Emérentia 1713: an exploration of magical nature and biophilia in the work of Corinna Bille

Abstract

The short story “Emerentia 1713” is part of Corinna Bille´s (1912-1979) last publication, Deux Passions (1979). It tells the story of a young aristocratic girl named Emerentia, who is entrusted to a priest in feudal Valais. Her love of nature and her imagination cause her to be considered a witch, and her tutor uses punishments to try to change her character. Emerentia is persecuted for loving and worshipping wild animals and trees. The text highlights the beauty and strength of the natural elements in the Valais, as well as religious intransigence and fear of the unknown. Through an ecocritical approach, this articles studies how Corinna Bille denounces the religious fanaticism that has ignited so many pyres, while it simultaneously highlights the beauty of wild, archaic and primitive nature; a nature more favorable to the marvelous than to witchcraft, but feared and misunderstood. Deux Passions evokes the magical nature of a Valais with all its freshness and primitive wildness.