Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman

I believe my first encounter with Madame de Staël was in Dorothy Parker’s “Song of One of the Girls”, where she appears as one of “the glamorous ladies at whose beckoning history shook”. As Francine du Plessix Gray’s biography describes her, she wouldn’t meet modern definitions of “glamorous”; her kinder contemporaries described her as “leonine” or “sturdy” and she had no physical grace, being famous for falling flat on her face while attempting to curtsey to Marie Antoinette. Daughter of the millionaire financier Jaques Necker, she had the 18th century equivalent of a “Tiger Mom”; she was tutored in mathematics, geography, science, and languages starting at age three, wasn’t allowed contact with other show more children, and couldn’t leave the house alone until she was 12. This regimen did produce considerable intellectual attainment – even her enemies agreed she was a brilliant conversationalist – and, perhaps surprisingly, a kindly and generous temperament. If there was any moral education included – and there probably was, since the Neckers were strict Calvinists – it didn’t take; after her marriage to the accommodating Swedish diplomat Erik Magnus Staël, she became notorious for seducing just about every famous Frenchman of her time (describing her attempts as a political peacemaker, a critic commented “She entertains the Royalists at breakfast, the Girondins at lunch, the Jacobins at supper, and everybody at night”). Intellectual and independent women have always been subject to accusations of sexual excess; but in her case they seem to be justified – none of her four children who reached adulthood was of certain paternity.


Mentally she seems to have been at least a quarter bubble off level; Gray speculates a modern diagnosis might be bipolar disorder with emphasis on the manic part. Both she and several of her lovers developed the habit of staging “suicide attempts” with not-quite-overdoses of laudanum every time the relationship progressed poorly, to the extent that a “Coppet dose” of opium (her home in Switzerland was at Coppet) actually became a slang term for the action.


Despite all this she became a popular and successful author, and also somehow retained her seductiveness even into her 50s – though her always ample figure now ballooned, she still managed one last lover, a handsome (but stupid) war hero twenty years her junior.


Gray’s biography is straightforward and readable – she engages in a little speculation on de Staël’s psychological problems and the possible fathers of her children, but resists the temptation to go overboard. It helps to know a little about the French revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. Madame de Staël is buried with her mother and father in the family crypt in Switzerland. I’ll have to track down her books. show less

Madame de Stael may indeed have been, as the subtitle to this biography claims, The First Modern Woman. She wasn't quite beautiful, but she was intelligent and masterful in conversation, which in the salons of 18th century France was equally important. (Of course, her chattiness was probably well-tolerated in part because she inherited one of the largest fortunes in Europe...)

To me, Madame de Stael seems like a female Voltaire: less-than-handsome, full of restless intellectual energy, author of many books on diverse subjects, forever entangled in ridiculous amours, always in trouble with the authorities. In the lady's case, the main authority was Napoleon, an authoritarian boor who found it doubly maddening to be opposed by not only a show more rich person, but a rich person with breasts. He was forever banishing her and trying to shut her up, but Madame de Stael actually had the last laugh, using her social connections to help forge the alliances that eventually brought the emperor down.

Francine du Plessix Gray (author of the excellent memoir Them) writes fluidly and concisely, cramming the plentiful action of Madame de Stael's life into a compulsively readable little book. She does not gloss over the lady's faults -- Gray diagnoses de Stael as a manic-depressive and sighs in relief while relating the tale of her last doomed romance -- but the author clearly admires her subject, and makes a good case that the reader should, as well. show less

This short biography was a lively and well written introduction to a woman who is perhaps best known for her romances but who was remarkable for her intellect and her commitment to independence for women. du Plessix Gray provides some fascinating insights into her childhood and psychology. This was particularly interesting to me since I recently read "A Place of Greater Safety," Hilary Mantel's historical novel about the French revolution, and de Staël's father was an important person in the lead-up to the revolution.

This is a great short introduction to the life of a woman who was a cultural icon in France during the Napoleonic era.For two decades she was a central political and literary figure. Her support of subversive ideas led to exile by Napoleon. Nevertheless she continued to be a champion of enlightenment thinking and thinkers throughout her life.

This is an extremely readable biography that provides general information on the life of Madame de Stael in addition to a good overview of information regarding the the French Revolution. This biography does not delve into specifics but gives an overall portrait of the Madame De Stael's life; it retells her actions and explores some of her motivations. It is told in a style that is very enjoyable to read.

This is an extremely readable biography that provides general information on the life of Madame de Stael in addition to a good overview of information regarding the the French Revolution. This biography does not delve into specifics but gives an overall portrait of the Madame De Stael's life; it retells her actions and explores some of her motivations. It is told in a style that is very enjoyable to read.

This is an extremely readable biography that provides general information on the life of Madame de Stael in addition to a good overview of information regarding the the French Revolution. This biography does not delve into specifics but gives an overall portrait of the Madame De Stael's life; it retells her actions and explores some of her motivations. It is told in a style that is very enjoyable to read.