France
Baroness Anne-Louise Germaine de Stael-Holstein(fr. Anne-Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein), nee Necker (Necker; -) - French writer, literary theorist, publicist, who had a great influence on the literary tastes of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Daughter of the Minister of Finance Jacques Necker. The owner of a brilliant literary salon. She enjoyed authority in political circles and publicly opposed Napoleon, for which she was expelled from France. In 1803-1814. kept a salon in the Swiss castle Koppe. She defended gender equality, promoted a romantic trend in art. Best known by its abbreviated name Madame de Stael(French Madame de Staël).
Childhood. The first literary experiments
In 1796, the French Republic was recognized by Switzerland and Steel could return to Paris. Here her salon again became an influential literary and political center. Among its regular visitors were Sieyès, Talleyrand, Gara, philologist Claude Foriel, economist J. Ch. Sismondi, B. Constant. Having achieved an unspoken divorce from her husband, but continuing to live with him in the same house, de Stael found herself in an ambivalent position, which her secular and political opponents were not slow to take advantage of, making her a target of offensive gossip. She gives the outcome to the feelings that worried her at that time in the novel "Dolphin", which consolidated her literary fame: here is depicted the unfortunate fate of a highly gifted woman who entered into an unequal struggle against the despotism of public opinion. At the same time, Stahl was working on an extensive essay "On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Institutions" (1796-99). The task of the book is to trace the influence of religion, morals, legislation on literature and vice versa. Studying the interaction of society and literature, observing gradual changes in the ideas and forms of life, Steel notes in the course of historical development a slow but continuous improvement (perfectibilité). In a mass of well-aimed remarks, she reveals a subtle understanding of the connection between various forms and directions of literary works with the social environment and ends the book with a doctrine of what literature should be in a new republican society: it should serve as an expression of new social ideals and be a defender of political and moral freedom. The book "On Literature", published after the coup of the 18th Brumaire, ran counter to the onset of the reaction. The idea of the interaction of literature and the social system and the inevitability of the decline of literature with the disappearance of political freedom could not but seem dangerous to the government of the first consul.
Germany and Italy. "Corinna"
When Madame de Stael's salon became the center of the opposition, she was ordered to leave Paris. In 1802 she went to Germany with Constant. Here she met Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, W. Humboldt, A. Schlegel; She entrusts the latter with the upbringing of her children. The impressions she made from her trip to Germany formed the basis of the book "About Germany", written five years later (see below). In 1804, her father's fatal illness summons her to Koppé. B. Konstan's cooling towards her that began from that time, to whom she has been deeply attached for many years, makes her suffer so much that she dreams of an imminent death. To stifle her mental anguish, she goes to Italy. In Milan, she was impressed by the Italian poet Vincenzo Monti. Although her love for Constance has not yet faded in her heart, she is gradually carried away by a new feeling, and in her letters to Monty, a friendly tone is soon replaced by enthusiastic confessions. She calls him to Koppé and lives for a whole year in anticipation of his arrival; but the weak-willed poet, fearing to incur the wrath of Napoleon and lose the pension assigned to him, keeps postponing his arrival until Steel stops correspondence with him. The fruit of de Stael's travels in Italy was her novel Corinne ou l'Italie. Italy attracted the attention of Steel not because of its nature, but as an arena of a great historical past. She believes that the spirit of a great people is still lurking here, and she strongly desires the revival of this spirit. Steel devotes a lot of space to reflections on the historical destinies of Italy and Rome, on Italian literature, art, tombstones, etc. The plot of the novel is the question of the fate of a genius woman, of the contradiction between love and glory. Corinna is Steel itself, idealized and elevated to perfection; she strains all her mental strength, spends all her gifts in order to reach the climax of glory - and all this is only in order to be loved; but it remains unappreciated precisely by those whom it puts above all. In the personality of Lord Nelville, hints of Constant and his betrayal are heard. "Corinna" - a work more consistent than "Dolphin" - had a brilliant success with contemporaries. In 1807, taking advantage of Napoleon's absence, Steel, yearning for Paris, decided to settle in its vicinity. The rumor that she was appearing incognito in Paris itself reached the emperor, who, among the concerns of the Prussian campaign, found time to prescribe her immediate removal to Coppé.
"About Germany"
In 1807-1808. Steel visited Weimar again and traveled to Munich and Vienna. Returning from Germany, she learned from Constant in Geneva about his secret marriage to Charlotte Hardenberg. This news at first infuriated her, but then a religious pacification descended on her soul. This era of her life includes her works on the book "On Germany", the most complete of her works, in which Stahl sets out to acquaint French society with the character of the German nationality, with the way of life of the Germans, their literature, philosophy and religion. The author introduces the French reader into a world of ideas, images and feelings that is alien to him and tries to explain the features of this world as much as possible, pointing to historical and local conditions and constantly drawing a parallel between the aspirations and concepts of the French and German nations. For the first time, in the era of the dominance of cosmopolitan ideas, Stahl brings to the fore the question of the rights of nationality. It sets as its task the protection of nations, their rights to political and spiritual independence; it tries to prove that a nation is not a creation of the arbitrary will of individuals, but a historical phenomenon, and that the peace of Europe is conditioned by mutual respect for the rights of peoples. When the book "On Germany" was published (1810), Madame de Stael sent it to Napoleon, with a letter in which she asked for an audience. She believed that the power of her conviction, which conquered many, could influence the emperor. Napoleon remained adamant. Having ordered her book to be burned, although censored, he ordered her to stay in Koppé, where he surrounded her with spies and where he forbade her friends to travel.
Trip to Russia
Feeling abandoned, she wrote: "The closeness of evening twilight is felt, among which traces of the radiance of the morning dawn are no longer noticeable." But she was destined to taste happiness once again. In 1810, a young officer, Albert de Rocca, returned to Geneva from a Spanish campaign to be treated for his wounds. Taking care of him, Steel fascinated him and he, despite the significant age difference, infected Steel with his passion. After some hesitation, she secretly married him. In 1812, the persecution of the Swiss authorities, acting to please Napoleon, forced Steel to flee from Coppé, and she went through Austria to Russia.
She arrived in Russia on July 14, 1812, on the anniversary of the French Revolution, and after the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812. Here she was given the widest hospitality. On August 5, she was presented to Their Majesties. V.L.Borovikovsky paints her portrait. KN Batyushkov characterizes de Stael: "... As bad as a devil and clever as an angel."
Restoration. Last years. Steel as a historian of the Revolution
The reaction after the restoration aroused her indignation. She was equally outraged by the "humiliation" of France by foreigners, and by the intolerance and obscurantism of the party of aristocratic emigrants. In this mood, she began to finish her Considérations sur les principaux événements de la révolution française (1818). This work consists of several parts, between which there is no complete unity. Initially, Madame de Stael intended to confine herself to an exposition of the first phase of the revolution and to write, among other things, an apology for her father; but then she expanded the content of her work, aiming to present a defense of the French Revolution and find out its main results. To this she added an etude on the English constitution and society, and then reasoning about the state of affairs in France in 1816. For 25 years (1789-1814) de Stael not only observed all the stages of the development of the French revolutionary spirit, but responded with all her impressionable in kind for all the excitement of this turbulent era. Summing up the revolutionary period, Madame de Stael sees the main goal of the revolution in the conquest of political and spiritual freedom by the people. The revolution not only made France free, but also gave her prosperity. If the crimes of individuals have tarnished the revolution, then never before have so many lofty sides of the human spirit manifested itself in France. Breathing noble enthusiasm into many hearts, the revolution brought forward great leaders and bequeathed the eternal principles of freedom to the future. The causes of the revolution lie in general historical conditions, and not in the actions and aspirations of individuals. In the chapter on the restoration, de Stael gives a vivid picture of the onset of the reactionary regime: “Is it possible,” she writes, “now it is possible to rule in the same way as three hundred years ago ?! for themselves no merits except a family tree, the people are ignorant and powerless, the army reduced to a simple mechanism, press restraint, the absence of any civil freedom - and in return, police spies and purchased journalism, which would praise this darkness! " The final pages of the book represent, as it were, the political testament of Madame de Stael. The political reorganization of Europe will be accomplished by nationalities and in the name of nationalities. She foresees a great future for the Russian people and the dominant role of the North American United States. She advises the Germans and Italians to unite in a federation.
On February 21, 1817, Germaine de Stael went to a reception hosted by the chief minister of Louis XVIII. She fell as she climbed the steps. A cerebral hemorrhage has occurred. For several months de Stael was ill and died in 1817 on the significant day of the beginning of the Great French Revolution - July 14.
Characteristic
In the moral character of Madame de Stael, according to Professor Storozhenko, two main features prevail: a passionate need for love, personal happiness - and an equally passionate love for freedom. It is necessary to note another third feature, which, together with the above, recreates not only its moral, but also its mental appearance. “Germaine Necker,” wrote the historian A. Sorel, “also craved thought as well as happiness. Her mind was distinguished by an insatiable greed to learn everything, the ability to embrace everything ... he possessed the gift of penetrating other people's ideas and the gift of instant inspiration with his own ideas; both were not the result of prolonged reflection, but were born during the conversation, in the form of inspired improvisation. " Equally impetuous and impetuous both in her hobbies and in her literary work, passionately grabbing for new ideas that were in the air, Madame de Stael often changed her views on certain issues [So, for example, she used to be fond of materialism, and in the end life becomes a spiritualist, then rejects free will, then allows it, etc.], but invariably remained faithful to the principles of civil freedom and the political ideals of the constituent assembly of 1789. De Stael's influence on subsequent French literature is deep and multifaceted. A. Sorel calls her the "muse" of a large circle of French scientists and writers.
The famous French writer Germaine Necker, better known as Madame de Stael, became famous for her novel "Corinne, or Italy". The success of the novel about a woman who disdained the conventions of the world was tremendous. The writer saw the path to female freedom in complete liberation of feelings.
The book aroused a fit of rage in Napoleon, for its author dared to talk about the independence of women in public life. The influence of Madame de Stael on French society was obvious, her sharp tongue and mind haunted Bonaparte, and the writer hastened to hide from the tyrant's wrath in her Swiss estate. But the constant threat of arrest forced them to look for a safer place. Having traveled all over Europe in search of that person, that power that could crush Napoleon, she found this person and this power in Russia - Emperor Alexander and the Russian people.“I studied the maps of Europe in order to hide, with the same diligence with which Napoleon to conquer it,” she wrote. "He opted for Russia - so did I."
The year was 1812.
In Russia, Madame de Stael was received with honor as a renowned writer and a victim of Napoleon's tyranny. Aristocrats and landowners, officers and officials, who were well acquainted with her writings, were in a hurry to show her hospitality. The Emperor also honored her with an audience.
Here is how she describes her impressions of her long conversation with the king:
“When I was talking with the Empress (Elizaveta Alekseevna), the door opened and the Emperor Alexander himself did me the honor of coming to talk with me. What first struck me in him was the expression of kindness and greatness, so strong that both of these qualities seem inseparable, and it seems as if he merged them into one. I was also very touched by the noble simplicity with which he touched, from the very first words addressed to me, the great interests of Europe. I have always considered it a sign of mediocrity that fear to talk about serious subjects, which they have managed to instill in most European sovereigns; they are afraid to utter a word that would have a real meaning. Emperor Alexander, on the other hand, talked to me as the statesmen of England would do, placing their strength in themselves, and not in the obstacles with which to surround themselves.
Emperor Alexander, whom Napoleon tried to misrepresent, is an amazingly intelligent and educated man, and I do not think that he could find in his empire a minister who was more knowledgeable than he in everything that concerns the judgment of affairs and their direction. He did not hide from me that he regretted the raptures he indulged in in his relationship with Napoleon ... However, the Emperor Alexander, with great insight, outlined the impression made on him by Bonaparte's conversations, during which he expressed the most opposite thoughts, as if he should constantly admire each of them, without thinking that they contradict one another. He also told me about the Machiavellian lessons that Napoleon found it convenient to teach him. “You see,” he said to Alexander, “I try to quarrel between my ministers and generals so that they betray each other, I maintain boundless envy around me, achieving this by my way of dealing with those around me: one day one considers himself preferred and tomorrow is different, and no one can ever be sure of my grace. "
“Convinced of the frankness of the Emperor Alexander’s relations with Napoleon,” continues Madame de Stael, “at the same time, I was convinced that he would not follow the example of the unfortunate rulers of Germany and would not sign a peace treaty with someone who is as much an enemy of the peoples as and an enemy of kings. A noble soul cannot be deceived twice by the same person. Alexander bestows and strips away his trust with the greatest discretion. His youth and happy appearance alone could, at the beginning of his reign, give reason to suspect him of frivolity; but he is as serious as a man who has experienced grief can be. Alexander expressed to me his regret that he was not a great commander; to this display of noble modesty, I replied to him that the sovereign is a rarer phenomenon than the general, and that supporting the spirit of his people by his example is tantamount to winning the most important battle ...
The Emperor enthusiastically spoke to me about his people and about what they are capable of doing in the future. He expressed to me the desire, which everyone knows, to improve the situation of the peasants who are still in serfdom. "Sovereign," I told him, "your character is the constitution for your empire, and your conscience is the guarantee of it." "If that were the case," he replied, "I would be nothing more than a fluke." Wonderful words, the first, it seems to me, of this kind, uttered by any autocratic sovereign! How many moral merit is needed to judge despotism, being a despot, and in order to never abuse unlimited power, when the people under this rule are almost surprised at such great moderation.
Madame de Stael, perhaps the first of the French, and certainly the first of the French writers, learned the life of Russian peasants. She listened to their songs, danced in village round dances, and visited huts. “There is something charming about Russian peasants,” she wrote down her impressions. “The gentleness of these people, their hospitality, their natural grace are extraordinary. Russians don't know the dangers. Nothing is impossible for them. "
Germaine de Stael realized that only Russia could rid the world of the tyranny of the Corsican. She heard the news of the victory over Napoleon in Stockholm. The last few years of her life, she wrote memoirs, in which, with her usual intelligence, she predicted the final death of the monarchy in France, the enormous role of young America and the great future of the Russian people.
French writer, daughter of the prominent statesman Jacques Necker.
She was born on April 22, 1766 in Paris. In her mother's salon, the literary celebrities of Paris converged. From the age of 11, Germain was constantly present at these evenings and eagerly listened to the conversations of the guests. Fifteen years old, Germaine wrote notes on her father's famous financial statement and made extracts from Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, adding her own reflections to them. During this time, her favorite writers were Richardson and Russo. Richardson's influence was reflected in her first works, which were distinguished by a sentimental direction (for example, "Mirza", "Adelaide", "Méline").
Rousseau attracted her with his cult of nature and his system of education. Later (1788) she dedicated to him an enthusiastic essay "Letters about the works and personality of J. J. Rousseau." At the age of 17, Germaine's heart experiences first love, but for the sake of her mother she has to suppress her feelings. Madame Necker was looking for a brilliant party for her daughter; her choice settled on the Swedish envoy in Paris, Baron Erich Magnus Stahl von Holstein. The French and Swedish courts took part in the arrangement of this marriage, which had been negotiated for 6 years. Yielding to the advice of her father, 20-year-old Germaine decided to give her hand to Baron de Stael, but in this marriage she did not find the happiness she dreamed of. Baron de Stael could not arouse any sympathy in Germain: he was a poorly educated secular man and twice as old as his wife, who attracted him mainly with her rich dowry. When the revolution broke out and Necker was forced to flee France, Madame de Stael first remained in Paris. At this time, her salon, which replaced Madame Necker's salon, managed to become the most brilliant in Paris. Memoirs of contemporaries are full of stories about the lasting impression that a young woman made in this period of her life. Her brilliant mind, eloquence and enthusiasm made her the queen of the chosen Parisian society.
When revolutionary unrest began, she, using her influence, saved many from the guillotine, often risking her life herself. The September murders forced her to flee Paris. After leaving Paris, she took refuge in England. Among other French émigrés, there was also the former Minister of War, Count Louis de Narbonne, with whom she began a rapprochement back in Paris. This was her first passion, which found reciprocity, the influence of which was reflected in the book “On the Influence of Passions on the Happiness of People and Nations”, written by her at that time (published later, in 1796). Soon, however, saddened by Narbonne's betrayal, Steel parted with him. Before leaving England, Steel, outraged by the mistreatment of Queen Marie Antoinette, published anonymously a brochure: Refléxion sur le procès de la Reine, par une femme (1793), in which she tried to arouse compassion for the unfortunate queen.
In 1793, Steel moved to Switzerland (in Copp) and, having buried her mother here, spent two years in the company of her beloved father, whose mind and character she adored until the end of her life (in 1804 she published Vie privée de Mr. Necker ).
At this time, a variety of artists visit her and live in her house. The writer Frederica Brun has lived with her for several years.
In Copp, Stahl met Benjamin Constant. The strong impression that these diametrically opposed characters made on each other at the first meeting laid the foundation for a romance episode that lasted more than ten years and had a tremendous impact on the life and literary activity of Madame de Stael.
In 1796, the French Republic was recognized by Switzerland and Steel could return to Paris. Here her salon again became an influential literary and political center. Among its regular visitors were Sieyès, Talleyrand, Gara, philologist Claude Foriel, economist J. Ch. Sismondi, B. Constant. Having achieved an unspoken divorce from her husband, but continuing to live with him in the same house, de Stael found herself in an ambivalent position, which her secular and political opponents were not slow to take advantage of, making her a target of offensive gossip. She gives the outcome to the feelings that worried her at that time in the novel "Dolphin", which consolidated her literary fame: here is depicted the unfortunate fate of a highly gifted woman who entered into an unequal struggle against the despotism of public opinion. At the same time, Stahl was working on an extensive essay "On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Institutions" (1796-99). The task of the book is to trace the influence of religion, morals, legislation on literature and vice versa.
When Madame de Stael's salon became the center of the opposition, she was ordered to leave Paris. In 1802 she went to Germany with Constant. Here she met Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, W. Humboldt, A. Schlegel; She entrusts the latter with the upbringing of her children. The impressions she made from her trip to Germany formed the basis of the book "About Germany", written five years later (see below). In 1804, her father's fatal illness summons her to Koppé. B. Konstan's cooling towards her that began from that time, to whom she has been deeply attached for many years, makes her suffer so much that she dreams of an imminent death. To stifle her mental anguish, she goes to Italy. In Milan, she was impressed by the Italian poet Vincenzo Monti. The fruit of de Stael's travels in Italy was her novel Corinne ou l'Italie. The plot of the novel is the question of the fate of a brilliant woman, of the contradiction between love and fame. Corinna is Steel itself, idealized and elevated to perfection; she strains all her mental strength, spends all her gifts in order to reach the climax of glory - and all this is only in order to be loved; but it remains unappreciated precisely by those whom it puts above all. In the personality of Lord Nelville, hints of Constant and his betrayal are heard. "Corinna" - a work more consistent than "Dolphin" - had a brilliant success with contemporaries. In 1807, taking advantage of Napoleon's absence, Steel, yearning for Paris, decided to settle in its vicinity. The rumor that she was appearing incognito in Paris itself reached the emperor, who, among the concerns of the Prussian campaign, found time to prescribe her immediate removal to Coppé.
In 1807-1808. Steel visited Weimar again and traveled to Munich and Vienna. Returning from Germany, she learned from Constant in Geneva about his secret marriage to Charlotte Hardenberg. This news at first infuriated her, but then a religious pacification descended on her soul. This era of her life includes her works on the book "On Germany", the most complete of her works, in which Stahl sets out to acquaint French society with the character of the German nationality, with the way of life of the Germans, their literature, philosophy and religion.
In 1810, a young officer, Albert de Rocca, returned to Geneva from a Spanish campaign to be treated for his wounds. Taking care of him, Steel fascinated him and he, despite the significant age difference, infected Steel with his passion. After some hesitation, she secretly married him. In 1812, the persecution of the Swiss authorities, acting to please Napoleon, forced Steel to flee from Coppé, and she went through Austria to Russia. Here she was given the widest hospitality. August 5 was presented to Their Majesties. V.L.Borovikovsky paints her portrait.
She described her impressions in Russia in the second part of her book "Dix années d'Exil" (1821). Here are scattered many apt remarks about the character of the Russian people, about the social order of that time, about the life and mores of different classes of society. Steel left Russia for Sweden, where Bernadotte offered her asylum. From there she went to England and remained there until Napoleon was defeated and imprisoned on the island of Elba; then she returned to Paris after 10 years of exile.
The reaction after the restoration aroused her indignation. She was equally outraged by the "humiliation" of France by foreigners, and by the intolerance and obscurantism of the party of aristocratic emigrants. In this mood, she began to finish her Considérations sur les principaux événements de la révolution française (1818). This work consists of several parts, between which there is no complete unity. Initially, Madame de Stael intended to confine herself to an exposition of the first phase of the revolution and to write, among other things, an apology for her father; but then she expanded the content of her work, aiming to present a defense of the French Revolution and find out its main results. To this she added an etude on the English constitution and society, and then a discourse on the state of affairs in France in 1816.
On February 21, 1817, Germaine de Stael went to a reception hosted by the chief minister of Louis XVIII. She fell as she climbed the steps. A cerebral hemorrhage has occurred. For several months de Stael was ill and died in 1817 on the significant day of the beginning of the Great French Revolution - July 14.
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Anna Louise Germaine de Stael
Anna Louise Germain
de Stael "
Before Germaine de Stael, no woman played the same role in history as she did. She was not a queen, an empress who ruled over people by inheritance. She achieved a higher honor - she became the ruler of the thoughts of an entire generation that survived the Great French Revolution. Germaine de Stael paved the way for a romantic rebellion in France, her writings marking the transition from the Enlightenment to Romanticism. It is difficult to find a woman who at the beginning of the 19th century would be so famous in Europe and whose works would consider it their duty to study the most worthy men. The talent of de Stael was highly appreciated by Goethe, Schiller, Chamisso, the Schlegel brothers. Byron, who was skeptical of "learned women," made an exception for her. "This is an outstanding woman," he wrote in his diary, "she has done more in the mental field than all other women taken together, she would have been born a man." Well, Onegin, tormented by a cruel blues and rereading on this occasion everything that stood on the bookshelf of an educated person of his time, of course, could not miss the works of the French writer.
Agree that already one such "star" neighborhood on the bookshelf speaks more about our heroine than any eulogy. However, speaking of de Stael as a writer, it is often forgotten that she was rather endowed not with literary talents, but with a brilliant education and a lively versatile mind. She wrote plays, novels, but political pamphlets, theoretical works on aesthetics, in which Germaine de Stael expressed thoughts that outraged the public, became a more successful field of her activity. She left one of the first historical works about her time - "Consideration of the main events of the French Revolution", published posthumously in 1818.
But Germaine's talent manifested itself in another, now completely disappeared sphere. The Swiss banker Necker, her father, was considered a great financial expert. Louis XVI called him three times to the post of minister in order to save the French economy from collapse. According to their social status, the Necker spouses were obliged to live openly, to keep, as they said at the time, a salon where local celebrities gathered. In the early eighties, when a Swiss settled in Paris for the first time, the regulars of the salon paid attention to the teenage girl who was constantly present at the meetings, with an unusually mobile face and lively, intelligent eyes - the owner's daughter. And if later Germaine became famous for her salon receptions, then this is not surprising - from a young age she hurried in the evenings to take a "rightful" place on a stool near her mother's chair and, as soon as the debate began, everything turned out to be heard. She, of course, was not yet allowed to "open" her mouth, but no one could forbid Germaine to listen with her mouth open. She seemed to be equally interested in any issues discussed in the salon - politics, religion, literature. But the real bliss for Germaine became private conversations with her father. When Minister Necker published his famous financial statement in 1781, his fifteen-year-old daughter wrote him an anonymous letter in which she commented on the work.
Like many educated young people of the time, Germaine was fond of Rousseau. Now it is difficult to imagine why the readers of "Julia, or New Eloise" experienced so much excitement, so many tears shed over the love story of the intelligent plebeian Saint-Pré to married Julia, whose husband Volmir graciously allowed them to communicate, confident in his wife's virtue. Germaine also fell among the touched admirers of Rousseau. However, she did not belong to those who simply sympathize with the experiences of the heroes. The "social contract" preached by Rousseau became the political Bible for Germaine. The girl had too powerful an analytical mind to see only a love story in "New Eloise". Rousseau stimulated the thought of young Germaine. At twenty-two, she wrote "Discourses on the Writings and Character of J.-J. Rousseau", showing an amazing independence of judgments.
However, one should not think that our heroine, having excellent command of logic, being able to clothe her thoughts in clear phrases like a man, was a type of dry, rational woman. On the contrary, many contemporaries noted the excessive passion of her nature, intemperance and, if I may say so, even bad manners. The person who was bothering to conclude the marriage of the Swedish envoy Eric Magnus de Stahl Holstein with the wealthy heiress of the Swiss banker, the maiden Necker, wrote after the engagement of the young to King Gustav III: True, his wife was brought up in the rules of honor and virtue, but she is completely unfamiliar with the world and its decencies, and, moreover, she has such a high opinion of her mind that it will be difficult to convince her of her shortcomings.
Anna Louise Germain
de Stael "
She is power-hungry and decisive in her judgments; she is as confident in herself as any woman of her age and position. She judges everything at random, and although she cannot be denied in her mind, nevertheless, of the twenty-five judgments she expressed, only one is quite appropriate. The envoy does not dare to make any remark to her for fear of pushing her away from him at first. ”Well, if the marriage of M. -really unhappy.
Burdened with debts, pretty shabby secular veil, married for a dowry, Eric de Stael in all respects "did not reach" his other half. The poetic dreams of a young girl, which she preached in her treatises - about the merging of two lives into one in marriage - crumbled to dust. The only child of their union, Gustavina, did not live to be two years old. Wanting to hide from disappointments, Germaine indulged in literary pursuits with even greater zeal and, following the example of her parents, opened a salon in which, as if inherited, her mother's former guests gathered. According to the stories of contemporaries, the young hostess charmed the interlocutors with brilliant eloquence, the ability to improvise and with an amazing gift to awaken thought. "If I were a queen," said one of her admirers, "I would make her always talk to me."
De Stael welcomed the revolution of 1789 with enthusiasm. Opposed to Louis XVI, the salon enthusiastically welcomed the fall of the Bastille. In addition, Germaine's father, whom she still idolized, who was twice retired by the king, was called by the new government to state activities. Germaine initially took an active part in revolutionary events, but unlimited terror forced her to switch from an "offensive" to a "protracted defense." Only the position of the wife of the Swedish envoy helped de Stael save many of his friends from the guillotine. Once Germaine met the Minister of War of the court of Louis, the Count of Narbonne - a brilliant gentleman and noble knight, in a word, the man of her dreams. The romantic flight abroad, in which de Stael took an active part, gave Narbonne the aura of a martyr in her eyes. In the end, the woman followed to England, where her lover found refuge, and, not really taking into account the opinion of the world, did not hide her close friendship with the count. The relationship with Narbonne did not last long, soon a letter from her husband, in which he called an unfaithful wife to the family hearth, awakened Germaine from romantic dreams. True, Germaine gave birth to two sons from the Count of Narbonne, to whom she prudently left the surname de Stael.
It is difficult to say now how the count survived the loss of his beloved, but it is known for certain that time healed Germaine's heart wound, and two years later they met in Paris as good friends, experiencing only slight pricks of pride from mutual indifference. The change in the political situation allowed the de Stael family to return to France. The first victories of the young General Bonaparte delighted Germaine. She wrote him enthusiastic letters. De Stael was one of the first to notice that Napoleon was rapidly moving towards dictatorship, and did not consider it necessary to hide her own observations. The freethinking nature of the writer prevailed over female infatuation. And the vengeful Bonaparte never forgave her for this. For Germain, Napoleon felt a downright pathological hatred!
“He could not stand the famous Madame de Stael even before he was angry with her for her oppositional political mentality, and hated her for the excessive, in his opinion, political interest for a woman, for her claims to erudition and profundity. Unquestioning obedience and submission to his will - this is the most necessary quality, without which a woman did not exist for him ", - wrote E.V. Tarle in his book "Napoleon".
However, there were men who saw the ideal in her. In 1794, Germaine met Benjamin Constant, a very prominent political and literary figure of the time. She was about thirty at the time. She was not beautiful; her features were too large. Her main charm, according to contemporaries, was her large black eyes, which became unusually expressive when Germaine was inspired by a conversation. With her matte bronze complexion, with her eyes, she resembled a Turkish woman, which, apparently, she knew about, and therefore sought to enhance the similarity with a headdress that looked somewhat like an oriental turban. Constant was strikingly handsome. With his piercing blue eyes, his fair-haired curls scattered over his shoulders and his fantastic cloak, he represented the type of romantic man who was then in vogue, especially since the melancholic, jaded, tired look at his surroundings completed the picture of a bored, somewhat demonic youth who bore the stamp of the experience tragedy.
In fact, everything was quite the opposite - Germaine became a real "devil" in their union. A strong-willed, energetic, domineering woman conquered Konstan. In his diary, he wrote: “I have never seen a better woman, more graceful, more devoted, but I also have not seen a woman who would make such insistent demands, without noticing it herself, who would absorb the life of everyone around her to such an extent and who all virtues would have a more despotic personality; the whole existence of another person, minutes, hours, years, should be at her disposal. And when she surrenders to her passion, a catastrophe occurs like thunderstorms and earthquakes. She is a spoiled child, that says it all. "
Well, Germaine knew her own worth and did not intend to adapt to someone. Of course, the love of de Stael and Benjamin Constant is worthy of description in a serious psychological romance, but in life the lovers "drank each other's blood." Germaine insisted on a de facto divorce from her former husband, leaving herself only the surname de Stael, gave birth to a daughter to Constance, but a passionate feeling that lasted a whole decade resulted in endless nervous scenes. Even when they parted, Germaine managed to embarrass Benjamin's peace with letters. In his diary, Constant specially noted rare days that were not marked by a showdown. What a difficult relationship must be, so that, not having the strength to end it, in the end exclaim: "God! Free us from each other!"
Probably, the reader guessed about the ending of our heroine's novel. "They don't marry people like Germain." Indeed, Constant finally, satiated with passions, became engaged to a pretty, unpretentious German woman, Charlotte. And ... he immediately began to miss his abandoned mistress. Like a true Don Juan, he tormented the hearts of both women - the talented and smartest de Stael and the colorless, unknown simpleton.
Meanwhile, Germaine's conflict with Napoleon reached its climax. In January 1800, Constant spoke of an emerging tyranny. Napoleon was furious, he not without reason considered de Stael the inspirer of this speech. The writer was asked to leave Paris. In April 1800, she responded to this order by publishing the book On Literature, in which Bonaparte saw a direct attack on his power.
The full title of this work, "On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Institutions," precisely defined its main idea. Gravitating towards solid research, Germaine tried to make an overview of European writing from Homer to the French Revolution, explaining the nature of the literature of each people by the conditions of its social and political life. This global work of de Stael laid the foundation for the cultural-historical method in the history of literature.
The first fiction novel that brought Germaine fame was a work inspired by the plots of her own struggle for free love. The image of the heroine Dolphina, an unhappy, gifted woman, echoes the character traits of the writer herself. De Stael generally relied little on fantasy and preferred to transfer the most burning problems of the time to the pages of her creations. That is why her novels most often resembled political or sociological treatises, manifestos against the violation of human rights. They were pompous and drawn-out, but such an intense thought pulsed in them that not to get acquainted with the new works of Madame de Stael was considered indecent in enlightened Europe.
Loud fame awaited the most significant novel of the writer "Corinna, or Italy". The recognizable twists and turns of her love drama with Constant echo in the book with serious generalizations.
In 1811, tired of persecution, Germaine decided to leave for America. However, new love prevented new plans. While passing through Switzerland, de Stael met a young and handsome French officer who was healing wounds received in the Spanish war there. Germaine took an ardent part in the fate of the sufferer, and, as was to be expected, by the time of his recovery, the officer could no longer imagine his future without our heroine. True, Germaine never wanted to "make people laugh" and marry a man who was twenty years younger than her, so she ... agreed to a secret marriage.
After the fall of Napoleon, de Stael returned in triumph to Paris, where a tense political life awaited her. The writer understood that the return of the Bourbons to the throne was unacceptable for France, therefore, with her usual instinct, she herself chose a contender for power. However, Napoleon's victors restored the dynasty of the former kings. Yet fifteen years later, in 1830, a challenger supported by Germaine became King Louis Philippe. But this happened after the death of de Stael.
On February 21, 1817, Germaine went to a reception hosted by the chief minister of Louis XVIII. She fell as she climbed the steps. A cerebral hemorrhage has occurred. Germaine de Stael died on the significant day of the beginning of the Great French Revolution - July 14.
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Name of the French writer Germaine de Stael(1766-1817) today has little to say to the modern reader. The titles of her famous novels "Dolphin" (1802) and "Corinna, or Italy" (1807) remained in the history of literature, although today they are read with enthusiasm as wonderful love novels, where a woman appears as a noble loving heart, and a man - despite a military courage - by an indecisive, evasive, "timid" man.
Stendhal wrote in his diary: "This is a passionate soul, describing what she felt."
The daughter of a Swiss banker Necker Anna Louise Germain (this is her full name) was born in Paris, where her father served as finance minister under Louis XVI, and was brought up in her mother's salon, where Diderot, D'Alembert, Grimm and other brilliant minds. At the age of 15, she wrote a treatise, which the historian Abbot Reinal included in his work "The Philosophical and Political History of the Institutions and Trade of Europeans in the Two Indies."
At the age of 20, Josephine, at the insistence of her parents, married the Swedish ambassador to France Eric Magnus de Stael, flattered not only by youth, but also by the bride's rich dowry. The couple soon secretly parted, but she retained this surname not only for herself, but also for the children, although the count was the father of two sons. Narbonne, minister of war during the revolution.
The father of the daughter of Albertina became the famous Benjamin Constant, social and literary figure, author of the novel "Adolf" (1816), where he described his relationship with the famous writer. It was Constant who brought her severe mental suffering, since, without interrupting his relationship with her, he secretly married another.
In her novel "Dolphin", which was read by Pushkin's heroine Tatyana Larina, de Stael defended the woman's right to freedom of feeling, opposed the indissolubility of Catholic marriage, defended the right to divorce the unloved.
Imagining a heroine
Your beloved creators,
Clarice, Julia, Dolphin,
Tatiana in the silence of the woods
One with a dangerous book wanders ...
The hero Léonce de Mondoville loves Delphine, but fulfills his mother's wish and marries her cousin, because Delphine is a young widow who decided to disregard the conventions of secular society. Society slandered Dolphin. The hero realized his mistake, but too late - both die.
In the novel Corinna, or Italy, the Englishman Lord Nerville is in love with the poetess Corinna, but fulfills the wish of his late father, who did not want and was afraid of his marriage to Corinne, since her mother is Italian. His father feared that his love for Corinne would not alienate him from England. The lord marries Corinne's sister, an English-born, secretly from Corinne. She falls ill with fleeting consumption and dies, Lord Nerville barely survives from the grief he experienced from the loss of love and beloved. He frankly does not love his wife.
This successful military man says about himself: “There is a certain weakness in my character, and I am afraid of everything that can disturb my existence ... I am so indecisive that even having chosen the most beautiful lot, I would inevitably regret something else” marital ties and I love your sister, but the human heart is so strange and contradictory that it can contain the tenderness that I cherish for you, along with love for her. "
Corinna not only loves him passionately and is the first to confess her love for him (this is where Tatyana Larina got the determination to be the first to confess to Eugene Onegin! From Corinna!). Corinna is a poetess, writer, improviser, famous in Italy, the most famous woman and beauty. But nothing can help her overcome cowardice and suspiciousness, the false duty of her hero.
Corinna shows lord Nerville the artistic treasures of Italy, and in return receives an arrogant sermon from him: “Great art belongs to you, the works of your brilliant artists shine with imagination and ingenuity, but how is human dignity protected in you? What are your institutions! What a weakness most of your rulers show! And at the same time, how they enslave the minds! "
Corinna replies to the lord: “We live in such an age when almost all the actions of people are guided by self-interest. But can self-interest ever breed sympathy, inspiration, enthusiasm? And how sweet it is to return in dreams to those days of true devotion, selflessness, heroism! After all, they really were, because our land keeps their majestic traces to this day! "
Corinna says about herself: "I am a poet when I admire, when I despise, when I hate, but all this is not in the name of my personal good, but in the name of the dignity of the human race and for the glory of the universe." She is not only a poet, but also a musician: "Sometimes I take my lyre and try to convey in separate chords or in simple folk melodies thoughts and feelings that I have not been able to put into words."
Corinne is not afraid to chastise Lord Nerville: “I notice in you that national arrogance with which your compatriots are so often distinguished! We Italians are more modest: we are not as complacent as the French, and not as arrogant as the British. "
One of the founders of European romanticism, de Stael paid special attention to the originality, uniqueness of each nation, each people.
Corinna assures her beloved: “When writers are deprived of the opportunity to contribute to the happiness of their people, when they write only to shine, when movement turns into a goal for them, they begin to look for roundabouts and do not move forward ... I can hardly believe that it will be a blessing if the peoples of the whole world lose their national flavor, their special way of thinking and feeling. "
However, the male heroes - one French, the other Englishman - appeared in her novels in the love relationship of a timid dozen: "European men for a rendezvous" (recall the famous article N. G. Chernyshevsky about a Russian man at a rendezvous - a love date; Had he not read de Stael's novels?)
Napoleon disliked the writer very soon. After the release of Dolphins, the author was accused of atheism and calls for the immoral behavior of women, calls for the struggle for their rights. In Russia in the journal "Vestnik Evropy" (1803, No. 2), which was published by the future great historian N. M. Karamzin, he responded to these events in the following way: “The glorious daughter of a glorious father has many troubles in Paris; the Grand Consul himself is not very fond of her, and they say that he did not like Dolphin: so it is not surprising that journalists judge her with extreme severity. The only wonder is that Bonaparte has time to read novels. "
A few years later, Napoleon published an unsigned article in the government newspaper Monitor, exposing de Stael's novel Corinne, although he owns the famous dictum: "There are two forces in the world - the saber and the mind ... In the end, the mind always triumphs over the saber." Napoleon expelled the writer from Paris. In 1806, he ordered the Minister of Police: "Do not let this scoundrel, Madame de Stael, come close to Paris."
Wanting to soften Napoleon, de Stael sent him her book "On Germany", but he ordered the destruction of the entire circulation - all ten thousand copies, and her son, who obtained an audience with Bonaparte to protect his mother from being expelled, said: "Paris ... this is mine the capital, and I want to see in it only those who love me. "
De Stael's contemporaries were Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Byron, Stendhal... But only this brave woman dared to oppose the conqueror of Europe, which submitted to him.
Stendhal, along with Napoleon's army, ended up in Moscow. However, he did not forgive Germaine de Stael for her revelations of Bonaparte in her posthumous book Reflections on the Major Events of the French Revolution (1817-1818).
He called it "libel" in his book about Napoleon, but remarked: "This libel was written by the most talented pen of our century."
Byron wrote in his diary: “This is an outstanding woman, she has done more in the mental field than all other women taken together; she should have been born a man. "
When in 1825 in the Russian magazine "Son of the Fatherland" A.A. Mukhanov scolded de Stael's book "Ten Years of Exile", calling the author a "lady."
Pushkin defended the writer in the article "About Mrs. Stal and about Mr. A. M-ve": "About this lady should have spoken in the language of a polite educated person. This lady was honored by Napoleon, the monarchs of power of attorney, Byron with his friendship, Europe with his respect, and Mr. AM a magazine article not very sharp and very indecent. " In a letter to P. A. Vyazemsky he put it more simply: Madame de Stael "ours - don't touch her." In the unfinished novel Roslavlev, Pushkin portrayed de Stael, about whom the heroine Polina says: "I know what influence a woman can have on public opinion." She calls to look at Madame de Stael: "Napoleon fought with her as with an enemy force." It was Napoleon who owns the word "ideology" - to them he denoted hostile intellectual currents.
The Decembrists, like Pushkin, highly appreciated the works of de Stael. Nikolay Turgenev wrote in his diary: "... a constant love for freedom, love and respect for humanity, the idea of the need for morality in both private and political life - these properties of the writings" Madame de Stael will have a "beneficial effect."
During the invasion of Napoleon's army to Russia, she ended up in it, making her way with her children and her young husband as an officer to Sweden. In her book "Ten Years of Exile" she wrote astutely: "The genius of Russians will find themselves in art and especially in literature, when they learn to express their true essence in words, as they express it in deeds." Meaning by "deed" the Russian victories over the French army.
Pushkin highly appreciated this book: "a noble foreigner" "was the first to give full justice to the Russian people, the eternal subject of ignorant slander of foreign writers." It is surprising that this book has not yet been translated into Russian. However, there is nothing to be surprised ...
The role of de Stael's works in European literature is very great. She urged writers to return to the origins of their national homeland, which were grown "by our religion and our customs." She approved by law that the literature of each nation is closely related to its life, and therefore for each nation it has its own special. Her discoveries were assimilated as their own by such talents as Hugo, Stendhal, Balzac, Georges Sand... And the personality of Georges Sand overshadowed the figure and novels of Josephine de Stael. However, her book "On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Institutions" (1796) brought Europe a new view that literature influences society as much as society influences literature.
It is a pity that we began to forget all this. De Stael saw the flowering of literature in its connection with the people, with the nation: “Only oblivion humiliates the soul; but she can find refuge in the greatness of the past if the harsh circumstances prevent us from manifesting ourselves in fruitful activities. Where are the feelings and thoughts of our ancestors now? "
Illustration in opening article: Portrait of Germain de Stael / wikipedia
