National Book Award Non Fiction Winner
Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Staël
by J. Christopher Herold
Summary
A vivid biography of Germaine de Staël, the Swiss-French novelist, salonnière, and political thinker whose writings on literature and politics helped define European Romanticism. Herold follows her exile by Napoleon, her tempestuous love affairs, and her friendships with Benjamin Constant and Schlegel, treating her ideas about liberty and national character with the seriousness usually reserved for male contemporaries. The book restored her to the front rank of post-Revolutionary intellectuals.
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Historical Context & Significance
The book paints de Staël as the "first modern woman," highlighting her role as a political thinker who was so influential that Napoleon famously feared her.