Writing the Self, Writing the Nation: Romantic Selfhood in the Works of Germaine de Stael and Claire de Duras

The French Revolution had a significant impact on the history of personhood in France, and this book explores how Germaine de Staëls and Claire de Durass depicted the shared and diverging lived experiences of men and women in their Romantic literature. It combines feminist revisions, situated reading practices, and life writing research with an intersectional approach to gender and nationhood to challenge binaries and explore the relationship between the self and the nation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 27 November 2018
Publisher: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers

The French Revolution, a pivotal era in French history, profoundly shaped the concept of personhood, intertwining gender and national identities. Within the context of Romantic literature, which emerged between the revolutions of 1789 and 1830, these constructs became ideological battlegrounds for individuals seeking to define their identity and express themselves. This book explores the representations of men and women in Germaine de Staël's and Claire de Durass's works to offer a groundbreaking transnational perspective on the mal du siècle, a phenomenon often centered on male experiences. By combining feminist revisions, situated reading practices, and life writing research, the book offers a nuanced understanding of gender and nationhood. It challenges the construction and enforcement of binaries in early nineteenth-century legislation, discourse, and culture. Beyond Staëls and Durass's intertextual relationship, the book highlights the significance of an understudied period in literary scholarship, sheds light on women's roles in French Romanticism, and delves into the complex relationship between the self and the nation.

Weight: 368g
Dimension: 150 x 224 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781788742085
Edition number: New ed