Anne-Louise Germaine de Stael (Baroness de Stael-Holstein; French: Anne-Louise Germaine baronne de Stael-Holstein), known simply as Madame de Stael (French: Madame de Stael). Madame de Steel in Russia Germaine de Steel short biography

The work of Madame de Staël

“Corinna”, M., 1809
"Dolphin", M., 1803
“New stories”, M., 1815

Modern editions

Other writings

"Essais dramatiques" (1821)

Anne-Louise Germain, Baroness de Stael-Holstein was born on April 22, 1766 in the city of Paris. The literary celebrities of Paris met in her mother's salon. From the age of eleven, Germaine was constantly present at these evenings and eagerly listened to the conversations of the guests. In vain did the strict mother try with an education system based on the principles of duty to restrain and discipline her lively and impressionable daughter.

The richly gifted and exalted girl, escaping the influence of her mother, became especially ardently attached to her father, who spent hours talking on a wide variety of issues with his dearly beloved daughter. This is how the one that became the founder of the new romantic literature in France was formed. Its difference from previous, classic literature consisted mainly in the values ​​that the authors sang in their works. Previously, state interests, duty and society were important, but now the value of the individual and his freedom came to the fore.

At the age of fifteen, Germaine wrote comments on her father’s financial “Report” and made extracts from Montesquieu’s “The Spirit of the Laws,” adding her own thoughts to them. At this time, her favorite writers were Richardson and Rousseau, whose influence was felt in her first works, which were distinguished by a sentimental direction.

In 1786, following her father's advice, Germaine married Baron de Stael, but in this marriage she did not find the happiness she dreamed of. The husband was unable to arouse any sympathy in the girl: he turned out to be a poorly educated socialite and twice the age of his wife, who attracted him mainly with her rich dowry.

When the revolution broke out and the baron was forced to flee France, Madame de Staël initially remained in Paris. At this time, her salon managed to become the most brilliant in Paris. The memoirs of contemporaries are full of stories about the indelible impression that the young woman made during this period of her life. Her brilliant mind, eloquence and enthusiasm made her the queen of the elite Parisian society. But soon she had to leave Paris, finding refuge in England, and in 1793 she moved to Switzerland, where she continued to write.

In 1796, the French Republic was recognized by Switzerland and Germaine was able to return to Paris. Here her salon again became an influential literary center. Having achieved an unofficial divorce from her husband, but continuing to live with him in the same house, de Staël became a target for gossip on the part of her secular opponents. Her response to society was her novel “Delphine,” which strengthened her literary fame. At the same time, de Stael is working on an extensive essay: “De la littérature, considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales,” in which he traces the influence of religion, morals, legislation on literature and vice versa and concludes that literature in the new republican society should serve as an expression of new social ideals and to be a defender of political and moral freedom.

This work could not but seem dangerous to the government of the first consul. When Madame de Stael's salon became the center of opposition, she was ordered to leave Paris, and in 1802 she went to Germany. Here he meets Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Humboldt, Schlegel. Impressions from this trip formed the basis of the book: “De l’Allemagne”, written five years later. Then the writer goes to Italy. The fruit of de Staël’s travels in Italy was her novel: “Corinne ou l’Italie.” In general, de Staël’s heroines are based on herself: talented and strong women, yearning for recognition and true love.

Madame de Staël did not shine with talent as a fiction writer; it was difficult for her to come up with fiction. The characters surrounding the main characters were poorly thought out and looked like the scenery for a one-man show. But she was able to be the first to define a new literary movement and show it the path of development. In addition, her work on the current political situation deserves attention.

The author has written a lot about the dependence of literature on social life. But her political views always ran counter to the official ones. She even sent the book “About Germany,” which described the culture and philosophy of the Germans, to Napoleon personally along with a letter in which she asked for an audience. She believed that the power of her conviction, which conquered many, could influence the emperor. But the ruler burned the book and ignored the request, apparently afraid of losing the mental acuity of the famous Madame de Staël. Instead of meeting, Napoleon ordered her to stay in Coppe, where he surrounded her with spies.

In 1812, the persecution of the Swiss authorities, acting to please Napoleon, forced the writer to flee Coppe, and the woman went through Austria to Russia, where she was shown the widest hospitality. Vladimir Borovikovsky paints her portrait, Konstantin Batyushkov characterizes de Stael: “... She’s ugly as hell and smart as an angel.” The writer described her impressions in Russia in the second part of her book “Dix années d’Exil”.

From Russia, de Staël left for England and remained there until Napoleon was defeated and imprisoned on the island of Elba. Only then did she return to Paris after a ten-year exile. She devoted the last years of her life to work on the French Revolution and its consequences.

The work of Madame de Staël

Lifetime translations into Russian

"Melina", trans. Karamzin, 1795
“Corinna”, M., 1809
"Dolphin", M., 1803
“New stories”, M., 1815

Modern editions

“On the influence of passions on the happiness of people and nations” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 363-374, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
“On literature in its connection with social institutions” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 374-383, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
“About Germany” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 383-391, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
“On literature considered in connection with social institutions”, M., Art, 1989, series: History of aesthetics in monuments and documents, trans. V. A. Milchina;
“Ten Years in Exile”, M., OGI, 2003, preface, trans. and comment. V. A. Milchina.
Discussions about the main events of the French Revolution / Fragment from the book // New Youth, 2017, No. 3.

Other writings

"Réflexions sur la paix adressées à M. Pitt et aux Français" (1795)
"Réflexions sur le suicide" (1813)
"Zulma et trois nouvelles" (1813)
"Essais dramatiques" (1821)
"Oeuvres complètes" 17 t., (1820-21)

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Germaine de Stael
fr.
Birth name:	Anna Louise Germaine Necker
Place of Birth:
Direction:

Anne-Louise Germain, Baroness de Stael-Holstein fr. Anne-Louise Germaine baronne de Staël-Holstein ), known simply as Madame de Stael(fr. Madame de Staël; - ) - French writer, daughter of a prominent statesman Jacques Necker.

Childhood. First literary experiments

In 1796, the French Republic was recognized by Switzerland and Steel could return to Paris. Here her salon again became an influential literary and political center. Among its regular visitors were Sieyès, Talleyrand, Gara, philologist Claude Foriel, economist J. C. Sismondi, B. Constant. Having achieved an unspoken divorce from her husband, but continuing to live with him in the same house, de Staël found herself in an ambivalent position, which her secular and political opponents were quick to take advantage of, making her the target of offensive gossip. She gives an outcome to the feelings that worried her at that time in the novel “Dolphin,” which strengthened her literary fame: it depicts the unfortunate fate of a highly gifted woman who entered into an unequal struggle against the despotism of public opinion. At the same time, Steel was working on an extensive essay “On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Establishments” (1796-99). The purpose of the book is to trace the influence of religion, morals, and legislation on literature and vice versa. Studying the interaction of society and literature, observing gradual changes in ideas and forms of life, Steel notes a slow but continuous improvement (perfectibilité) in the course of historical development. In a mass of apt remarks, she reveals a subtle understanding of the connection between various forms and trends of literary works with the social environment and ends the book with a teaching about what literature should be in a new republican society: it should serve as an expression of new social ideals and be a defender of political and moral freedom. The book “On Literature,” published after the coup of the 18th Brumaire, ran counter to the ensuing reaction. The idea of ​​the interaction of literature and the social system and the inevitability of the decline of literature with the disappearance of political freedom could not but seem dangerous to the government of the first consul.

Germany and Italy. "Corinna"

When Madame de Stael's salon became the center of opposition, she was ordered to leave Paris. In 1802, she and Constant went to Germany. Here she meets Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, W. Humboldt, A. Schlegel; She entrusts the latter with raising her children. The impressions she gained from her trip to Germany formed the basis of the book: “About Germany,” written five years later (see below). In 1804, her father's fatal illness called her to Coppe. The cooling of B. Constant towards her that began from that time, to whom she still had deep affection for many years, makes her suffer so much that she dreams of imminent death. To drown out her mental anguish, she goes to Italy. In Milan, she was greatly impressed by the Italian poet Vincenzo Monti. Although her love for Constant has not yet faded in her heart, she is little by little carried away by a new feeling and in her letters to Monty the friendly tone soon gives way to enthusiastic confessions. She calls him to Coppe and lives for a whole year in anticipation of his arrival; but the weak-willed poet, afraid of incurring the wrath of Napoleon and losing the pension assigned to him, keeps postponing his arrival until Steel stops corresponding with him. The fruit of de Staël's travels in Italy was her novel Corinne ou l'Italie. Italy attracted the attention of Steel not because of its nature, but as the scene of a great historical past. She believes that the spirit of a great people still lurks here, and she strongly desires the revival of this spirit. Steel devotes a lot of space to reflections on the historical destinies of Italy and Rome, on Italian literature, art, tombstones, etc. The plot of the novel is the question of the fate of a brilliant woman, the contradiction between love and glory. Corinna is Steel herself, idealized and elevated to perfection; she strains all her spiritual strength, expends all her talents to reach the apogee of glory - and all this just to be loved; but she remains unappreciated by precisely those whom she places above all. In the personality of Lord Nelville there are hints of Constant and his betrayal. "Corinna" - a more seasoned work than "Dolphine" - was a brilliant success among its contemporaries. In 1807, taking advantage of Napoleon's absence, Steel, who was homesick for Paris, decided to settle in its environs. The rumor that she was appearing incognito in Paris itself reached the emperor, who, amid the concerns of the Prussian campaign, found the time to order her immediate removal to Coppe.

"About Germany"

In 1807-1808 Steel visited Weimar again and traveled to Munich and Vienna. Returning from Germany, she learned from Constant in Geneva about his secret marriage with Charlotte Hardenberg. This news at first infuriated her, but then religious peace descended on her soul. This era of her life includes her work on the book “On Germany,” the most complete of her works, in which Steel sets out to introduce French society to the character of German nationality, to the life of the Germans, their literature, philosophy and religion. The author introduces the French reader into a world of ideas, images and feelings that is alien to him and tries, if possible, to explain the features of this world, pointing to historical and local conditions and constantly drawing a parallel between the aspirations and concepts of the French and German nations. For the first time, in the era of the dominance of cosmopolitan ideas, Steel brings to the fore the question of the rights of nationality. It sets as its task the protection of nations, their rights to political and spiritual independence; she tries to prove that the nation is not a creation of the arbitrariness of individuals, but a historical phenomenon, and that the peace of Europe is determined by mutual respect for the rights of peoples. When the book "On Germany" was published (1810), Madame de Staël sent it to Napoleon, with a letter in which she asked for an audience with him. She believed that the power of her conviction, which conquered many, could influence the emperor. Napoleon remained adamant. Having ordered her book to be burned, although it had been passed by the censors, he ordered her to stay in Coppe, where he surrounded her with spies and where she forbade her friends to go.

Trip to Russia

Conscious of being abandoned, she wrote: “one feels the proximity of the evening twilight, among which no traces of the radiance of the morning dawn can be seen.” But she was destined to experience happiness once again. In 1810, the young officer Albert de Rocca returned to Geneva from the Spanish campaign to receive treatment for his wounds. While caring for him, Steel charmed him and he, despite the significant difference in age, infected Steel with his passion. After some hesitation, she secretly married him. In 1812, the persecution of the Swiss authorities, acting to please Napoleon, forced Steel to flee Coppe and she went through Austria to Russia. Here she was shown the widest hospitality. On August 5 she was presented to Their Majesties. V. L. Borovikovsky paints her portrait. K. N. Batyushkov characterizes de Staël: “... She’s ugly as the devil and smart as an angel.”

She described her impressions in Russia in the second part of her book “Dix années d’Exil” (1821). Scattered here are many apt remarks about the character of the Russian people, about the social structure of that time, about the life and morals of different classes of society (see Art. Trachevsky A. Mrs. Steel in Russia // Historical Bulletin. 1894. No. 10). From Russia, Steel left for Sweden, where Bernadotte offered her asylum. From there she went to England and remained there until Napoleon was defeated and imprisoned on the island of Elba; then she returned to Paris after a 10-year exile.

Restoration. Last years. Steel as a historian of the Revolution

The reaction that arose after the restoration aroused her indignation. She was equally outraged by both the “humiliation” of France by foreigners and the intolerance and obscurantism of the party of aristocratic emigrants. In this mood, she began to finish her “Considerations sur les principaux événements de la révolution française” (1818). This work consists of several parts, between which there is no complete unity. Initially, Madame de Staël intended to limit herself to presenting the first phase of the revolution and write, among other things, an apology for her father; but then she expanded the content of her work, setting out to present a defense of the French Revolution and to clarify its main results. To this she added a study on the English constitution and society, and then discussions on the state of affairs in France in 1816. For 25 years (1789-1814), de Stael not only observed all stages of the development of the French revolutionary spirit, but responded with all her impressionable in kind to all the excitement of this turbulent era. Summing up the revolutionary period, Madame de Stael sees the main goal of the revolution in the conquest of political and spiritual freedom by the people. The revolution not only made France free, but also gave it prosperity. If the crimes of individuals stained the revolution, then never before in France had so many sublime sides of the human spirit appeared. Having inspired noble enthusiasm in many hearts, the revolution brought forward great leaders and bequeathed to the future the eternal principles of freedom. The causes of revolution lie in general historical conditions, and not in the actions and aspirations of individuals. In the chapter on restoration, de Staël gives a vivid picture of the emerging reactionary regime: “Is it really possible,” she writes, “is it now possible to rule as three hundred years ago?!... They (the new rulers) need arbitrariness of power, religious intolerance, a court aristocracy that does not have no merits beyond the family tree, an ignorant and powerless people, an army reduced to a simple mechanism, restrictions on the press, the absence of any civil freedom - and in return there are police spies and purchased journalism that would praise this darkness! The final pages of the book represent, as it were, Madame de Staël's political testament. The political reorganization of Europe will be accomplished by nationalities and in the name of nationalities. She foresees a great future for the Russian people and the primacy of the North American United States. She advises the Germans and Italians to unite in a federation.

On February 21, 1817, Germaine de Stael went to a reception given by the chief minister of Louis XVIII. She fell while walking up the steps. There was a cerebral hemorrhage. De Stael was ill for several months and died in 1817 on the significant day of the beginning of the Great French Revolution - July 14.

Characteristic

The moral character of Madame de Staël is dominated, according to Professor Storozhenko, by two main features: a passionate need for love, personal happiness - and an equally passionate love for freedom. It is necessary to note a third feature, which, together with the above, recreates not only her moral, but also her mental appearance. “Germaine Necker,” wrote the historian A. Sorel, “also thirsted for thought as for happiness. Her mind was distinguished by an insatiable greed to know everything, the ability to embrace everything... it had the gift of penetration into other people's ideas and the gift of instant inspiration with its own ideas; both were not the result of prolonged reflection, but were born during a conversation, in the form of inspired improvisation.” Equally impetuous and impetuous both in her hobbies and in her literary work, ardently grasping at new ideas in the air, Madame de Stael often changed her views on certain issues [For example, she used to be fond of materialism, and in the end life becomes a spiritualist, then rejects free will, then allows it, etc.], but invariably remained faithful to the principles of civil freedom and the political ideals of the constituent assembly of 1789. The influence of de Stael on subsequent French literature is deep and multifaceted. A. Sorel calls her the “muse” of a large circle of French scientists and writers. F. Guizot, according to Sorel, was the interpreter of the political ideas of Madame de Staël. Her influence also affected the works of many other French writers (Quinet, Charles Nodier, Pierre Lanfré). Her book “On Germany,” according to Goethe, is a giant battering ram that made a hole in the Chinese wall of prejudices that separated the two peoples. In the field of French literature, she, along with Chateaubriand, is rightly considered the founder of the French romantic school. Madame de Staël did not possess great literary talent; She was unable to create characters. In the person of her heroines, she describes only herself, the feelings she experienced; there is little life in her other faces; they hardly act, but only express views that the writer puts into their mouths. But she was the first to not only give a precise definition of the nature of new (romantic) literature, in contrast to classical literature, but also pointed creativity to new methods of reproducing reality, to new poetic forms.

Bibliography

Lifetime translations into Russian

• "Melina", trans. Karamzin, 1795
• “Corinna”, M., 1809
• "Dolphin", M., 1803
• “New stories”, M., 1815

Modern editions

• Corinna or Italy. M., 1969.
• “On the influence of passions on the happiness of people and nations” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 363-374, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
• “On literature in its connection with social institutions” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 374-383, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
• “About Germany” // Literary manifestos of Western European romantics, ed. A. S. Dmitrieva, M., Moscow University Publishing House, 1980, pp. 383-391, trans. E. P. Grechanoi;
• “On literature considered in connection with social institutions”, M., Art, 1989, series: History of aesthetics in monuments and documents, trans. V. A. Milchina;
• “Ten Years in Exile”, M., OGI, 2003, preface, trans. and comment. V. A. Milchina.

Other works by Steel

• "Réflexions sur la paix adressées à M. Pitt et aux Français" (1795)
• "Réflexions sur le suicide" (1813)
• "Zulma et trois nouvelles" (1813)
• "Essais dramatiques" (1821)
• "Oeuvres complètes" 17 t., (1820-21)

Works about her

• The biography of Madame de Staël was compiled by Madame Necker-de-Saussure (in “Oeuvr. compl.”) and Blennerhaset: “Frau von S., ihre Freunde und ihre Bedeutung in Politik und Litteratur” (1889).

• Gérando, “Lettres inédites de m-me de Récamier and de m-me de Staël” (1868);
• "Correspondance diplomatique, 1783-99", Baron Steel-G. (1881); * * * * Norris, “Life and times of M. de S.” (1853);
• Amiel, "Etudes sur M. de S." (1878)
• A. Stevens, "M-me de Staël" (1881)
• A. Sorel, “M-me de Staël” (1890; Russian translation available)

works of Sainte-Beuve and Brandes

• Storozhenko, “Madame de Steel” (“Bulletin of Europe”, 1879, No. 7)
• Shakhov, “Essays on the literary movement in the first half of the 19th century. Lectures on the history of French literature" (1894)
• S. V-shtein, “Madame de Steel” (“Bulletin of Europe”, 1900, no. 8-10)
• Lyubarets S. N. Aesthetics of Germaine de Stael in the context of the Age of Enlightenment // ANOTHER XVIII CENTURY. Collection of scientific works. Rep. ed. N. T. Pakhsaryan. M., 2002
• Plessix Gray Francine du. Madame de Staël. - New York: Atlas & Co, 2008. - ISBN 978-1-934633-17-5.

Other links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• (inaccessible link since 05/19/2013 (2454 days) - story)

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Excerpt characterizing Steel, Anna de

But it didn't move.
It ran only when it was suddenly seized by panic caused by the interceptions of convoys along the Smolensk road and the Tarutino battle. This same news about the Battle of Tarutino, which Napoleon unexpectedly received at the review, aroused in him a desire to punish the Russians, as Thiers says, and he gave the order to march, which the entire army demanded.
Fleeing from Moscow, the people of this army took with them everything that was looted. Napoleon also took with him his own tresor [treasure]. Seeing the convoy cluttering the army. Napoleon was horrified (as Thiers says). But he, with his war experience, did not order to burn all the extra carts, as he did with the marshal’s carts, approaching Moscow, but he looked at these carriages and carriages in which the soldiers were riding, and said that it was very good that These crews will be used for provisions, sick and wounded.
The position of the entire army was like that of a wounded animal, feeling its death and not knowing what it was doing. Studying the skillful maneuvers of Napoleon and his army and his goals from the time of his entry into Moscow until the destruction of this army is like studying the meaning of the dying leaps and convulsions of a mortally wounded animal. Very often, a wounded animal, hearing a rustle, rushes to shoot at the hunter, runs forward, backward and itself speeds up its end. Napoleon did the same under pressure from his entire army. The rustle of the Tarutino battle scared the beast, and he rushed forward to the shot, ran to the hunter, came back, forward again, back again, and finally, like any animal, he ran back, along the most unfavorable, dangerous path, but along a familiar, old trail.
Napoleon, who seems to us to be the leader of this entire movement (how wild the figure carved on the bow of the ship seemed to be, with the power guiding the ship), Napoleon during all this time of his activity was like a child who, holding on to the ribbons tied inside the carriage, imagines that he ed.

On October 6, early in the morning, Pierre left the booth and, returning back, stopped at the door, playing with a long purple dog on short crooked legs that was spinning around him. This little dog lived in their booth, spending the night with Karataev, but sometimes she went somewhere in the city and returned again. It had probably never belonged to anyone, and now it was owned and had no name. The French called her Azor, the soldier storyteller called her Femgalka, Karataev and others called her Gray, sometimes Visly. The fact that she didn’t belong to anyone and that she didn’t have a name or even a breed, or even a specific color, didn’t seem to make things difficult for the purple little dog. Her furry tail stood firmly and roundly up, her crooked legs served her so well that often she, as if neglecting the use of all four legs, gracefully raised one hind leg and very deftly and quickly ran on three legs. Everything was a matter of pleasure for her. Now, squealing with joy, she lay on her back, now she was basking in the sun with a thoughtful and significant look, now she was frolicking, playing with a sliver of wood or a straw.
Pierre's attire now consisted of a dirty, torn shirt, the only remnant of his previous dress, soldier's trousers, tied with strings at the ankles for warmth on Karataev's advice, a caftan and a peasant's hat. Pierre changed a lot physically during this time. He no longer seemed fat, although he still had the same appearance of size and strength that was hereditary to their breed. A beard and mustache have grown over the lower part of the face; the overgrown, tangled hair on his head, filled with lice, now curled up like a cap. The expression in the eyes was firm, calm and animatedly ready, such as Pierre’s gaze had never had before. His former licentiousness, which was also expressed in his gaze, was now replaced by an energetic, ready for activity and rebuff - selectedness. His feet were bare.
Pierre looked either down across the field, through which carts and horsemen were driving around this morning, then into the distance across the river, then at the little dog pretending that it seriously wanted to bite him, then at his bare feet, which he gladly rearranged into different positions, wiggling his dirty, thick, thumbs. And every time he looked at his bare feet, a smile of animation and self-satisfaction crossed his face. The sight of these bare feet reminded him of everything that he had experienced and understood during this time, and this memory was pleasant to him.
The weather had been calm and clear for several days, with light frosts in the mornings - the so-called Indian summer.
It was warm in the air, in the sun, and this warmth, with the invigorating freshness of the morning frost still felt in the air, was especially pleasant.
Everything, both distant and nearby objects, had that magical crystal shine that only happens at this time of autumn. In the distance one could see the Sparrow Hills, with a village, a church and a large white house. And bare trees, and sand, and stones, and roofs of houses, and the green spire of a church, and the corners of a distant white house - all this was unnaturally clearly cut out in the thinnest lines in the transparent air. Nearby one could see the familiar ruins of a half-burnt manor house, occupied by the French, with dark green lilac bushes growing along the fence. And even this ruined and dirty house, repulsive with its ugliness in cloudy weather, now, in its bright, motionless brilliance, seemed somehow soothingly beautiful.
A French corporal, unbuttoned at home, wearing a cap, with a short pipe in his teeth, came out from around the corner of the booth and, with a friendly wink, approached Pierre.
– Quel soleil, hein, monsieur Kiril? (that’s what all the French called Pierre). On dirait le printemps. [What is the sun like, eh, Mr. Kiril? Just like spring.] - And the corporal leaned against the door and offered Pierre a pipe, despite the fact that he always offered it and Pierre always refused.
“Si l"on marchait par un temps comme celui la... [It would be nice to go on a hike in such weather...],” he began.
Pierre asked him what had been heard about the march, and the corporal said that almost all the troops were marching out and that now there should be an order about the prisoners. In the booth in which Pierre was, one of the soldiers, Sokolov, was dying of illness, and Pierre told the corporal that he needed to dispose of this soldier. The corporal said that Pierre can be calm, that there is a mobile and permanent hospital for this, and that there will be orders for the sick, and that in general everything that can happen has been foreseen by the authorities.
- Et puis, monsieur Kiril, vous n "avez qu" a dire un mot au capitaine, vous savez. Oh, c"est un... qui n"oublie jamais rien. Dites au capitaine quand il fera sa tournee, il fera tout pour vous... [And then, Mr. Kiril, you should say a word to the captain, you know... He’s like that... he doesn’t forget anything. Tell the captain when he makes his rounds; he will do anything for you...]
The captain, about whom the corporal spoke, often talked for a long time with Pierre and showed him all kinds of indulgence.
– Vois tu, St. Thomas, qu"il me disait l"autre jour: Kiril c"est un homme qui a de l"instruction, qui parle francais; c"est un seigneur russe, qui a eu des malheurs, mais c"est un homme. Et il s"y entend le... S"il demande quelque chose, qu"il me dise, il n"y a pas de refus. Quand on a fait ses etudes, voyez vous, on aime l"instruction et les gens comme il faut. C"est pour vous, que je dis cela, Monsieur Kiril. Dans l"affaire de l"autre jour si ce n"etait grace a vous, ca aurait fini mal. [Now, I swear by Saint Thomas, he once told me: Kiril is an educated man, speaks French; he is a Russian gentleman, with who had a misfortune, but he is a man. He knows a lot... If he needs something, there is no refusal. When you learn something, you love education and well-mannered people. I’m talking about you, Mr. Kiril. The other day, it would be bad. it would be over.]
And, after chatting for a while longer, the corporal left. (The thing that happened the other day, which the corporal mentioned, was a fight between prisoners and the French, in which Pierre managed to pacify his comrades.) Several prisoners listened to Pierre’s conversation with the corporal and immediately began to ask what he said. While Pierre was telling his comrades what the corporal had said about the performance, a thin, yellow and ragged French soldier approached the door of the booth. With a quick and timid movement, raising his fingers to his forehead as a sign of bow, he turned to Pierre and asked him if the soldier Platoche, to whom he had given the shirt to be sewn, was in this booth.
About a week ago, the French received shoe goods and linen and distributed boots and shirts to the captured soldiers to sew.
- Ready, ready, falcon! - Karataev said, coming out with a neatly folded shirt.
Karataev, for the sake of warmth and for the convenience of work, was wearing only trousers and a tattered shirt as black as the earth. His hair was tied with a washcloth, as craftsmen do, and his round face seemed even rounder and prettier.
- A persuader is a brother to the cause. “As I said by Friday, I did so,” said Plato, smiling and unfolding the shirt he had sewn.
The Frenchman looked around uneasily and, as if overcoming doubt, quickly took off his uniform and put on his shirt. Under his uniform the Frenchman did not have a shirt, but on his bare, yellow, thin body he wore a long, greasy, silk vest with flowers. The Frenchman, apparently, was afraid that the prisoners looking at him would laugh, and hastily stuck his head into his shirt. None of the prisoners said a word.
“Look, just right,” Plato said, pulling off his shirt. The Frenchman, sticking his head and hands through, without raising his eyes, looked at his shirt and examined the seam.
- Well, falcon, this is not a trash, and there is no real instrument; “But it’s said: without gear you can’t even kill a lice,” said Plato, smiling roundly and, apparently, rejoicing at his work.
- C "est bien, c" est bien, merci, mais vous devez avoir de la toile de reste? [Okay, okay, thank you, but where is the canvas, what’s left?] - said the Frenchman.
“It will be even better the way you put it on your body,” said Karataev, continuing to rejoice at his work. - That will be good and pleasant.
“Merci, merci, mon vieux, le reste?..” repeated the Frenchman, smiling, and, taking out a banknote, gave it to Karataev, “mais le reste... [Thank you, thank you, dear, but where is the rest?.. Give me the rest. ]
Pierre saw that Plato did not want to understand what the Frenchman was saying, and, without interfering, looked at them. Karataev thanked him for the money and continued to admire his work. The Frenchman insisted on the remainder and asked Pierre to translate what he was saying.
- What does he need the leftovers for? - said Karataev. “They would have given us some important little extras.” Well, God bless him. - And Karataev, with a suddenly changed, sad face, took out a bundle of scraps from his bosom and, without looking at it, handed it to the Frenchman. - Ehma! - Karataev said and went back. The Frenchman looked at the canvas, thought about it, looked questioningly at Pierre, and as if Pierre’s gaze told him something.
“Platoche, dites donc, Platoche,” suddenly blushing, the Frenchman shouted in a squeaky voice. – Gardez pour vous, [Platosh, and Platosh. Take it for yourself.] - he said, handing over the scraps, turned and left.
“Here you go,” Karataev said, shaking his head. - They say that they are not Christ, but they also have a soul. The old men used to say: a sweaty hand is a bit too hard, a dry hand is stubborn. He himself is naked, but he gave it away. – Karataev, smiling thoughtfully and looking at the scraps, was silent for some time. “And the important ones will blow out, my friend,” he said and returned to the booth.

Four weeks have passed since Pierre was captured. Despite the fact that the French offered to transfer him from a soldier's booth to an officer's booth, he remained in the booth he entered from the first day.
In devastated and burned Moscow, Pierre experienced almost the extreme limits of hardship that a person can endure; but, thanks to his strong constitution and health, which he had not been aware of until now, and especially due to the fact that these hardships approached so imperceptibly that it was impossible to say when they began, he endured his situation not only easily, but also joyfully . And it was at this very time that he received that peace and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly strived before. For a long time in his life he was looking from different sides for this peace, agreement with himself, for what struck him so much in the soldiers at the Battle of Borodino - he looked for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the dispersion of social life, in wine, in heroic deeds self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha; he sought this through thought, and all these searches and attempts all deceived him. And he, without thinking about it, received this peace and this agreement with himself only through the horror of death, through deprivation and through what he understood in Karataev. Those terrible minutes that he experienced during the execution seemed to have washed away forever from his imagination and memories the disturbing thoughts and feelings that had previously seemed important to him. Not even a thought came to him about Russia, or the war, or politics, or Napoleon. It was obvious to him that all this did not concern him, that he was not called and therefore could not judge all this. “No time for Russia, no union,” he repeated Karataev’s words, and these words strangely reassured him. His intention to kill Napoleon and his calculations about the cabalistic number and the beast of the Apocalypse now seemed incomprehensible and even ridiculous to him. His anger against his wife and anxiety about not disgracing his name now seemed to him not only insignificant, but funny. What did he care about the fact that this woman was leading the life she liked somewhere out there? Who, especially him, cared whether they found out or didn’t find out that the name of their prisoner was Count Bezukhov?
Now he often recalled his conversation with Prince Andrei and completely agreed with him, only understanding Prince Andrei’s thought somewhat differently. Prince Andrei thought and said that happiness can only be negative, but he said this with a tinge of bitterness and irony. As if, by saying this, he was expressing another thought - that all the aspirations for positive happiness invested in us are invested only in order to torment us, not satisfying us. But Pierre, without any second thought, recognized the justice of this. The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of needs and, as a result, the freedom to choose occupations, that is, a way of life, now seemed to Pierre to be the undoubted and highest happiness of a person. Here, now only for the first time, Pierre fully appreciated the pleasure of eating when he was hungry, drinking when he was thirsty, sleeping when he was thirsty, warmth when he was cold, talking with a person when he wanted to talk and listen to a human voice. Satisfaction of needs - good food, cleanliness, freedom - now that he was deprived of all this seemed to Pierre to be perfect happiness, and the choice of occupation, that is, life, now that this choice was so limited, seemed to him such an easy matter that he forgot the fact that an excess of the comforts of life destroys all the happiness of satisfying needs, and the greater freedom to choose occupations, the freedom that education, wealth, position in the world gave him in his life, that this freedom makes the choice of occupations insolublely difficult and destroys the very need and opportunity to study.
All Pierre's dreams now aimed at the time when he would be free. Meanwhile, subsequently and throughout his life, Pierre thought and spoke with delight about this month of captivity, about those irrevocable, strong and joyful sensations and, most importantly, about that complete peace of mind, about perfect inner freedom, which he experienced only at this time .
When on the first day, getting up early in the morning, he came out of the booth at dawn and first saw the dark domes and crosses of the Novodevichy Convent, saw the frosty dew on the dusty grass, saw the hills of the Sparrow Hills and the wooded bank meandering over the river and hiding in the purple distance, when felt the touch of fresh air and heard the sounds of jackdaws flying from Moscow across the field, and when then suddenly light splashed from the east and the edge of the sun solemnly floated out from behind the clouds, and domes, and crosses, and dew, and the distance, and the river, everything began to sparkle in a joyful light , - Pierre felt a new, unexperienced feeling of joy and strength of life.
And this feeling not only did not leave him throughout his captivity, but, on the contrary, grew in him as the difficulties of his situation increased.
This feeling of readiness for anything, of moral integrity was even more supported in Pierre by the high opinion that, soon after his entry into the booth, was established about him among his comrades. Pierre with his knowledge of languages, with the respect that the French showed him, with his simplicity, who gave everything that was asked of him (he received an officer's three rubles a week), with his strength, which he showed to the soldiers by pressing nails into the wall of the booth , with the meekness that he showed in his treatment of his comrades, with his incomprehensible ability to sit still and think without doing anything, he seemed to the soldiers to be a somewhat mysterious and superior being. Those very qualities of him, which in the world in which he lived before were, if not harmful, then embarrassing for him - his strength, disregard for the comforts of life, absent-mindedness, simplicity - here, among these people, gave him the position of almost a hero . And Pierre felt that this look obliged him.

On the night of October 6th to 7th, the movement of the French speakers began: kitchens and booths were broken down, carts were packed, and troops and convoys were moving.
At seven o'clock in the morning a convoy of Frenchmen, in marching uniform, in shakos, with guns, knapsacks and huge bags, stood in front of the booths, and animated French conversation, sprinkled with curses, rolled along the entire line.
In the booth, everyone was ready, dressed, belted, shod, and just waiting for the order to go out. The sick soldier Sokolov, pale, thin, with blue circles around his eyes, alone, without shoes or clothes, sat in his place and, with eyes rolling out of his thinness, looked questioningly at his comrades who were not paying attention to him and moaned quietly and evenly. Apparently, it was not so much suffering - he was sick with bloody diarrhea - but fear and grief of being alone that made him groan.
Pierre, shod in shoes sewn for him by Karataev from tsibik, which the Frenchman had brought for hemming of his soles, belted with a rope, approached the patient and squatted down in front of him.
- Well, Sokolov, they’re not completely leaving! They have a hospital here. Maybe you’ll be even better than ours,” said Pierre.
- Oh my God! O my death! Oh my God! – the soldier groaned louder.
“Yes, I’ll ask them again now,” said Pierre and, getting up, went to the door of the booth. While Pierre was approaching the door, the corporal who had treated Pierre to a pipe yesterday approached with two soldiers from outside. Both the corporal and the soldiers were in marching uniform, in knapsacks and shakos with buttoned scales that changed their familiar faces.
The corporal walked to the door in order to, by order of his superiors, close it. Before release it was necessary to count the prisoners.
“Caporal, que fera t on du malade?.. [Corporal, what should we do with the patient?..] - Pierre began; but at that moment, as he said this, he doubted whether it was the corporal he knew or another, unknown person: the corporal was so unlike himself at that moment. In addition, at the moment Pierre was saying this, the crash of drums was suddenly heard from both sides. The corporal frowned at Pierre's words and, uttering a meaningless curse, slammed the door. It became semi-dark in the booth; Drums crackled sharply on both sides, drowning out the patient’s groans.
“Here it is!.. It’s here again!” - Pierre said to himself, and an involuntary chill ran down his spine. In the changed face of the corporal, in the sound of his voice, in the exciting and muffled crackling of the drums, Pierre recognized that mysterious, indifferent force that forced people against their will to kill their own kind, that force whose effect he saw during the execution. It was useless to be afraid, to try to avoid this force, to make requests or admonitions to people who served as its instruments. Pierre knew this now. We had to wait and be patient. Pierre did not approach the patient again and did not look back at him. He stood silently, frowning, at the door of the booth.
When the doors of the booth opened and the prisoners, like a herd of sheep, crushing each other, crowded into the exit, Pierre made his way ahead of them and approached the very captain who, according to the corporal, was ready to do everything for Pierre. The captain was also in field uniform, and from his cold face there was also “it,” which Pierre recognized in the words of the corporal and in the crash of the drums.
“Filez, filez, [Come in, come in.],” the captain said, frowning sternly and looking at the prisoners crowding past him. Pierre knew that his attempt would be in vain, but he approached him.
– Eh bien, qu"est ce qu"il y a? [Well, what else?] - the officer said, looking around coldly, as if not recognizing him. Pierre said about the patient.
– Il pourra marcher, que diable! - said the captain. – Filez, filez, [He’ll go, damn it! Come in, come in,” he continued to say, without looking at Pierre.
“Mais non, il est a l"agonie... [No, he’s dying...] - Pierre began.
– Voulez vous bien?! [Go to...] - the captain shouted, frowning angrily.
Drum yes yes dam, dam, dam, the drums crackled. And Pierre realized that the mysterious force had already completely taken possession of these people and that now it was useless to say anything else.
The captured officers were separated from the soldiers and ordered to go ahead. There were about thirty officers, including Pierre, and about three hundred soldiers.
The captured officers, released from other booths, were all strangers, were much better dressed than Pierre, and looked at him, in his shoes, with distrust and aloofness. Not far from Pierre walked, apparently enjoying the general respect of his fellow prisoners, a fat major in a Kazan robe, belted with a towel, with a plump, yellow, angry face. He held one hand with a pouch behind his bosom, the other leaned on his chibouk. The major, puffing and puffing, grumbled and was angry at everyone because it seemed to him that he was being pushed and that everyone was in a hurry when there was nowhere to hurry, everyone was surprised at something when there was nothing surprising in anything. Another, a small, thin officer, spoke to everyone, making assumptions about where they were being led now and how far they would have time to travel that day. An official, in felt boots and a commissariat uniform, ran from different sides and looked out for the burned-out Moscow, loudly reporting his observations about what had burned and what this or that visible part of Moscow was like. The third officer, of Polish origin by accent, argued with the commissariat official, proving to him that he was mistaken in defining the districts of Moscow.

Name of the French writer Germaine de Stael(1766−1817) will tell the modern reader little today. The titles of her famous novels “Delphine” (1802) and “Corinna, or Italia” (1807) remained in the history of literature, although today they are read with enthusiasm as beautiful novels about love, where the woman appears as a noble loving heart, and the man despite the military courage - an indecisive, evasive, “timid” man.

Stendhal wrote in his diary: “This is a soul overwhelmed by passions, describing what it felt.”

Swiss banker's daughter Necker Anne Louise Germaine (this is her full name) was born in Paris, where her father served as Minister of Finance under Louis XVI, and was brought up in her mother's salon, where they visited Diderot, D'Alembert, Grimm and other brilliant minds. At the age of 15, she wrote a treatise, which the historian Abbé Raynal included in his work “Philosophical and Political History of the Institutions and Trade of Europeans in the Two Indies.”

At the age of 20, Josephine, at the insistence of her parents, married the Swedish ambassador to France Erica Magnus de Stael, flattered not only by his youth, but also by the rich dowry of the bride. The couple soon separated secretly, but she kept this surname not only for herself, but also for her children, although the father of two sons was the Count Narbonne, Minister of War during the revolution.

The father of Albertina's daughter became famous Benjamin Constant, public and literary figure, author of the novel “Adolph” (1816), where he described his relationship with the famous writer. It was Constant who brought her severe mental suffering, since, without breaking off relations with her, he secretly married someone else.

In her novel “Delphine,” which Pushkin’s heroine Tatyana Larina devoured, de Staël defended a woman’s right to freedom of feeling, opposed the indissolubility of Catholic marriage, and defended the right to divorce someone she doesn’t love.

Imagining a heroine

Your beloved creators,

Clarissa, Julia, Delphine,

Tatyana in the silence of the forests

One wanders with a dangerous book...

The hero Leonce de Mondoville loves Delphine, but fulfills his mother's wishes and marries her cousin, because Delphine is a young widow who has decided to disregard the conventions of secular society. Society slandered Delphine. The hero realized his mistake, but it was too late - both died.

In the novel “Corinna, or Italy,” the Englishman Lord Nerville is in love with the poetess Corinna, but fulfills the wishes of his late father, who did not want and was afraid of his marriage to Corinna, since her mother is Italian. The father was afraid that his love for Corinna would alienate him from England. The Lord marries Corinna's English-born sister, unknown to Corinna. She falls ill with transient consumption and dies, Lord Nerville barely remains alive from the grief he experienced from the loss of love and his beloved. He frankly does not love his wife.

This successful military man says about himself: “There is a certain weakness in my character, and I am afraid of everything that can bring anxiety into my existence... I am so indecisive that even if I chose the most wonderful lot, I would inevitably regret something else,” “I honor marital ties and I love your sister, but the human heart is so strange and contradictory that it can contain the tenderness that I have for you, along with the love for her.”

Corinna not only loves him passionately and is the first to confess her love to him (that’s where Tatyana Larina’s determination to be the first to confess to Eugene Onegin comes from! From Corinna!). Corinna is a famous Italian poet, writer, improviser, the most famous woman and beauty. But nothing can help her overcome cowardice and suspiciousness, the false duty of her hero.

Corinna shows Lord Nerville the artistic treasures of Italy, and in response receives from him an arrogant sermon: “Great art belongs to you, the works of your brilliant artists sparkle with imagination and ingenuity, but how is human dignity protected in your country? What kind of institutions do you have? What weakness do most of your rulers display! And at the same time, how they enslave minds!”

Corinna answers the lord: “We live in an age when almost all people’s actions are guided by personal interest. But can personal interest ever give rise to sympathy, inspiration, and enthusiasm? And how sweet it is to return in dreams to those days of true devotion, selflessness, heroism! After all, they really were, because our land still preserves their majestic traces!”

Corinna says about herself: “I am a poet when I admire, when I despise, when I hate, but all this is not in the name of my personal good, but in the name of the dignity of the human race and for the glory of the universe.” She is not only a poet, but also a musician: “Sometimes I take my lyre and try to convey in separate chords or in simple folk melodies thoughts and feelings that I could not put into words.”

Corinna is not afraid to reprimand Lord Nerville: “I notice in you that national arrogance that your compatriots are so often distinguished by! We Italians are more modest: we are not as complacent as the French, and not as arrogant as the English."

One of the founders of European romanticism, de Staël paid special attention to the originality and uniqueness of each nation, each people.

Corinna assures her lover: “When writers are deprived of the opportunity to contribute to the happiness of their people, when they write only to shine, when movement turns into a goal for them, they begin to look for detours and do not move forward... I can hardly believe that It will be a blessing if the peoples of the whole world lose their national flavor, their special way of thinking and feeling.”

However, the male heroes - one French, the other English - ended up in her novels in the love relationships of a timid dozen: “European men at a rendezvous” (remember the famous article N. G. Chernyshevsky about a Russian man at a rendezvous - a love date; Has he really not read de Staël’s novels?).

Napoleon disliked the writer very quickly. After the release of “Dolphins,” the author was accused of atheism and calls for the immoral behavior of women, calls to fight for their rights. In Russia, in the journal “Bulletin of Europe” (1803, No. 2), which was published by the future great historian N. M. Karamzin, he responded to these events in the following way: “The glorious daughter of a glorious father has a lot of trouble in Paris; The Grand Consul himself does not favor her very much, and they say that he did not like “Dolphin”: so it is not surprising that journalists judge her with extreme severity. The only wonder is that Bonaparte has time to read novels.”

A few years later, Napoleon published an unsigned article in the government newspaper "Monitor" exposing de Stael's novel "Corinne", although he owned the famous saying: "There are two forces in the world - the saber and the mind... In the end, the mind always defeats the saber." Napoleon expelled the writer from Paris. In 1806, he ordered the Minister of Police: “Do not let this scoundrel, Madame de Stael, close to Paris.”

Wanting to soften Napoleon, de Staël sent him her book “On Germany,” but he ordered the entire circulation - all ten thousand copies - to be destroyed, and her son, who obtained an audience with Bonaparte to protect his mother from deportation, said: “Paris... is mine the capital, and I want to see in it only those who love me.”

De Stael's contemporaries were Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Byron, Stendhal. But only this brave woman dared to speak out against the conqueror of Europe, which submitted to him.

Stendhal ended up in Moscow with Napoleon's army. However, he did not forgive Germaine de Stael for her revelations of Bonaparte in her posthumous book “Reflections on the Main Events of the French Revolution” (1817−1818).

He called it “a lampoon” in his book about Napoleon, but noted: “This lampoon was written by the most talented pen of our century.”

Byron wrote in his diary: “This is an outstanding woman, she has accomplished more in the mental field than all other women put together; she should have been born a man.”

When in 1825 in the Russian magazine “Son of the Fatherland” A.A. Mukhanov scolded de Staël’s book “Ten Years of Exile,” calling the author a “lady.”

Pushkin came to the writer’s defense in the article “About Mrs. Stahl and Mr. A. M-ve”: “This lady should have been spoken about in the polite language of an educated person. This lady was honored by Napoleon with persecution, the monarchs with her power of attorney, Byron with her friendship, Europe with her respect, and Mr. A.M. with a magazine article that was not very sharp and very indecent.” In a letter to P. A. Vyazemsky he put it more simply: Madame de Stael is “ours - don’t touch her.” In the unfinished novel “Roslavlev,” Pushkin portrayed de Staël, about whom the heroine Polina says: “I know what influence a woman can have on public opinion.” She calls to look at Madame de Stael: “Napoleon fought with her as if she were an enemy force.” It was Napoleon who coined the word “ideology” - he used it to designate hostile mental trends.

The Decembrists, like Pushkin, highly appreciated the works of de Staël. Nikolai Turgenev wrote in his diary: “... constant love for freedom, love and respect for humanity, the idea of ​​the need for morality in both private and political life - these properties of the writings” of Madame de Staël will have a “beneficial influence.”

During the invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia, she found herself in it, making her way with her children and her young husband, an officer, to Sweden. In the book “Ten Years of Exile” she wrote insightfully: “The genius of the Russians will find itself in art and especially in literature when they learn to express their true essence in word, as they express it in deed.” By “deed” I mean the Russian victories over the French army.

Pushkin highly praised this book: the “noble foreigner” was “the first to give complete justice to the Russian people, the eternal subject of ignorant slander by foreign writers.” It is surprising that this book has not yet been translated into Russian. However, there is nothing to be surprised...

The role of de Staël's works in European literature is very great. She called on writers to return to the origins of the national homeland, which were nurtured by “our religion and our customs.” She established by law that the literature of each nation is closely connected with its life, and therefore for each nation it is special. Her discoveries were adopted as their own by such talents as Hugo, Stendhal, Balzac, George Sand. And the personality of George Sand overshadowed the figure and novels of Josephine de Staël. However, her book “On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Establishments” (1796) brought Europe a new view that literature influences society just as society influences literature.

It's a pity that we began to forget all this. De Staël saw the flourishing of literature in its connection with the people, with the nation: “Only oblivion humiliates the soul; but it can find refuge in the greatness of the past if harsh circumstances prevent us from expressing ourselves in fruitful activity. Where are the feelings and thoughts of our ancestors now?

Illustration at the opening of the article: portrait of Germaine de Stael/ wikipedia

France

Baroness Anne-Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein(fr. Anne-Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein), born Necker (Necker; - ) - French writer, literary theorist, publicist, who had a great influence on the literary tastes of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Daughter of Finance Minister Jacques Necker. The owner of a brilliant literary salon. She enjoyed authority in political circles and publicly opposed Napoleon, for which she was expelled from France. In 1803-1814. kept a salon in the Swiss castle of Coppe. She defended gender equality and promoted the romantic trend in art. Best known by its short name Madame de Stael(French: Madame de Staël).

Childhood. First literary experiments

In 1796, the French Republic was recognized by Switzerland and Steel could return to Paris. Here her salon again became an influential literary and political center. Among its regular visitors were Sieyès, Talleyrand, Gara, philologist Claude Foriel, economist J. C. Sismondi, B. Constant. Having achieved an unspoken divorce from her husband, but continuing to live with him in the same house, de Staël found herself in an ambivalent position, which her secular and political opponents were quick to take advantage of, making her the target of offensive gossip. She gives an outcome to the feelings that worried her at that time in the novel “Dolphin,” which strengthened her literary fame: it depicts the unfortunate fate of a highly gifted woman who entered into an unequal struggle against the despotism of public opinion. At the same time, Steel was working on an extensive essay “On Literature Considered in Connection with Social Establishments” (1796-99). The purpose of the book is to trace the influence of religion, morals, and legislation on literature and vice versa. Studying the interaction of society and literature, observing gradual changes in ideas and forms of life, Steel notes a slow but continuous improvement (perfectibilité) in the course of historical development. In a mass of apt remarks, she reveals a subtle understanding of the connection between various forms and trends of literary works with the social environment and ends the book with a teaching about what literature should be in a new republican society: it should serve as an expression of new social ideals and be a defender of political and moral freedom. The book “On Literature,” published after the coup of the 18th Brumaire, ran counter to the ensuing reaction. The idea of ​​the interaction of literature and the social system and the inevitability of the decline of literature with the disappearance of political freedom could not but seem dangerous to the government of the first consul.

Germany and Italy. "Corinna"

When Madame de Stael's salon became the center of opposition, she was ordered to leave Paris. In 1802, she and Constant went to Germany. Here she meets Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, W. Humboldt, A. Schlegel; She entrusts the latter with raising her children. The impressions she gained from her trip to Germany formed the basis of the book: “About Germany,” written five years later (see below). In 1804, her father's fatal illness called her to Coppe. The cooling of B. Constant towards her that began from that time, to whom she still had deep affection for many years, makes her suffer so much that she dreams of imminent death. To drown out her mental anguish, she goes to Italy. In Milan, she was greatly impressed by the Italian poet Vincenzo Monti. Although her love for Constant has not yet faded in her heart, she is little by little carried away by a new feeling and in her letters to Monty the friendly tone soon gives way to enthusiastic confessions. She calls him to Coppe and lives for a whole year in anticipation of his arrival; but the weak-willed poet, afraid of incurring the wrath of Napoleon and losing the pension assigned to him, keeps postponing his arrival until Steel stops corresponding with him. The fruit of de Staël's travels in Italy was her novel Corinne ou l'Italie. Italy attracted the attention of Steel not because of its nature, but as the scene of a great historical past. She believes that the spirit of a great people still lurks here, and she strongly desires the revival of this spirit. Steel devotes a lot of space to reflections on the historical destinies of Italy and Rome, on Italian literature, art, tombstones, etc. The plot of the novel is the question of the fate of a brilliant woman, the contradiction between love and glory. Corinna is Steel herself, idealized and elevated to perfection; she strains all her spiritual strength, expends all her talents to reach the apogee of glory - and all this just to be loved; but she remains unappreciated by precisely those whom she places above all. In the personality of Lord Nelville there are hints of Constant and his betrayal. "Corinna" - a more seasoned work than "Dolphine" - was a brilliant success among its contemporaries. In 1807, taking advantage of Napoleon's absence, Steel, who was homesick for Paris, decided to settle in its environs. The rumor that she was appearing incognito in Paris itself reached the emperor, who, amid the concerns of the Prussian campaign, found the time to order her immediate removal to Coppe.

"About Germany"

In 1807-1808 Steel visited Weimar again and traveled to Munich and Vienna. Returning from Germany, she learned from Constant in Geneva about his secret marriage with Charlotte Hardenberg. This news at first infuriated her, but then religious peace descended on her soul. This era of her life includes her work on the book “On Germany,” the most complete of her works, in which Steel sets out to introduce French society to the character of German nationality, to the life of the Germans, their literature, philosophy and religion. The author introduces the French reader into a world of ideas, images and feelings that is alien to him and tries, if possible, to explain the features of this world, pointing to historical and local conditions and constantly drawing a parallel between the aspirations and concepts of the French and German nations. For the first time, in the era of the dominance of cosmopolitan ideas, Steel brings to the fore the question of the rights of nationality. It sets as its task the protection of nations, their rights to political and spiritual independence; she tries to prove that the nation is not a creation of the arbitrariness of individuals, but a historical phenomenon, and that the peace of Europe is determined by mutual respect for the rights of peoples. When the book "On Germany" was published (1810), Madame de Staël sent it to Napoleon, with a letter in which she asked for an audience with him. She believed that the power of her conviction, which conquered many, could influence the emperor. Napoleon remained adamant. Having ordered her book to be burned, although it had been passed by the censors, he ordered her to stay in Coppe, where he surrounded her with spies and where she forbade her friends to go.

Trip to Russia

Conscious of being abandoned, she wrote: “one feels the proximity of the evening twilight, among which no traces of the radiance of the morning dawn can be seen.” But she was destined to experience happiness once again. In 1810, the young officer Albert de Rocca returned to Geneva from the Spanish campaign to receive treatment for his wounds. While caring for him, Steel charmed him and he, despite the significant difference in age, infected Steel with his passion. After some hesitation, she secretly married him. In 1812, the persecution of the Swiss authorities, who acted to please Napoleon, forced Steel to flee Coppe, and she went through Austria to Russia.

She arrived in Russia on July 14, 1812, the anniversary of the French Revolution, and after the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812. Here she was shown the widest hospitality. On August 5 she was presented to Their Majesties. V. L. Borovikovsky paints her portrait. K. N. Batyushkov characterizes de Staël: “... She’s ugly as the devil and smart as an angel.”

Restoration. Last years. Steel as a historian of the Revolution

The reaction that arose after the restoration aroused her indignation. She was equally outraged by both the “humiliation” of France by foreigners and the intolerance and obscurantism of the party of aristocratic emigrants. In this mood, she began to finish her “Considerations sur les principaux événements de la révolution française” (1818). This work consists of several parts, between which there is no complete unity. Initially, Madame de Staël intended to limit herself to presenting the first phase of the revolution and write, among other things, an apology for her father; but then she expanded the content of her work, setting out to present a defense of the French Revolution and to clarify its main results. To this she added a study on the English constitution and society, and then discussions on the state of affairs in France in 1816. For 25 years (1789-1814), de Stael not only observed all stages of the development of the French revolutionary spirit, but responded with all her impressionable in kind to all the excitement of this turbulent era. Summing up the revolutionary period, Madame de Stael sees the main goal of the revolution in the conquest of political and spiritual freedom by the people. The revolution not only made France free, but also gave it prosperity. If the crimes of individuals stained the revolution, then never before in France had so many sublime sides of the human spirit appeared. Having inspired noble enthusiasm in many hearts, the revolution brought forward great leaders and bequeathed to the future the eternal principles of freedom. The causes of revolution lie in general historical conditions, and not in the actions and aspirations of individuals. In the chapter on restoration, de Staël gives a vivid picture of the emerging reactionary regime: “Is it really possible,” she writes, “is it now possible to rule as three hundred years ago?!... They (the new rulers) need arbitrariness of power, religious intolerance, a court aristocracy that does not have no merits beyond the family tree, an ignorant and powerless people, an army reduced to a simple mechanism, restrictions on the press, the absence of any civil freedom - and in return there are police spies and purchased journalism that would praise this darkness! The final pages of the book represent, as it were, Madame de Staël's political testament. The political reorganization of Europe will be accomplished by nationalities and in the name of nationalities. She foresees a great future for the Russian people and the primacy of the North American United States. She advises the Germans and Italians to unite in a federation.

On February 21, 1817, Germaine de Stael went to a reception given by the chief minister of Louis XVIII. She fell while walking up the steps. There was a cerebral hemorrhage. De Stael was ill for several months and died in 1817 on the significant day of the beginning of the Great French Revolution - July 14.

Characteristic

The moral character of Madame de Staël is dominated, according to Professor Storozhenko, by two main features: a passionate need for love, personal happiness - and an equally passionate love for freedom. It is necessary to note a third feature, which, together with the above, recreates not only her moral, but also her mental appearance. “Germaine Necker,” wrote the historian A. Sorel, “also thirsted for thought as for happiness. Her mind was distinguished by an insatiable greed to know everything, the ability to embrace everything... it had the gift of penetration into other people's ideas and the gift of instant inspiration with its own ideas; both were not the result of prolonged reflection, but were born during a conversation, in the form of inspired improvisation.” Equally impetuous and impetuous both in her hobbies and in her literary work, ardently grasping at new ideas in the air, Madame de Stael often changed her views on certain issues [For example, she used to be fond of materialism, and in the end life becomes a spiritualist, then rejects free will, then allows it, etc.], but invariably remained faithful to the principles of civil freedom and the political ideals of the constituent assembly of 1789. The influence of de Stael on subsequent French literature is deep and multifaceted. A. Sorel calls her the “muse” of a large circle of French scientists and writers.