Stael’s Philosophy of the Passions

Tili Boon Cuillé is associate professor of French at Washington University in St. Louis and specializes in eighteenth-century French literature, philosophy, and aesthetics. She is the author of Narrative Interludes: Musical Tableaux in Eighteenth-Century French Texts (Toronto University Press, 2006) as well as of several articles on opera, painting, and the novel.Karyna Szmurlo is professor of French in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities at Clemson University. Her research on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women writers combines history, feminist theory, and the philosophy of language. Among her several collections of essays on Staël is the recently edited volume Germaine de Staël: Forging a Politics of Mediation (2011).

This volume, edited by Cuillé and Szmurlo, positions Madame Germaine de Staël at the crossroads of emotion and cognition, bridging the Enlightenment's intellectual heritage and Romanticism's passions. Staël lays the groundwork for much of 19th-century literature and opens many fruitful avenues of inquiry, ranging from anthropology and psychology, the philosophical and the political, to nationhood and gender. North American scholars from fields within and beyond the academy contribute chapters that seem particularly coherent, given the remarkable breadth of Staël's thought and works. The sections entitled "The Politics of the Passions," "International Aesthetics," and "Philosophy and the Arts" represent ensembles that fit well together. While each contributor's work is strong, of particular note are chapters by Karen de Bruin on the use of melancholy as seen through the character of Corrinne and the superiority that she represents, and Heather Belnap Jensen's study of Staël's depiction of women art collectors in Napoleonic Europe. For its ability to offer entry into Staël's work from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, this is an extremely valuable resource for understanding the evolution of intellectual thought at the beginning of the 19th century. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty, general readers.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Setting the StageTili Boon CuilléPart I. The Politics of the Passions1. The Mother, the Daughter, and the PassionsCatherine Dubeau, translated by Sylvie Romanowski2. The Virtuous "Passion": The Politics of Pity in Staël's The Influence of the PassionsNanette Le Coat3. Passions, Politics, and Literature: The Quest for HappinessChristine Dunn Henderson4. Melancholy in the Pursuit of Happiness: Corinne and the Femme SupérieureKaren de BruinPart II. International Aesthetics5. The Peripheral Heroine Takes Center Stage: From Owenson’s National Tale to Staël’s European GenreM. Ione Crummy6. Ethnography and Autoethnography in Corinne ou l’ItalieJennifer Law-Sullivan7. Liquid Union: Listening through Tears and the Creation of Community in CorinneLauren Fortner Ravalico8. Aeolian Translation: The Aesthetics of Mediation and the Jouissance of GenreC.C. Wharram9. British Legacies of Corinne and the Commercialization of EnthusiasmKari LokkePart III. Philosophy and the Arts10. The Power to Corrupt: A Staëlian Perspective on the Fine ArtsSusan Tenenbaum11. The Many Faces of Germaine de StaëlMary D. Sheriff12. Staël, Corinne, and the Women Collectors of Napoleonic EuropeHeather Belnap Jensen13. Germaine de Staël Defines Romanticism, or the Analogy of the Glass HarmonicaFabienne Moore14. Between Ideal and Performance: Corinne in Female-Authored Singer Narratives of the 1830sJulia EffertzBibliographyIndexAbout the Contributors