The Human Family: Stories (european Women Writers)

E-Book Overview

The Human Family is the first complete translation of the cycle of ten novellas that Lou Andreas-Salom? (1861–1937) wrote between 1895 and 1898. This collection contributes to the rediscovery of Andreas-Salom?’s significance as a thinker and writer, above all with regard to her literary contribution to modern feminism and the principles of women’s emancipation. Born in St. Petersburg to a German diplomat and his wife, Andreas-Salom? has always been a figure of interest because of her close relationships to influential thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Sigmund Freud. Only since the mid-1980s, however, have her prose fiction and theoretical writings been reconsidered as important documents of emerging ideas and debates in twentieth-century feminism. The ten stories of The Human Family drive home her critical perspective on feminine stereotypes. They depict a wide variety of young women as they relate to men representing different degrees of enlightenment and tolerance, struggling to express a complete and independent feminine identity in the face of the confining but often seductive roles that convention and tradition impose on female potential. The Human Family provides a subtle and nuanced perspective on European feminist writing from the turn of the last century by a woman writer who was intimately involved with the literary mainstream of her time and whose theoretical and literary works played a significant role in feminist debates of the period, prefiguring present-day feminist discourse on essentialism and constructivism.

E-Book Content

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 The Human Family [First Page] [-1], (1) Lines: 0 to 8 ——— * 443.35pt ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: Page [-1], (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 european women writers series Editorial Board Marion Faber Swarthmore College Alice Jardine Harvard University Susan Kirkpatrick University of California, San Diego Olga Ragusa Columbia University, emerita [-2], (2 Lines: —— * 327.3 ——— Norma * PgEnd [-2], (2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 The Human Family Menschenkinder [-3], (3) Lines: 50 to 7 ——— 0.0pt PgV ——— Normal Page * PgEnds: Page Lou Andreas-Salomé translated and with an introduction by raleigh whitinger University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London [-3], (3) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Originally published as Menschenkinder (Stuttgart: jg Cotta’sche Buchandlung Nachfolger, 1899). Translation and introduction © 2005 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America ⬁ 䡬 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Andreas-Salom´e, Lou, 1861–1937. [Menschenkinder. English] The human family / Lou Andreas-Salom´e; translated and with an introduction by Raleigh Whitinger. p. cm.—(European women writers series) isbn 13: 978-0-8032-5952-2 (cloth: alk. paper)— isbn 13: 978-0-8032-1071-4 (pbk.: alk. paper) I. Whitinger, Raleigh, 1944– II. Title. III. Series. pt2601.n4m4613 2005 833'.8—dc22 2005043719 Set in Quadraat by Bob Reitz. Designed by R. W. Boeche. Printed by Edwards Brothers, Inc. [-4], (4 Lines: —— * 199.2 ——— Norma * PgEnd [-4], (4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Contents Introduction vii Before the Awa