work of Dorothy M. Richardson’s novel Pilgrimage, as well as her habilitation, five years later, on representations of femininity and death. A specialist in the 19th and 20th century literature, she has also written articles and books in the area of gender studies, psychoanalysis, film, cultural theory and visual culture.
She is a frequent contributor for local and international news publications and broadcasts, serving as an expert on culture as well as American politics.
She did her PhD at the University of Munich, on literary space in the work of Dorothy M. Richardson’s novel Pilgrimage, as well as her habilitation, five years later, on representations of femininity and death. A specialist in the 19th and 20th century literature, she has also written articles and books in the area of gender studies, psychoanalysis, film, cultural theory and visual culture.
She is a frequent contributor for local and international news publications and broadcasts, serving as an expert on culture as well as American politics.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
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November 28, 2018I have several ideological disagreements with this text, but it presents it’s side clearly and helped me with the research I needed for my essay.
(But seriously? That whole argument about how reading is similar to the rhetoric of suicide because it is the removal of the self?? You realize I’m READING THIS right?? Perhaps reading isn’t the removal of the self but the enhancement of it through different viewpoints and the chance to learn???)
No rating because I know jack all about art so a lot of this flew over my head
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Guess who has two thumbs and procrastinated their 10-page end-of-semester essay?
(But seriously? That whole argument about how reading is similar to the rhetoric of suicide because it is the removal of the self?? You realize I’m READING THIS right?? Perhaps reading isn’t the removal of the self but the enhancement of it through different viewpoints and the chance to learn???)
No rating because I know jack all about art so a lot of this flew over my head
————
Guess who has two thumbs and procrastinated their 10-page end-of-semester essay?
June 14, 2016
Ich habe nur einige Kapitel angelesen und finde das Thema hoch spannend und die Beispele Bronfens sehr erhellend. Leider nimmt die Entwicklung ihrer theoretischen Ansätze sehr großen Raum ein und ich hätte mich stärker nach Analysen direkt zu Texten von E. A. Poe, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, usw. gesehnt.
Eine Aussage gefiel mir ausgesprochen gut:
Eine Aussage gefiel mir ausgesprochen gut:
Ich widerspreche Barthes’ Idee vom Tod des Autors […:]. Denn der Impuls zu schreiben setzt immer auch ds Leben des Autors voraus, eine Unterschrift und eine Position in der Kultur.
March 24, 2024
i used this as a resource to write my final paper for a women's literature class.
it's pretty dense, but really interesting if you're a fan of edgar allan poe, christina rossetti, the brontes, or just gothic fiction in general.
it's pretty dense, but really interesting if you're a fan of edgar allan poe, christina rossetti, the brontes, or just gothic fiction in general.
September 30, 2019
Abandoned at page 75.
I wanted so, so badly to like this book. And it has its moments? Or - no, it doesn't really have its moments. I'm trying really hard to make something okay about this book, but it was terrible. Insufferable. Almost actively painful? I would like to never ever again try to engage with Freudian theory thank you very much goodbye.
I wanted so, so badly to like this book. And it has its moments? Or - no, it doesn't really have its moments. I'm trying really hard to make something okay about this book, but it was terrible. Insufferable. Almost actively painful? I would like to never ever again try to engage with Freudian theory thank you very much goodbye.
August 9, 2021
At times pretty dense but the large amount of case studies kind of makes up for it. One or two chapters even turned out very useful for my disseration.
January 12, 2023
had a fair bit of ideological friction with this book's take on aesthetics and the exercise of reading, but it is still a stellar work of primary research that helped me articulate + find avenues for further research that otherwise may not have been possible at all
March 20, 2023
loved it! my only critique is that some things could be assumptive/speculative and weren’t necessarily backed up enough. also, a lot of it was unnecessarily complicated - things were dragged out in a difficult-to-understand way. other than that, fantastic :)
August 3, 2023
“How do women constitute and establish themselves as authors within a culture which has not drafted this role, except as a blank, an aporia, a presence under erasure?”
November 18, 2011
A very interesting book, though sometimes a bit hard to follow since it is invested with a lot of different theories (which are not always explained). However, this is the ideal book if you wish to know more about the perspectives on the beautiful female dead body.
May 9, 2017
Fantastic review of femininity and mortality, language can be a little needlessly dense and repetitive at times but its all in servie of driving the point home.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews