![(Domenichino’s Cumaean Sibyl (1620-3)) This painting is used on the Oxford Press’ cover of Madame de Stael’s Corrine, or Italy and I think it captures the kind of person Corrine and de Stael represent to their audiences… the inspiring genius.
Part III of III: Intertextual Romanticism or A Link Through a Couple of Cool Novels and a Poem: Madame de Stael linked to Benjamin Constant (Romantically) and linked to Alexander Pushkin (post-death, not Romantically).
This small chapter brings to a close my sloppy and and hopefully somewhat interesting link through some cool and emotionally tortured Romantic (big R, not small r) authors from France and Russia. Madame de Stael, noted anti-Napoleonist, had a rollercoaster affair with Benjamin Constant (little known inside the U.S. unfortunately) for over a decade. Her prose can be a challenge because of its density, she took lots of lovers, was not really that attractive physically (look at paintings of her… she seems to grow a thick mustache as she ages). I mean, it’s not that uncommon, but the painters included it and it isn’t very flattering at all for a Romantic heroine, dammit… but de Stael was a larger than life celebrity for her time and her novel, Corrine, or Italy, is fantastic - part travelogue, all European Romanticism. I’ve never been to Italy, but her writing about the ancient art of Rome allowed me to picture it accurately (at least, according to pictures I’ve seen). Besides this novel and her appearances and lovers, she is a tremendous talent in literature.
The connection:
In Part I, I noted how Constant’s novel, Adolphe, was a somewhat autobiographical-disguised-as-a-novel account of his love affair with de Stael and told about Pushkin’s co-option of Constant’s fictional love letters in Part II, in Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. There really isn’t a real-life connection between Pushkin and de Stael, but Pushkin respected her, and so that’s the small link. When I was scourging through my university library’s Pushkin collection while doing my research, I came across an invaluable book: The Critical Prose of Alexander Pushkin (with Critical Essays by Four Russian Romantic Poets) - edited by Carl Proffer. It translates Pushkin’s criticism and includes his contemporary critics. In response to Russian critic Mr. A. M. and his condemnation of de Stael and her writings, Pushkin writes this high praise of her:
“One should speak of this lady [Pushkin co-opts the critic’s use of “lady”] in the courteous language of an educated person. This lady was rewarded with the persecution of Napoleon, the trust of monarchs, the respect of Europe- and the very discourteous and not very bright journal article of Mr. A. M.” (27)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll424bF5jm1qannlmo1_1280.jpg)
(Domenichino’s Cumaean Sibyl (1620-3)) This painting is used on the Oxford Press’ cover of Madame de Stael’s Corrine, or Italy and I think it captures the kind of person Corrine and de Stael represent to their audiences… the inspiring genius.
Part III of III: Intertextual Romanticism or A Link Through a Couple of Cool Novels and a Poem: Madame de Stael linked to Benjamin Constant (Romantically) and linked to Alexander Pushkin (post-death, not Romantically).
This small chapter brings to a close my sloppy and and hopefully somewhat interesting link through some cool and emotionally tortured Romantic (big R, not small r) authors from France and Russia. Madame de Stael, noted anti-Napoleonist, had a rollercoaster affair with Benjamin Constant (little known inside the U.S. unfortunately) for over a decade. Her prose can be a challenge because of its density, she took lots of lovers, was not really that attractive physically (look at paintings of her… she seems to grow a thick mustache as she ages). I mean, it’s not that uncommon, but the painters included it and it isn’t very flattering at all for a Romantic heroine, dammit… but de Stael was a larger than life celebrity for her time and her novel, Corrine, or Italy, is fantastic - part travelogue, all European Romanticism. I’ve never been to Italy, but her writing about the ancient art of Rome allowed me to picture it accurately (at least, according to pictures I’ve seen). Besides this novel and her appearances and lovers, she is a tremendous talent in literature.
The connection:
In Part I, I noted how Constant’s novel, Adolphe, was a somewhat autobiographical-disguised-as-a-novel account of his love affair with de Stael and told about Pushkin’s co-option of Constant’s fictional love letters in Part II, in Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. There really isn’t a real-life connection between Pushkin and de Stael, but Pushkin respected her, and so that’s the small link. When I was scourging through my university library’s Pushkin collection while doing my research, I came across an invaluable book: The Critical Prose of Alexander Pushkin (with Critical Essays by Four Russian Romantic Poets) - edited by Carl Proffer. It translates Pushkin’s criticism and includes his contemporary critics. In response to Russian critic Mr. A. M. and his condemnation of de Stael and her writings, Pushkin writes this high praise of her:
“One should speak of this lady [Pushkin co-opts the critic’s use of “lady”] in the courteous language of an educated person. This lady was rewarded with the persecution of Napoleon, the trust of monarchs, the respect of Europe- and the very discourteous and not very bright journal article of Mr. A. M.” (27)
