Balisages et réactualisations d’un espace baltique dans The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen (1904) d’Elizabeth von Arnim

Abstract

Elizabeth von Arnim’s semi‑autobiographical travelogue, The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen, combines humorous reflections on cross‑cultural interaction with vivid descriptions of the Baltic island of Rügen. As the narrator travels around the island, she becomes increasingly involved in her cousin Charlotte’s failing marriage and changes her itinerary in an attempt to reconcile the couple. Little read in Germany during the author’s lifetime, it was only after the fall of the Wall that the text began to circulate there, allowing West Germans to rediscover a country that had been almost inaccessible during the existence of the two Germanies. The renewed interest in this text is an example of an “afterlife” (Astrid Erll, 2011) and allows us to reflect on the reasons why it has endured in German culture. We propose to examine the particularity of this representation of Rügen constructed from a feminine vision of space, as well as the novel’s reception.

Keywords

• travel writing
• Elizabeth von Arnim
• reception studies
• humour