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

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 Stael (1766-1817), an intellectual in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, was ranked by Auguste Comte as being among the ‘great men’ of the era. A novelist, salonniere, literary and social critic, and follower of Rousseau, she became keenly involved in the opposition to Louis XVI. Volume 3 of Blennerhassett’s authoritative study covers Madame de Stael’s life from the early years of the nineteenth century through to her death. It includes a fascinating account of her journey to Weimar and friendships with Goethe and Schiller, her travels in Italy, her return to Paris after the defeat of Napoleon and her acquaintance with the Duke of Wellington.