Born in 1766, and brought up in the hot house atmosphere of an Enlightenment Parisian salon, Germaine de Stael was the first woman celebrity of the modern era, an unusually gifted intellect and writer who tried to influence European history on the side of liberty, and live her own life according to her feelings. She wrote of herself: 'The liveliness of my affections and opinions has led me into dangerous waters from which no-one but me could extricate myself'. Indeed, she was exiled from Paris by Napoleon when she spoke out against his crude despotism, and during her travels around Europe wrote On Literature and On Germany, in which she pulled Europe together intellectually after the French revolution - and defined a whole new era, Romanticism. In this lively book, Kobak writes in the spirit of de Stael's wish to pass on the secrets of survival to other generations, particularly to women, and in the spirit of her later gloss: 'These ambitious essays won't give any remedies for the soul's suffering; but they will honour life'.
- ISBN10 1844081346
- ISBN13 9781844081349
- Publish Date 1 January 1960
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 11 August 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
- Imprint Virago Press Ltd
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 320
- Language English