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
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
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
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...
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...
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
Lydia Maria Child
LMC
's first four subjects were all known for their writings and for their resistance to tyrannical authority, either political or religious, but she is more interested here in what she alleges to have been...
Textual Features
Maria Jane Jewsbury
The second story, The History of a Nonchalant is an early fictional treatment of religious doubt as suffered by its intellectual male protagonist, Charles. He travels to Rome, where he marries an Italian poet...
Textual Features
Harriet Martineau
Her subjects in the first essay are Hannah More
(especially her Practical Piety and An Essay on the Character and Practical Writings of Saint Paul) and Anna Letitia Barbauld
, whom she regarded as...
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...
