Madame de Staël (1766–1817)
Author of Corinne, or Italy
About the Author
Germaine de Stael, the daughter of a Swiss banker, was "the first woman of middle-class origins to impress herself, through her own genius, on all the major public events of her time---events political, literary, in every sense revolutionary" (Ellen Moers). Mme de Stael presided over a Paris salon show more in which the greatest minds of the day met and conversed. Her cosmopolitan liberalism so offended Napoleon that he once forbade her to come within 40 miles of Paris. Mme de Stael's writing helped lay the cultural foundations of French romanticism. Her essay De l'Allegmagne (Of Germany) (1810) introduced German romantic poetry and philosophy to the French. Her novels depicted strong-willed heroines driven by passion and intellectual curiosity but constrained by social conventions. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: 1884 carte de visite from photograph of painting by Ernst Hader (LoC Prints and Photographs, LC-USZ62-118849)
Works by Madame de Staël
Consideraciones sobre la Revolución francesa: 25 años decisivos de la historia de Francia y de Europa en primera persona (2017) 6 copies
De l'Allemagne vol. 1 3 copies
De l'Allemagne Tome 2 2 copies
Alemania 2 copies
Œuvres complètes 2 copies
Delfina 1 copy
Ten Years' Exile 1 copy
Corinne, ou l'Italie. Tome 1 1 copy
Elogio dell'amore 1 copy
Memoires de Mme De Stael 1 copy
De l'Allemagne 1 copy
DIEZ AÑOS DE DESTIERRO 1 copy
Diez años de exilio 1 copy
Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution: Posthumous Work of the Baroness de Stael Volume 1 (2018) 1 copy
Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution: Posthumous Work of the Baroness de Stael Volume 2 (2018) 1 copy
Oeuvres Complètes de Mme la Baronne de Staël, Vol. 17 (Classic Reprint) (French Edition) (2018) 1 copy
Rettet die Königin!. Ein Aufruf zur Verteidigung von Marie-Antoinette und andere Dokumente zur Französischen Revolution (1989) 1 copy
Germany 1 copy
Corinne, ou l'Italie... 1 copy
Ten Years' Exile 1 copy
Corinne ou l'Italie. Tome II 1 copy
De l' Allemagne 1 copy
Delfina, ó, La opinion, 1 copy
Monsieur Masson's Selections from Madame de Stael's "Conside?rations sur la Re?volution francaise". 1 copy
Lettres à Ribbing 1 copy
Dziesięć lat wygnania 1 copy
De l'Allemagne : choix des beautés principales et des parties les plus intéressantes de l'ouvrage 1 copy
Associated Works
A History of Women in the West, Volume IV: Emerging Feminism from Revolution to World War (1993) — Contributor — 247 copies, 2 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Staël, Madame de
- Legal name
- Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baroness de Staël-Holstein
- Other names
- Staël, Germaine de
Madame de Stael - Birthdate
- 1766-04-22
- Date of death
- 1817-07-14
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- woman of letters
political theorist
memoirist
novelist
playwright
letter writer - Relationships
- Constant, Benjamin (lover)
Necker, Jacques (father)
Necker, Suzanne (mother)
Wolzogen, Caroline von (friend)
Brun, Friederike (friend)
de Broglie d'Haussonville, Louise (granddaughter) (show all 7)
d'Andlau, Béatrix (descendant, biographer) - Short biography
- Madame de Staël, née Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker was born in Paris, France, a daughter of Jacques Necker, King Louis XVI's Minister of Finance. Her mother Suzanne Curchod Necker was a famous salonnière and published author whose circle included Edward Gibbon and Denis Diderot. In 1786, she was married to Baron Erik Magnus de Staël, a Swedish diplomat and politician. As the Swedish ambassador, Madame de Staël's husband had political immunity during the early years of the French Revolution, enabling her to remain in France and help others to flee. Then in 1792, she herself was forced to flee to Switzerland. On returning in May 1797, she established her own salon and became a leader of progressive politics and intellectual life in Paris. She was known as a brilliant conversationalist and the epitome of European culture. Her writings included novels, plays, poems, moral and political essays, literary criticism, history, and memoirs. Her work was highly influential in establishing the Romantic movement. She was an open opponent of the rule of the Emperor Napoleon, and he ordered her into exile in 1802. She returned again to Paris in 1814 after he was defeated.
- Nationality
- France (birth)
Switzerland (father) - Birthplace
- Paris, France
- Places of residence
- Paris, France
Coppet, Switzerland
England - Place of death
- Paris, France
- Burial location
- Coppet, Switzerland
- Associated Place (for map)
- Paris, France
Members
Reviews
Pour Madame de Staël, la littérature, de même que l'homme, est perfectible. Elle inscrit donc la création et l'analyse littéraires dans une dynamique et donne ainsi naissance à la critique comparatiste. De la littérature, analyse minutieuse de notre héritage littéraire et de l'état de la création en 1800, est un traité où la fille de Necker expose, avec une rationalité implacable, la manière dont elle envisage l'avenir des lettres en Europe. Elle y bouleverse également la show more notion de lecteur, considéré aussi bien comme un producteur que comme un consommateur. Avec ordre, méthode et ténacité, elle progresse dans cette argumentation qui se fonde sur une division de l'Europe en deux topoï dialectiques de part et d'autre du Rhin. Selon elle, la diversité des génies provient de la diversité des goûts locaux, et de tous, ce sont ceux du Nord qui ont pour mission de décrire les mouvements de l'âme, ce à quoi la littérature doit désormais se consacrer. Dans cette vision de la littérature où la beauté a une valeur éthique et sert de garantie contre la laideur morale, le critique se pose en juge, et bien que Madame de Staël, parfait exemple de l'esprit des Lumières, n'échappe ni au didactisme ni à la partialité, elle y manifeste un goût admirable pour le débat d'idées. --Sana Tang-Léopold Wauters show less
The book's full title: *De la littérature, considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales*. A book, then, on the relation between literature & politics. Few successful works are of such broad scope. But this, published in 1800, is both the last breath of 18th century Enlightenment & the first romantic manifest of the 19th century. Perhaps only Mme de Staël, herself an explosive mix of emotionalism & classicism, could reconcile the rising artistic insistence from a new show more century, with the fading political idealism from the old. The author's profound familiarity with the literature & public affairs of all Europe instantly made this book a European sales success - well before it became a classic. show less
We start by meeting Oswald. Oswald it mopey and depressed. He is a sad sack. He sees Corinne and falls in love with her. She is smart, talented and beautiful.
A very big, long chunk of the book is a travelog of Italy where Corinne shows him all the wonderful thing about Italy.
Corinne falls madly in love with Oswald. But Oswald feels he cannot go against his late father's wishes.
Very over the top romantic feelings on Corine's part.
I do like the parts where it talks about how if the people show more involved only understood each other better things would be different. show less
A very big, long chunk of the book is a travelog of Italy where Corinne shows him all the wonderful thing about Italy.
Corinne falls madly in love with Oswald. But Oswald feels he cannot go against his late father's wishes.
Very over the top romantic feelings on Corine's part.
I do like the parts where it talks about how if the people show more involved only understood each other better things would be different. show less
Fairly early essay by Mme de Staël, written during the French revolution, at first sight classicist, almost Epictetan in its stoicism. Yet the luminous notion of humanity's gradual progression is present in a shape & with a power almost equal to the writing of Staël's renowned friend Condorcet. Rousseau also makes his influence known in this remarkable & underexposed text which rings with the independence, clarity, & measure for which the writing of Mme de Staël is known.
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Statistics
- Works
- 121
- Also by
- 9
- Members
- 887
- Popularity
- #28,886
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 10
- ISBNs
- 107
- Languages
- 9
- Favorited
- 2
