Abstract
This collection of essays seeks to engage with figurations of the femme fatale in a wide range of cultural texts, at different socio-historical junctures and in distinct national/geographical terrains. The idea for the collection arose from a distinct sense that, while the femme fatale figure is a recurrent presence in both popular and high culture, the figure is a perennial site of uncertainty, raising challenging questions and inviting further investigation.
The dark lady, the spider woman, the evil seductress who tempts man and brings about his destruction is among the oldest themes of art, literature, mythology and religion in western culture. She is as old as Eve, and as current as today’s movies, comic books and dime novels.
(Place 1998: 47)
She appears time and again in art, poetry and fiction either in her mythical forms or in contemporary guise: she can be prostitute, man-hunting aristocrat, vampire, African queen, native (black) woman or murderess. She crosses boundaries of class and race.
(Stott 1992: viii)
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© 2010 Helen Hanson and Catherine O’Rawe
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Hanson, H., O’Rawe, C. (2010). Introduction: ‘Cherchez la femme’. In: Hanson, H., O’Rawe, C. (eds) The Femme Fatale: Images, Histories, Contexts. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282018_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282018_1
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