Love and fear of the foreign: Thüring von Ringoltingen's Melusine (1456). A xenological analysis

The example of Thüring of Ringoltingen's Melusine powerfully illustrates the dialectics of the binary opposition between Other and Self. Although Melusine's husband fears his monstrous wife once he has discovered her true identity, he also feels deeply attracted to her, both in her familiar and her unfamiliar appearance. Nevertheless, his intellectual and emotional weakness makes it impossible for him to accept the Other as an important element in his life, which leads to the destruction of his marriage. As various other sixteenth-century chapbooks, such as the Historia D. Fausten and Wagnerbuch, indicate, the Other grew in importance, and by then represented a crucial catalyst for early modern sciences.