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New Sensibility, New Knowledge, New Institutions

Robert Morrissey

in The Economy of Glory: From Ancien Regime France to the Fall of Napoleon

What might be called the last battle between the Ancients and the Moderns plays itself out on multiple levels. Madame de Staël, a staunch opponent of Napoleon, explores the role of glory in the light ... More

What might be called the last battle between the Ancients and the Moderns plays itself out on multiple levels. Madame de Staël, a staunch opponent of Napoleon, explores the role of glory in the light of modern sensibility. To depict the apotheosis of French heroes, Girodet turns to Ossian rather than the heroes of classical antiquity. Fundamental Napoleonic institutions– the Legion of Honor, Imperial Nobility– all play essential roles in the new economy of glory, which aims to recognize all those who merit recognition,until, that is, the final collapse.Less

This ‘still exhaustless mine’: de Staël, Goethe and Byron’s Roman lyricism

Alan Rawes

in Byron and Italy

This chapter addresses Byron’s Italian lyric mode by focusing on Childe Harold IV’s description of the Palatine as an exemplary instance of sustained poetic attentiveness. It places this description ... More

This chapter addresses Byron’s Italian lyric mode by focusing on Childe Harold IV’s description of the Palatine as an exemplary instance of sustained poetic attentiveness. It places this description alongside the accounts of the Palatine in Goethe’s Italienische Reise and de Staël’s Corinne, ou l’Italie. Comparing these three fundamental texts for the Romantic reinvention of Italy, the chapter draws out their very different ways of responding to Rome. In doing so, it contrasts the fictional and autobiographical works of de Staël and Goethe, which appropriate the ruins of Rome for their own needs and purposes, and Childe Harold IV,which offers an attentive responsiveness to Roman ruins per se. Whereas Goethe seeks an education in Rome, and de Staël finds consolation, Byron, in his poetic exploration of the Palatine, crafts an entirely original lyric mode and persona that are expressive of a heightened attention to the suggestions of Rome. The ‘eternal city’ thus becomes an ‘exhaustless mine’ (CHP, IV, 108, 128) of experiences that hosts of later tourists would then come to explore, relish and revel in.Less

Attempting to Win France for Abolition

in Zachary Macaulay 1768–1838: The Steadfast Scot in the British Anti-Slavery Movement

This chapter examines Zachary Macaulay's work in negotiating for French abolition of the slave trade as part of a peace treaty between Great Britain and France. It discusses Macaulay's encounter with ... More

This chapter examines Zachary Macaulay's work in negotiating for French abolition of the slave trade as part of a peace treaty between Great Britain and France. It discusses Macaulay's encounter with Madame de Staël and the Duke of Wellington, and suggests that the failure of his efforts may be attributed to the propaganda to justify slavery and the resistance of the colonists. The chapter highlights the inactivity of many abolitionists in Britain during the period between 1815 and 1823, and discusses the implications of the French government's recognition of Haitian independence in 1825.Less

‘Domestic publicity’

Anne Stott

in Wilberforce: Family and Friends

This chapter, which is thematically rather than chronologically based, introduces the third part of the book and depicts Wilberforce in his domestic setting. One of the chief reasons for his hatred ... More

This chapter, which is thematically rather than chronologically based, introduces the third part of the book and depicts Wilberforce in his domestic setting. One of the chief reasons for his hatred of the slave system was the fact that the slaves were denied family life. He attached great importance to the Christian idea of the ‘good death’, and saw heaven in domestic terms as a site of family reunion. His intervention in the cases of Mary Anne Clarke and Queen Caroline show the importance of domestic ideology in his political campaigns. His parliamentary attack on Captain John Kimber and the Hindu practice of sati show his concern for non-European women. In 1822 he received the widow and daughters of Henri Christophe, the former King of Haiti. His meeting with Madame de Staël is described. The chapter ends with a discussion of his relationship with his wife, Barbara Spooner.Less

Reconciliation

in Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816

While Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley were away on the trip round the lake of Geneva, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Claire Clairmont were left to keep themselves busy at Diodati. Mary had begun ... More

While Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley were away on the trip round the lake of Geneva, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Claire Clairmont were left to keep themselves busy at Diodati. Mary had begun writing Frankenstein and made fair copies of Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. John Polidori was visiting the two women on a daily basis and often dined with them. Upon his return Byron would experience a profound change in his social life due to his encounter with Germaine de Staël, who had returned from Italy to her château at Coppet. Madame de Staël was a major celebrity in Europe owing to her father's fame, her suffering at the hands of Napoleon of France, and her political activity. Her warm welcome and her ability to make Byron feel completely at home made the poet continue to visit Coppet, in spite of the occasional encounter with people such as Elizabeth Hervey.Less

Lewis, de Staël and ‘Poor Polidori’

in Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816

Matthew Lewis met Madame de Staël in England, but the two got into a serious disagreement during one of their meetings. Perhaps to initiate a reconciliation between the two, Byron accompanied Lewis ... More

Matthew Lewis met Madame de Staël in England, but the two got into a serious disagreement during one of their meetings. Perhaps to initiate a reconciliation between the two, Byron accompanied Lewis to Coppet. During his stay with Byron in Diodati, Lewis had not only told ghost stories but also translated for him parts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust. Byron would later acknowledged the particular influence of Lewis's oral rendering on Manfred, the poetic drama he was beginning to write at the time. Byron was often tempted by what Sigmund Freud calls the omnipotence of thoughts. This is evident in his response in 1818 to the suicide of Sir Samuel Romilly, a lawyer known for his humanitarian efforts to reform the English penal code.Less

From Lord Nelvil to Dugald Dalgetty: Byron’s Scottish identity in Italy

Jonathan Gross

in Byron and Italy

This chapter focuses primarily on Byron’s letters from his Italian years in order to examine the extent to which his Italianisation actually intensified his sense of his own Britishness. The latter ... More

This chapter focuses primarily on Byron’s letters from his Italian years in order to examine the extent to which his Italianisation actually intensified his sense of his own Britishness. The latter category everywhere underpins and complicates his relationship to Italy. As this chapter shows, even as the British poet was ‘rebranding’ himself as almost but never entirely Italian, the Italianised British aristocrat was re-imagining himself as a Scottish mercenary in the midst of Italian revolution. Under the influence of Madame de Staël’s Lord Nelvil (from her 1807 novel Corinne) and Walter Scott’s novels (which Byron avidly read while in Italy), the poet depicted himself in his letters home as an aristocratic Scottish lord leading a band of troops or as serving the Italian cause ‘like Dugald Dalgetty’ in Scott’s A Legend of Montrose. As this chapter demonstrates, Byron never felt himself ‘more Scottish’ than when residing in Ravenna, Venice, Genoa and Pisa.Less

The Economy of Limited Time

in On Borrowed Time: The Art and Economy of Living with Deadlines

This chapter discusses conceptions of the economy of limited time through the works of Homer, Adolf Franz Friedrich Freiherr von Knigge, Plutarch, André Gide, Jean Paul Richter, and Madame de Staël.

Old Friends

in Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816

Coppet's tripartite division could accommodate members of Madame de Staël's immediate family, the visiting English, the local intellectuals of a liberal cast, and some princes, dukes, and titled ... More

Coppet's tripartite division could accommodate members of Madame de Staël's immediate family, the visiting English, the local intellectuals of a liberal cast, and some princes, dukes, and titled dignitaries from continental Europe. Part of de Staël's small family group was Jean Rocca, who was rumoured to be her lover despite being much younger than her. In truth, Rocca and de Staël had been secretly married in 1811. Born in 1766 and widowed in 1802, de Staël was known for falling for handsome young men who could match her intellectually. One such man was Benjamin Constant, who wrote a novel entitled Adolphe to describe his early experience of trying to break up with de Staël. Whereas Adolphe is a modified roman à clef, another novel, Glenarvon, is a glaring example of the genre and one which cannot be considered a masterpiece. Glenarvon was Caroline Lamb's fictionalised account of her affair with Lord Byron.Less

Polidori Does Not Suit

in Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816

Percy Bysshe Shelley did not go with Lord Byron to Coppet. An attractive and eloquent young poet, he would have been welcome there, and Madame de Staël would have been interested to meet Mary ... More

Percy Bysshe Shelley did not go with Lord Byron to Coppet. An attractive and eloquent young poet, he would have been welcome there, and Madame de Staël would have been interested to meet Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Instead, Shelley planned a trip to Chamonix with Mary and Claire Clairmont. Their Mont Blanc excursion had important literary consequences for both Mary and Shelley. Meanwhile, Byron had almost completed canto 3 of his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage as well as The Prisoner of Chillon. He had also written several shorter works, including three poems based on his own dreams, daytime visions, or haunting memories from the past. The first poem, entitled ‘The Dream’, reflects on the nature of dreaming and the particular dreams or visions with which he appeared to have been preoccupied at the time.Less

The Shelley Party

in Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816

Some members of the group who were with Lord Byron during his stay in Switzerland did not fare well on their own. Matthew Lewis, for example, spent a year in Europe after leaving Diodati, visiting ... More

Some members of the group who were with Lord Byron during his stay in Switzerland did not fare well on their own. Matthew Lewis, for example, spent a year in Europe after leaving Diodati, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and Naples in Italy. He returned to England in October 1816 and sailed again for Jamaica the following month. He died of yellow fever on board a ship in mid–ocean at the age of forty–two. Meanwhile, Madame de Staël moved from Coppet to Paris in October 1816 but quickly became bed–ridden and died on July 14, 1817 at the age of fifty–one. Byron made references to de Staël in the verses he wrote for his publisher, but their main topic was actually John Polidori, who went to Milan in September 1816, weary and depressed. When he recovered, Polidori reestablished his good ties to Byron and John Cam Hobhouse. On August 24, 1821, Polidori was found in a desperate state in his room and died very shortly afterwards. He apparently committed suicide by swallowing prussic acid.Less