Staël, << stahl, >> Madame de (1766-1817), was a prominent French critic and novelist of the early 1800’s. Her literary work influenced the growth of Romanticism in French literature.
Madame de Staël was one of the first to apply the notion of progress to literature. She felt literature was an extension of society and should reflect social change. In her critical works, such as On Literature (1800) and On Germany (1810), she emphasized that judgment should be relative, not absolute. On Germany introduced the German culture and such great thinkers as Friedrich Schiller to Europe as a model to imitate. Her two novels, Delphine (1802) and Corinne (1807), reflect her own life. They deal with women who ignore public opinion. Their theme, the conflict between the superior person and society, became popular in the romantic movement.
Madame de Staël was born Anne Louise Germaine Necker on April 22, 1766, in Paris. She married Baron Staël-Holstein, Swedish ambassador to France, in 1786, but the marriage ended unhappily. She had a famous love affair with novelist Benjamin Constant. In 1811 she married Albert de Rocca, a Swiss military officer. She was exiled from Paris several times by Napoleon, who opposed her political beliefs. Madame de Staël died on July 14, 1817.
