FRANZ GRILLPARZERS DRAMATIC HEROINES

Franz Grillparzer&rsquo,s (1791-1872) heroines &ndash, Sappho, Medea and Libussa among them &ndash, have engaged and intrigued audiences and readers since the nineteenth century. In his study of Grillparzer&rsquo,s works, Matthew McCarthy-Rechowicz examines these figures in the context of both Grillparzer&rsquo,s wide-ranging intellectual interests &ndash, European and world history, social contract theory, and Kantian philosophy &ndash, and the numerous prominent women with whom Grillparzer was acquainted &ndash, the authors Caroline Pichler and Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, the actor Sophie Schrö,der, and the women&rsquo,s rights activist Auguste von Littrow-Bischoff, to name but a few. In doing so, he illuminates the relationships between Grillparzer&rsquo,s dramas and the burgeoning women&rsquo,s rights movement in nineteenth-century Austria, and suggests new interpretations of these complex meditations on the role of women.Matthew McCarthy-Rechowicz studied German and Polish at University College London, before completing his master&rsquo,s and doctoral studies in German Literature at the University of Oxford._,