Madame de Stael : Her Friends, and her Influence in Politics and Literature

This three-volume study of Madame de Staël (1766–1817) by Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843–1917) was published in English in 1889, translated from German. An authoritative account of the novelist, intellectual and renowned salonnière, it remains of great value to scholars interested in the French Revolution and its aftermath.

An accomplished biographer of figures ranging from Talleyrand to Cardinal Newman, Charlotte Blennerhassett (1843–1917) originally published this three-volume study in German. Reissued here is the English translation of 1889 by J. E. Gordon Cumming. Madame de Staël (1766–1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as among the 'great men' of the era. A novelist, salonnière, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 2 of Blennerhassett's authoritative study addresses Madame de Staël's life from the Revolution through to the first decade of the nineteenth century, examining the ascent of Napoleon, with whom she strongly disagreed, and her exile to Coppet in Switzerland - where she organised her famous salon - as well as her celebrated visit to England and travels in Germany.