SOURCE: Smyrniw, Walter. “Turgenev's Femmes Fatales.” Germano-Slavica 9, nos. 1-2 (1995-96): 135-53.

In the following essay, Smyrniw explores possible sources for Turgenev's representation of treacherous women in his novels.

Nimm dich in acht vor ihren schönen Haaren, Vor diesem Schmuck, mit dem sie einzig prangt. Wenn sie damit den jungen Mann erlangt, So läßt sie ihn so bald nicht wieder fahren. 

Goethe

In her comprehensive study of femmes fatales in literature and art, Virginia Allen has ascertained that the phrase “femme fatale” came into usage at the turn of our century, whereas the concept and the “erotic icon” of a seductive woman evolved in the previous century. She also discovered that the term femme fatale “has crept into history and criticism in the fields of literature and art history … with very little examination of the icon as such.”¹

Quite analogous was the reception of the femmes fatales...