Madame de Stael - Politics, Literature and National Character

Originally published as Madame de Stal on Politics, Literature, and National Character in 1964 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

Published in 2000 by Transaction Publishers

Published 2017 by Routledge

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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 00-023400

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stal, Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine), 1766-1817.

Politics, literature, and national character / translated, edited, and with an introduction by Morroe Berger.

p. cm.

Originally published: Madame de Stel on politics, literature, and national character. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1964.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-7658-0645-2 (alk. paper

1. Title: Politics, literature, and national character. IL Berger, Morroe. III. Title.

PQ2431 .A23 2000

848 .609dc21

00-023400

ISBN 13: 978-0-7658-0645-1 (pbk)

An editor and translator is likely to irritate people on both counts. My purpose in presenting this anthology is to make available in English a correct translation of Madame de Stals contributions to what is today called political sociology, the sociology of literature, and the study of national character. In the first of these subjects she displayed perspicacity in all her writings but mostly in Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution (1818). The second she treated mainly in Literature Considered in Its Relation to Social In-stitutions (1800). The third subject she wrote about frequently, but it is best exemplified in her book On Germany (1813) and in others dealing in part with England and Russia. This anthology comes mainly from these three books.

I think that Madame de Stals work has value for us not only as a part of the history of ideas but also as an inspiration to liberal thought. In the Introduction I try to show why I think so, and to tell something about her relation to the United States. Richmond L. Hawkins opened the subject of her relations with some Americans in his Madame de Stal and the United States ( 1930), but her intellectual influence has not yet had even such a brief and preliminary survey. I hope that American scholars will be stimulated to make further studies.

In translating Madame de Stal I tried to adhere to a literal translation whenever possible, but I freely abandoned this goal whenever it was necessary in order to convey her meaning correctly.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help I have received. My greatest debt is to my friend and colleague, Professor Francois Hoffmann, who went over the entire translation with me and also made the first translation of two essays (Sections III and IV of this anthology). He often saved me from misapprehension of the original and clumsiness in the translation. Another colleague and friend, Professor Rudolf Mach, helped me trace several references in Madame de Stals text. I am very grateful to the Comtesse Jean de Pange for her encouragement and help in interpreting the works of her illustrious ancestor. To the Comte Othenin dHaussonville and to M. Jean-Ren Bory I am grateful for the opportunity to visit Madame de Stals chateau at Coppet. I want to express my thanks to the Princeton University Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences for financial assistance.

Virtually all of Madame de Stals work is included in her collected writings, Oeuvres Compltes de Madame la Baronne de Stal-Holstein, edited by her son Auguste de Stal, various printings beginning in 1820; the printing referred to in this book is that of 1836 and 1838, three volumes in two, published in Paris by Didot and Treuttel and Wiirtz. For the translations in this anthology, however, I have used critical editions wherever possible, and the Oeuvres Compltes only in the absence of a critical edition. The sources are, therefore, as follows:

Section I. Considrations sur les principaux vnements de la Rvolution franaise. (Completed in 1816, published posthumously, in 1818. ) New edition, two volumes, Charpentier, Paris, 1876.

Section II. Same as Section I above.

Section III. Des circonstances actuelles qui peuvent terminer la Rvolution et des principes qui doivent fonder la Rpublique en France. (Written in 1799, published posthumously in 1906.) Introduction and notes by John Vinot. Fischbacher, Paris, 1906. Part One, Chapter III, De lopinion publique.

Section IV. A quels signes peut-on connatre quelle est lopinion de la majorit de la nation? (1791.) Reprinted in Vol. III, Oeuvres Indites de Mme. la Baronne de Stal. (Edited by Auguste de Stal.) Three volumes, Treuttel and Wiirtz, Paris, 1821.

Section V. De la Littrature considre dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales. ( First edition, 1800. ) Critical edition by Paul van Tieghem. Two volumes, Minard, Paris, and Droz, Geneva, 1959.

Section VI. Essai sur les Fictions. (First edition, 1795.) Reprinted in Vol. I, Oeuvres Compltes.

Section VII. De Allemagne. (First edition, 1813.) New edition based upon the manuscripts and original editions by the Comtesse Jean de Pange. Five volumes, Hachette, Paris, i958~6o.

Section VIII. Same as Section I above.

Section IX. Dix annes dexil. (Uncompleted manuscript written 181013, published posthumously in 1821.) New edition based upon the manuscripts by Paul Gautier. Plon-Nourrit, Paris, 1904.

I have abridged all the works in this anthology, except Section III, which is an entire chapter of a book. I have retained the original numbers and titles Madame de Stal gave to the parts and chapters of her works. Since the reader can thus see the sources of the anthology, I have not used any device to indicate omissions from the original text. The tides of the Sections in the table of Contents are mostly mine; their purpose is to suggest the general subject in each one.

Madame de Stals own footnotes are indicated by an asterisk and are given in roman type at the bottom of the page. My notes are indicated by numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.), and are given in italics and followed by:Ed., except, of course, in the Introduction. I have kept my notes to a minimum, usually to identify names and references not likely to be familiar to most readers, and sometimes to help the reader with chronology.

In my Introduction and footnotes, references to the writings of Madame de Stal are to the editions, listed above, used in this translation, unless otherwise stated.

Occasionally I have inserted a few words between brackets [ ] to make an abridged passage read more smoothly.

Morroe Berger

BY MORROE BERGER

Madame de Stal was often linked with England and Russia as one of the three great powers of Europe in the nineteenth century. Many biographers, concentrating on her affairs with Benjamin Constant, Talleyrand, Narbonne, and others, have presented her as a great lover. Each of these portraits contains a germ of truth, for she certainly sought to influence events and one of her means was the men she loved and those who loved her.liberty. Her chief aim was not power for its own sake but for the sake of liberty and enlightenment.