Critical edition in German: 'Louise von François - 'Phosphorus Hollunder' und 'Der Posten der Frau''

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Critical edition of two works by Louise von François. (Book contract with Modern Humanities Research Association, for publication in autumn 2008. See publicity: www.mhra.org/Publications/Books/Criticaltexts.html.)My research within the field of 19th-century German literature has recently resulted in the publication of 'The Prose Fiction of Louise von François (1817-1893)', Oxford-Berne, Lang, 2006. The first monograph in English on this relatively unknown writer, this study fills a gap in the modern body of scholarship that reassesses the literary and intellectual legacy of non-canonical woman writers of the 19th century. Following this project, in view of the fact that no new edition of François's work has appeared since 1918, I have sought to address the need for accessible, annotated primary texts by this author. As a result I have secured a contract for a one-volume critical edition in German of two of her novellas. 'Phosphorus Hollunder' and 'Der Posten der Frau' (both 1857) illustrate the preoccupations of François's work as a whole: an endorsement of honour and duty as prerequisites for a more equitable society, an antipathy towards class prejudice and religious intolerance, and a distinctive focus on female self-reliance.The volume will be written in German, thus enhancing its academic status and marketability throughout the German-speaking world, and will offer an introduction on the life and work of François, a critical commentary on the two novellas in question, and detailed notes on the historical and cultural references contained in the text. This will be the first ever critical edition of François's work, and will appear in the Modern Humanities Research Association's new 'Critical Texts' series. This positive response on the part of a prestigious publisher to the reawakening of interest in François is indicative both of the quality of her work and the academic merit of this project.