Portland Public Library

Germaine de Staël, a political portrait, Biancamaria Fontana

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-284) and index

individual biography

index present

non fiction

Germaine de Staël

bibliography

929985204

Biancamaria Fontana

a political portrait

"Germaine de Staël (1766-1817) is perhaps best known today as a novelist, literary critic, and outspoken and independent thinker. Yet she was also a prominent figure in politics during the French Revolution. Biancamaria Fontana sheds new light on this often overlooked aspect of Staël's life and work, bringing vividly to life her unique experience as a political actor in a world where women had no place. The banker's daughter who became one of Europe's best-connected intellectuals, Staël was an exceptionally talented woman who achieved a degree of public influence to which not even her wealth and privilege would normally have entitled her. During the Revolution, when the lives of so many around her were destroyed, she succeeded in carving out a unique path for herself and making her views heard, first by the powerful men around her, later by the European public at large. Fontana provides the first in-depth look at her substantial output of writings on the theory and practice of the exercise of power, setting in sharp relief the dimension of Staël's life that she cared most about--politics. She was fascinated by the nature of public opinion, and believed that viable political regimes were founded on public trust and popular consensus. Fontana shows how Staël's ideas were shaped by the remarkable times in which she lived, and argues that it is only through a consideration of her political insights that we can fully understand Staël's legacy and its enduring relevance for us today"--, Provided by publisher

Introduction: A Passion for Politics -- Interpreting the Opinion of the Majority of the Nation (1791) -- The View from the Executive (1792) -- Defending the Queen : Politics as Propaganda (1793) -- Addressing William Pitt (1794) -- The Advent of Modern Liberty (1795) -- Condemned to Celebrity : The Influence of Passions (1796) -- The Republic in Theory and Practice (1797-99) -- Raising the Stakes : The Measure of Ambition (1800) -- Back to the Future : The Bourgeois Liberal Republic -- Conclusion: Germaine de Stael and Modern Politics