unnoticed, astonishing the carefully chosen elite society which surrounded her mother.
And so emerged a cultivated young woman with uncommon intellectual abilities who married, at 19
years old, Mr. de Staël, Ambassador of Sweden in Paris. Necker, desiring the
happiness of his daughter, refrained from imposing his will on her, and left her the choice to marry, or not, Mr. de Staël. She could have refused, as she had before with other
parties (including Mr. Pitt, future Prime Minister of England). At the time, a marriage meant a contract between two parties who had a certain interest: Mr. de Staël married money from his father-in-law, Miss Necker, the freedom to be mistress of the house, and to hold, in turn, her own salon, thus freeing herself of any maternal tutelage.
Her salon quickly became a place where we talked about politics, and where the speeches of ministers were
being prepared. Literature and arts were not overlooked either, but the field of ideas couldn't be of pure philoso-phy; it only made sense if those ideas led to a realization, an application in life. Wasn’t it the precise role of politics?
In 1789, Madame de Staël was 23 years old. When you are young, rich, brilliant, listened to, and an influential mind amid a circle of friends of the world’s finest people—
Romanticism Madame de Staël
Her Philosophy, Her Ideas, Her Work
By Caroline Vatan
Transalted from French by Al Mohymont
Famous Quotes by Madame de Staël
"One must choose in life, between boredom and suffering."
"Men do not change, they unmask themselves."
"The more I see of men, the more I like dogs."
“Genius is essentially creative; it bears the stamp of the individual who possesses it.”
“Love is the whole history of a woman’s life, it is but an episode in a man’s.”
“Wit consists in knowing the resemblance of things which differ, and the difference of things which are alike.”
Portrait of Suzanne Curchod (Madame Jacques Necker and de Staël's mother), (1739-1794) wearing a white satin dress.
Title page of Madame de Staël’s novel, Corinne ou l’italie, 1807, 3rd edition, published 1808, PD.
An Independent
Woman
The Rebel
49 | Ceres Magazine | Spring 2016