Staël, Germaine de - Ellen Moers (Essay Date Spring 1975)
ELLEN MOERS (ESSAY DATE SPRING 1975)
SOURCE: Moers, Ellen. "Mme de Staël and the Woman of Genius." The American Scholar 44, no. 2 (spring 1975): 225-41.
In the following essay, Moers maintains that Corinne is as much a guidebook to Italy as it is a guide to the woman of genius.
I am not used to Hope—It might intrude upon—Its sweet parade—blaspheme the place—Ordained to Suffering—
It might be easier To fail—with Land in Sight—Than gain—My Blue Peninsula—To perish—of Delight— —EMILY DICKINSON
Of all the books that have had a special meaning for gifted women, Mme de Staël's Corinne ou l'Italie is the most important. There is ample testimony from George Eliot, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Sand, Kate Chopin, and many others to the place Mme de Staël's myth of the woman...
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