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Elsa Asenijeff's Is That Love? and Innocence
First English translations of two early feminist short-story
collections, shedding light on the "e;woman question"e; at the turn of the
20th century and relating to today's #MeToo movement.This edition provides the first English
translations of two short-story collections - Is That Love? (1896) and A Modern
Book for Girls (1901) - by the Austrian writer Elsa Asenijeff (1867-1941). Primarily
remembered as the lover and muse of sculptor and painter Max Klinger, in her time Asenijeff
was a widely read author. Both books engage with "e;the woman question"e; at
the turn of the twentieth Asenijeff thematizes the lack of education and
professional opportunities for women and girls, critiques the bourgeois family as a site of
patriarchal power, and sheds light on systemic sexual violence. Is That Love?, in
particular, dismantles dominant narratives of romantic love and marriage. Written while
Asenijeff was living in Bulgaria, and set there, the text also engages with that country's
political turmoil. In Innocence, Asenijeff relies on some of the traditional characteristics
of Madchenliteratur, educational literature for girls, but also subverts its conventions. In
their introduction, the translators explicate the sociohistorical background of both texts,
arguing for Asenijeff's importance in the history of women's writing in the nineteenth- and
twentieth-century German-speaking world and placing her within the larger context of the
contemporary global #MeToo movement.
collections, shedding light on the "e;woman question"e; at the turn of the
20th century and relating to today's #MeToo movement.This edition provides the first English
translations of two short-story collections - Is That Love? (1896) and A Modern
Book for Girls (1901) - by the Austrian writer Elsa Asenijeff (1867-1941). Primarily
remembered as the lover and muse of sculptor and painter Max Klinger, in her time Asenijeff
was a widely read author. Both books engage with "e;the woman question"e; at
the turn of the twentieth Asenijeff thematizes the lack of education and
professional opportunities for women and girls, critiques the bourgeois family as a site of
patriarchal power, and sheds light on systemic sexual violence. Is That Love?, in
particular, dismantles dominant narratives of romantic love and marriage. Written while
Asenijeff was living in Bulgaria, and set there, the text also engages with that country's
political turmoil. In Innocence, Asenijeff relies on some of the traditional characteristics
of Madchenliteratur, educational literature for girls, but also subverts its conventions. In
their introduction, the translators explicate the sociohistorical background of both texts,
arguing for Asenijeff's importance in the history of women's writing in the nineteenth- and
twentieth-century German-speaking world and placing her within the larger context of the
contemporary global #MeToo movement.
227 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2022
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