Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Germaine de Staël
-
Standard Name: Staël, Germaine de
Birth Name: Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker
Married Name: Anne-Louise-Germaine de Staël
Used Form: Germaine de Stael
GS
is remembered primarily for her political activism and the salons she established following the French Revolution; history, politics, and culture were certainly among her frequent literary subjects. The same interests inform her highly successful and influential novels, some short stories and, less significantly, plays. Other writings include literary criticism and personal letters.
Winegarten, Renee. Mme de Staël. Berg, 1985.
81
Her anglophilia and her attention to English literature and culture gave her particular importance for British women writers.
Like CS
's previous novel, this combines satire with moralised sensibility. The heroine, Theresa, is, according to the Athenæum reviewer, one of the thousand imitations or caricatures of [de Staël
's] Corinne, though...
Material Conditions of Writing
Harriet Beecher Stowe
HBS
used her earlier travels in Europe as material for a travel guide for Americans. She had met Germaine de Staël
and Elizabeth Gaskell
while in Europe, and had voraciously read everything by George Sand
Material Conditions of Writing
Isabel Hill
Her need for money having induced IH
to accept Richard Bentley
's offer to translate Germaine de Staël
's Corinne into English for his series Bentley's Standard Novels, her version appeared in print.
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
Hill, Benson Earle. “Memoir of the Late Isabel Hill”. The Monthly Magazine, Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, Feb. 1842.
185-6
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Occupation
Catherine Hutton
As well as collecting illustrations of costume, CH
was an early collector of autographs. (She began both these collections at a young age, but presumably had to start again from scratch after her losses in...
Occupation
Amy Levy
AL
was an accomplished draughtswoman. She drew vivid sketches and scenes. Her topics at an early age included a feminist on a soapbox, and characters from Louisa May Alcott
's Little Women and Germaine de Staël
Occupation
Henri-Frédéric Amiel
He became a philosopher and a professor of aesthetics, and published a number of books including a study of Germaine de Staël
. His best known work, however, was his diary. It exerted an influence...
Occupation
William Godwin
The imprint M. J. Godwin and Company was launched the following year. The business flourished, becoming almost a literary salon like that of Joseph Johnson
: visitors included Germaine de Staël
. It remained, however...
Publishing
Elizabeth Cavendish Duchess of Devonshire
Elizabeth Devonshire was a prolific and expressive letter-writer. Letters of the two duchesses, Elizabeth and Georgiana, were edited in 1898 by Vere Foster
. In 1980 Elizabeth's unpublished correspondence in French with de Staël
...
Publishing
Lady Caroline Lamb
Among copies sent out by the author was one for Germaine de Staël
.
Douglass, Paul. Lady Caroline Lamb. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
185
A second edition followed the same year (with William Lamb
's permission),
Douglass, Paul. Lady Caroline Lamb. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
195
which contained LCL
's long preface, self-defensive...
Publishing
Elizabeth Rigby
ER
continued to write biographical works, publishing in the Quarterly Review in July 1881 Madame de Staël
: A Study of her Life and Times, an essay which incorporates reviews of several new works...
Reception
Marion Reid
Scholar Margaret McFadden
notes that this work was tremendously successful, particularly in the United States, where it went through five editions between 1847 and 1852. The 1847 edition and all ensuing versions were printed...
Textual Features
Helen Craik
Authors quoted on HC
's title-page include La Rochefoucauld
. Mary Robinson
's Walsingham is quoted in volume two and supplies the epigraph for volume three.
Craciun, Adriana, and Kari E. Lokke, editors. “The New Cordays: Helen Craik and British Representations of Charlotte Corday, 1793-1800”. Rebellious Hearts: British Women Writers and the French Revolution, State University of New York Press, 2001, pp. 193-32.
228n47
The story opens shortly before the French Revolution...
Textual Features
Julia Kavanagh
In her preface JK
explains her interest in the rise of the novel and argues that novels have become the teachers for good or for evil of many; their power can be exalted or deplored—it...
Textual Features
Julia Kavanagh
JK
successfully blends scholarly knowledge with popular style. Her historical and critical opinions are still well worth reading. On the great length of Scudéry
's romances, she cites a contemporary reader who had reached page...
Textual Features
Edith Sitwell
This book depends on poking fun at its subjects, and invites its readers to join in Sitwell's superior amusement. Some of her subjects deserve better, like Margaret Fuller
, who (despite the adjective in the...
