Staël

Staël refers to Germaine de Staël-Holstein, commonly known as Madame de Staël, a prominent writer and intellectual of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Born Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker in 1766 in Paris, she was the daughter of Jacques Necker, a Swiss-born financier and statesman, and Susanne Curchod. In 1786 she married Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein, and thereafter used the surname Staël. She and her circle lived in Paris and later at Coppet in Switzerland, where the Staël salon became a center of literary and political discussion.

Staël helped introduce German literature and philosophy to French audiences and became a leading voice in liberal and constitutional debates during the Napoleonic era. Her novels Delphine (1802) and Corinne (1807) explored themes of individual freedom, gender issues, and artistic temperament. Her political writings, including reflections on revolution and modern society, and her later work De l’Allemagne (On Germany) (1810), argued for civil liberties, education, and cultural pluralism. Her outspoken stance brought her into conflict with Napoleon, leading to exile and censorship of her works in France.

Her thought contributed to European Romanticism and liberal political theory, influencing contemporaries and later thinkers. Staël died in 1817 in Paris. Her legacy endures in discussions of gender, culture, and the role of literature in society.