STAËL (de), Germaine (1766-1817)

STAËL (de), Germaine (1766-1817)

Autograph letter to Claire de Duras
N.p.n.d, 1 p. in-8°
Stains on verso

Charming note from Madame de Staël to her dear friend the Duchess of Duras

« Vous avez bien eu raison de m’écrire car j’y allais – est-ce bien fait de ne rien refuser et de le désirer plus – venez ce soir chez moi en allant au bal je vous en prie cela me fera honneur après du duc – »

A pivotal figure of European intellectual life at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Germaine de Staël benefited from an enlightened education and an environment conducive to the exchange of ideas from an early age. From the turbulent years of the Revolution to the dawn of the Restoration, the social upheavals of her time provided abundant material for her intellectual production, making the mother of Delphine a key mediator between Enlightenment thought and emerging Romanticism. As the Restoration began and her life drew to a close, she developed a deep affection for Claire de Duras, eleven years her junior, who had not yet embarked on her literary career. Their intellectual affinities and mutual esteem no doubt helped to soften the final years of Madame de Staël, who passed away in July 1817.