Lethal Performances

Women Who Kill in Modern American Drama

von Ottilie P. Klein

346 Seiten, Hardcover

Kurzbeschreibung des Verlags

This book provides an in-depth analysis of representations of female murderers in modern American drama. Paying close attention to the plays’ plot, form, and style, the study seeks to come to terms with the dramatic and cultural function of this phenomenon. Given the rarity of female murder in real life, the popularity and prevalence of this theme in culture is striking and unsettling at the same time. After all, a woman who kills not only violates against basic social rules, but also upsets gender norms. This potential to break with an ideology that rests on hierarchically structured gender binaries equips the figure of the female murderer with the power to symbolically ‘kill’ established views about gender and sexuality. It is this ideologically disruptive potential that makes the female murderer a fascinating object of study, as her cultural figuration may provide information about the meaning assigned to women at a certain historical moment.

• Reihe: Contributions to English and American Literary Studies (CEALS)
• Themen: Biographie, Literatur und Literaturwissenschaft Geschichte und Kritik Literaturwissenschaft, allgemein 1900 bis 2000
• ISBN: 9783631732649
• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 30.11.2017
• Größe: 21 x 14.8 cm
• Verlag: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften