Monday 24 February 2020

Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy"


Staël, Anne-Louise-Germaine de "Corinne: Or Italy" (French: Corinne ou l'Italie) - 1807

I enjoy reading classics and this one is from the same time as my favourite classic writer, Jane Austen.

However, even though, according to a description on Goodreads, this "work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it, it didn't really capture my interest. It reminded me of some much older literature, the story didn't really develop in a way you would like to follow it.  Some random thoughts here, a letter there. Yes, the book might be important for historical literature but, please, don't impose them on younger students who are not accustomed to reading classics.

From the back cover: (translated from French as I couldn't find an English one except for the above-mentioned quote):

"A cosmopolitan and European novel which evokes France, England and Italy at the dawn of romanticism in the diversity of their mores and their cultures. The story of a woman, the poet Corinne, who opened the debate on the status of women, on the right of women to live independently and to exist as a writer. Corinne is Mme de Staël herself, 'the most extraordinary woman we have ever seen' according to Stendhal, 'a being apart, a superior being such as he meets perhaps one in a century', said Benjamin Constant. Napoleon himself, who saw Madame de Staël as a dangerous messenger of liberty, once declared: 'We must recognize, after all, that she is a woman of great talent; she will stay."

2 comments:

  1. Good for you on giving it a try.

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    1. Even if I don't enjoy every book I read, I usually chose the kind of books that still makes it worth the time spent on reading it. This one was quite informative about the time they lived.

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