The Femme Fatale in American Literature By Ghada Sasa

Chapter 1

The Femme Fatale in American Naturalism: An Introduction

American naturalism has not only created a new type of man to be carefully read, studied, and understood, but it has also created a new type of woman. This book focuses on the representation of women in American naturalism and argues that women in American naturalism are often represented as femmes fatales. Although the femme fatale is not new to literary texts, she is fabricated and reconstructed according to the needs of this literary movement. This book focuses on the representation of the femmes fatales in three texts written during the height of the naturalistic movement: Frank Norris’ McTeague, Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie, and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening.