Madame de Stael: The First Modern Woman | 
| Author: Francine Du Plessix Gray
Publisher: Atlas & Co.
List Price: $24.00
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 71949
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1934633178
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9781934633175
ASIN: 1934633178
Publication Date: October 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"A writer of scintillating style and resonant substance," (Publishers Weekly), bestselling author Francine du Plessix Gray chronicles the incandescent life of the most celebrated woman of letters of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era.
The daughter of the second most important man in France, Louis XVI's Minister of Finances, Jacques Necker, Madame de Stael was born into a world of political and intellectual prominence. Later, she married Sweden's ambassador to the French court, and for a span of twenty years, she held the limelight as a political figure and prolific writer. Despite a plain appearance, she was notoriously seductive and enjoyed whirlwind affairs with some of the most influential men of her time. She always attracted controversy, and was demonized by Napoleon for her forthrightness, the sheer power of her intellect, and the progressiveness of her salon, which was a hotbed for the expression of liberal ideals. The emperor exiled her, on and off, for the last fifteen years of her life.
Madame de Stael—force of nature, exuberant idealist, and ultimate enthusiast—waged a lifelong struggle against all that was tyrannical, cynical, or passionless in her time, and left Europe a legacy of enlightened liberalism that radiated throughout the continent during the nineteenth century.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Never quite lives up to its promise... November 4, 2008
S. McGee (New York, NY)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Francine du Plessix Gray is a wonderful author and biographer with an encylopaedic knowledge of literary France from the Englightenment up to the modern era. Her biography of Louise Colet -- Flaubert's muse -- is unique and stunningly good.
So I picked up this slim volume about Germaine de Stael with much anticipation. Alas... Whether it is the limitation imposed by length (doing a disservice to this forceful woman, one of the only people other than the Duke of Wellington to become a true bane to the existence of Napoleon Bonaparte) or simply a view that her works didn't really stand the test of time, du Plessix Gray has given short shrift to her subject, the only child of Louis XVI's most crucial minister, Jacques Necker.
Germaine de Stael knew the world of Versailles, launched her own salon and thrived in the earliest days of the revolution, partly shielded from the furor by her marriage to a Swedish diplomat. The marriage was a disaster, so de Stael promptly did what any self-respecting 21st century woman would do, and took a string of lovers, including noted philosophe Benjamin Constant.
But is it her sexual freedom that wins her the title of "the first modern woman" from her biographer? It's unclear, because du Plessix Gray never elaborates on this, the central premise of the book. What makes a modern woman and which of those characteristics did de Stael possess? I found myself looking for the answers to both questions throughout the book -- and failed to find any hints to definitive answers. Women had crafted literary careers before de Stael (rarely and not always successfully -- but figures like Aphra Behn and Fanny Burney certainly existed). She was financially independent, also - but it's unclear how much of her financial resources came from her family or lovers. She was certainly political -- although it isn't until midway through the book that du Plessix Gray sheds much light (except very indirectly) on the nature her political views or how they were formed. Her greatest work, perhaps, was her tome on the French Revolution, which takes a definite back seat to an endless recounting of her amorous escapades. It's hard to digest the facts of her endless quarrels of Napoleon and the accounts of her exile and travels that resulted from these, without really understanding her political philosophy.
One added note: du Plessix Gray refers to the mysterious parentage of de Stael's first lover, Narbonne -- rumored to be a son of Louis XV. Du Plessix Gray refers to this making him the brother of the executed Louis XVI -- a blatant error; Louis XV was the grandfather of Louis XVI. I realize this is being very picky, but it's an odd mistake for this particular author to make.
But the bigger question that still lingers is what made Germaine de Stael the first modern woman rather than -- say -- Cleopatra? or Veronica Franco? or Mary Wortley Montagu? The book's title makes a bold claim and there is perhaps a powerful case to build in favor of it. Alas, du Plessix Gray, while offering a well-crafted and solid enough introduction to her subject, fails to make the leap. And surely Germaine de Stael, with all her flamboyance, independence and creativity, deserves an answer.
 Puits Ecrit November 24, 2008
A. Bottom (Library)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mrs. Gray perfectly illustrates Madame de Stael's attitude. This book is one of her finest, I applaud her and wait for more.
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