![]() Then, she reasoned, he would always be around for her. The Swedish Embassy, Hôtel de Ségur, later Hôtel de Salm-DyckĪged 11, Germaine had suggested to her mother that she marry Edward Gibbon, a visitor to her salon, whom she found most attractive. The family returned to the Paris region in 1785. Her father "is remembered today for taking the unprecedented step in 1781 of making public the country’s budget, a novelty in an absolute monarchy where the state of the national finances had always been kept secret, leading to his dismissal in May of that year." The family eventually took up residence in 1784 at Château Coppet, an estate her father purchased on Lake Geneva. This exposure probably contributed to a nervous breakdown in adolescence, but the seeds of a literary vocation had been sown. At the age of 13, she read Montesquieu, Shakespeare, Rousseau and Dante. On Fridays she regularly brought Germaine as a young child to sit at her feet in her salon, where the guests took pleasure in stimulating the brilliant child. Mme Necker wanted her daughter educated according to the principles of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and endow her with the intellectual education and Calvinist discipline instilled in her by her pastor father. Germaine (or Minette) was the only child of Suzanne Curchod, who hosted in Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin one of the most popular salons of Paris and prominent banker and statesman Jacques Necker, who was the Director-General of Finance under King Louis XVI of France. De Staël spread the notion of Romanticism widely by its repeated use. Her works, whether novels, travel literature or polemics, which emphasised individuality and passion, made a lasting mark on European thought. Known as a witty and brilliant conversationalist, and often dressed in daring outfits, she stimulated the political and intellectual life of her times. In 1814 one of her contemporaries observed that "there are three great powers struggling against Napoleon for the soul of Europe: England, Russia, and Madame de Staël". In exile, she became the centre of the Coppet group with her unrivalled network of contacts across Europe. For many years she lived as an exile – firstly during the Reign of Terror and later due to personal persecution by Napoleon. She discovered sooner than others the tyrannical character and designs of Napoleon. Her intellectual collaboration with Benjamin Constant between 17 made them one of the most celebrated intellectual couples of their time. She was present at the Estates General of 1789 and at the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. She was a voice of moderation in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era up to the French Restoration. Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein ( French: née Necker 22 April 1766 – 14 July 1817), commonly known as Madame de Staël ( French: ), was a French woman of letters and political theorist, the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzanne Curchod, a leading salonnière. ![]()
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