Against the wishes of her parents and the traditions of upper-class French society, Germaine de Sta�l (1766-1817) struggled to be accepted as a serious writer. At a time when ladies wrote a little poetry and small stories, Sta�l insisted on writing about politics and philosophy. In an effort to abide by the rules of her society, she wrote in two styles--that of a woman and that of a man--but as Charlotte Hogsett points out, Sta�l's ef forts to write as a man could not disguise the woman behind the pen. Hogsett treats ...
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Against the wishes of her parents and the traditions of upper-class French society, Germaine de Sta�l (1766-1817) struggled to be accepted as a serious writer. At a time when ladies wrote a little poetry and small stories, Sta�l insisted on writing about politics and philosophy. In an effort to abide by the rules of her society, she wrote in two styles--that of a woman and that of a man--but as Charlotte Hogsett points out, Sta�l's ef forts to write as a man could not disguise the woman behind the pen. Hogsett treats both the expository and fictional works in the Sta�l canon. The male canon reflects her respect for Rousseau and Chateaubriand; the female, her own courage and intelligence, for there was no one to emulate. Hogsett provides a vivid analysis of Sta�l's maturation as both woman and writer.
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