Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic

(Paperback)

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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. -- .

Reviews

Aside from the originality - or fearful finality - of its arguments, the book will be invaluable as an introduction to the use of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of cultural texts' - New Statesman & Society

'Death faces a similar taboo in our century to the one that sex suffered in the last...Bronfen addresses an important silence in contemporary culture.' - The TImes

Author Bio

Elisabeth Bronfen is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Zurich