Cankarjeva Vida (drama Lepa Vida) in Kraigherjeva Pepina (drama Školjka) kot primera femme fragile in femme fatale v slovenski dramatiki na prelomu stoletja

Abstract

In addition to poetry and short story, drama is the most important genre in Central-European modernist literature. It was through drama that modernity - in accordance with contemporary philosophical, sociological and aesthetic insights into gender relations - formed two distinctive female literary characters - the fragile woman (femme fragile, das Kindfrau) and her counterpart, the fatal woman (femme fatale). These two characters do not appear only in drama (although drama is where their development culminates, especially in the works of Arthur Schnitzler in Frank Wedekind), but also in poetry and fiction, and at least for a fleeting moment they entered also into contemporary Slovenian drama. Although forming and solving modern questions was not the priority of Slovenian literature of the time, we can still trace certain distinguishing features of a "fragile woman" or "woman-child" in Cankar's last play, 'Lepa Vida', regardless of the fact that Cankar is interested in other and different problems set forth in this lyrical play. However, in 'Lepa Vida' there certainly is a clear conception of a fragile woman and a woman-child, that cannot develop into femme fatale as is frequently characteristic of Schnitzler's drama. Cankar's contemporary and friend Lojz Kraigher brought his protagonist Pepina from the play 'Školjka' closer to the typical features of a fatal woman. Not only in her appearance but also in her actions, Pepina is an explicitly fatal woman, who does not hide her erotic and sexual lust, which proves fatal for all men who come close to her, especially for the young student Maks. In this article the parallels between Schnitzler's fatal women and Pepina are explored, finding that Kraigher must have been familiar with some of Schnitzler's plays (or seen them in theatres of Vienna), for he formed a dramatic character perfectly fitting the "femme fatale" concept of the time

Keywords

dramatika;moderna;literarne teme in motivi;femme fragile;femme fatale;Cankar;Ivan;1876-1918;Literarne študije;"Lepa Vida";Kraigher;Lojz;1877-1959;"Školjka";Schnitzler;Arthur;1862-1931;

Data

Language:	Slovenian
Year of publishing:	2009
Typology:	1.02 - Review Article
Organization:	UP - University of Primorska
Publisher:	Centro di ricerche scientifiche della Repubblica di Slovenia
UDC:	821.163.6.091-2
COBISS:	1641939
ISSN:	1408-5348
Views:	2866
Downloads:	57
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	English
Secondary keywords:	drama;modernism;literary themes and motives;femme fragile;femme fatale;
URN:	URN:NBN:SI
Type (COBISS):	Not categorized
Pages:	str. 231-238
Volume:	ǂLetn. ǂ19
Issue:	ǂšt. ǂ1
Chronology:	2009
ID:	1733986