Page 71 - Revolution Republique Empire Restauration
P. 71
most fascinating cultural and literary figures in reform France’s catastrophic financial system, his
French history. ambitious wife formed one of the most dazzling salons
of the late ancien régime and personally oversaw the
Madame de Staël first began writing Corinne in 1805, rigorous intellectual grooming of little Germaine. By
while on a trip to Italy. When her novel was pub- her seventh birthday, the child was well-versed in
lished two years later it was instantly translated into maths, geography, science, ancient and modern lan-
English and became a literary and cultural phenom- guages, theology, dancing and deportment, but she
enon throughout Europe that endured for genera- did not know how to play and had no friends whatso-
tions after her death in 1817. For the last ten years ever.6 When she was twelve, Germaine suffered a
of her life Staël’s public persona and her character of nervous breakdown and was prescribed rest, play-
Corinne were inextricable in the public conscious- mates her own age and some distance from her moth-
ness and any image of one was effectively taken to er. Germaine de Staël’s independent nature started to
illustrate the other. At its core Corinne is a romance take form immediate thereafter and her mother, with
and was appreciated as such by the public of its day, whom she was never close, unlike her uxoriously
but it is also a detailed guide to Italy, specifically the adored father, never again controlled her remarkably
churches, art, culture and customs of Naples, intelligent and impulsive daughter.
Florence, Rome, and Venice. It is also a philosophical
self-portrait of the author, the brilliant, captivating, In 1782, the sixteen year old Germaine had grown
often exasperating Anne-Louise Germaine de Staël. into a tall, Junoesque girl who was admired for her
dark curls and large hazel eyes, but was by no one’s
The public and personal image of de Staël is such an definition a beauty, a fact that informed a life-long
important aspect of just how Gerard realised both the insecurity about her looks. Nevertheless, de Staël was
Lyon picture and the present version of Corinne au Cap not only one of the wealthiest heiresses in Europe,
Misène that a brief biographical sketch of Staël is nec- she was also noted for her wit, charm and eloquence,
essary. She was born in 1766 in Switzerland to Jacques this last quality being particularly valued in the soci-
Necker, finance minister to Louis XVI and, during ety of her time. She married a handsome Swedish
much of his kingship, considered to be the second nobleman, Eric Magnus de Staël-Holstein, but the
most powerful man in France. Necker and his wife marriage was not a success, and de Staël’s passionate-
Suzanne Cuchod, a former governess, were both ly romantic nature and intellectual curiosity drove
Swiss Lutherans, a fact that contributed significantly her to embark on a series of affairs. Her lovers
to Necker’s future wealth since the Catholic Church’s included the Vicomte de Narbonne, Talleyrand, and
strict proscriptions against usury meant that France Benjamin Constant and at least three of her children
had no internal banking system of its own. While were reputed to have resulted from these relation-
Jacques was making a fortune buying and selling ships.Throughout her life she met, befriended, capti-
French and British treasury bonds and struggling to vated, infuriated, and often bedded most of the cele-
4.Thiers, op. cit., p. 93.
5. Ibid. p. 43.
6. F. du Plessix-Gray, Madame de Staël – The First ModernWoman, NewYork, 2008, p. 7.
71
