Espaces et pratiques de l'activisme politique de Germaine de Staël lors de la Révolution française (1789-1799)
This essay explores the cultural conditions shaping the political participation of the Parisian salon woman and famous author Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, baroness of Staël-Holstein (1766-1817), during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Looking at representations, it underlines Germaine de Staël’s appropriation and recasting of gender norms to work out a suitable political role for elite women in the revolutionary context. This role was notably based on an ethic of friendship, and an ideal of virtue acquired by combining sensibility and reason. Her constitutional project, both liberal and elitist, sought to integrate female contribution to the political process through polite sociability and literary production. In regard to practices, this essay shows how networking tools and forums of discussion such as salons, correspondence and publication functioned together to position Staël within a socio-political space where she could act. It considers these forums as constitutive elements of a revolutionary political culture that Staël used creatively and constructively to promote her ideas and party.
History French Revolution (1789-1799) Political Culture Gender norms Sociability Correspondence Print culture Literature Sensibility