Madame de Staël
Her Friends, and her Influence in Politics and Literature

This three-volume study, translated into English and published in 1889, illuminates the life of a renowned author, intellectual and salonnière.

Charlotte Blennerhassett (Author), Jane Eliza Gordon Cumming (Translated by)

9781108059855, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2013

484 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.61 kg

An accomplished biographer of figures ranging from Talleyrand to Cardinal Newman, Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843–1917) originally published this three-volume study in German. Reissued here is the English translation of 1889 by J. E. Gordon Cumming. Madame de Staël (1766–1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as among the 'great men' of the era. A novelist, salonnière, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 1 of Blennerhassett's authoritative study addresses Madame de Staël's life up to the Revolution, examining her ancestry, family and marriage to the Swedish ambassador to France. The volume also covers her views on marriage, slavery, the Rights of Man and the contemporary political turmoil.

Translator's note
Preface
1. The Necker family
2. Necker retires from business
3. Anne Necker and Bonstetten
4. Madame de Staël on marriage
5. Calonne
6. The états généraux
7. France after the October days.

Subject Areas: European history [HBJD]