Germaine de Stael and Benjamin Constant: A Dual Biography
Author: Renee Winegarten
When they first met in 1794, shortly after the Reign of Terror, Germaine de Staël and Benjamin Constant were both in their twenties, both married, and both outsiders. She was already celebrated and a published writer, whereas he, though ambitious, was unknown. This compelling dual biography tells the extraordinary story of their union and disunion, set against a European background of momentous events and dramatic social and cultural change. Renee Winegarten offers new perspectives on each of the protagonists, revealing their rare qualities and their all-too-human failings as well as the complex nature of their debt to one another.
Their passionate and productive relationship endured on and off for seventeen years. Winegarten traces their story largely through their own words—letters and autobiographical writings—and illuminates the deep intellectual and visceral bond they shared despite disparate personalities and gifts. Exploring their relationships with Napoleon and the Bourbons, their different responses to the momentous upheavals of postrevolutionary France, their support of individual liberty with order, and more, the book concludes with an appreciation of de Staël’s and Constant’s singular contributions to a new literature and to the history of liberty.
The Washington Post - Michael Dirda
Winegarten tells the story of de Stael and Constant's "marriage of true minds" with absorbing detail…For many readers, I suspect that the names Germaine de Stael and Benjamin Constant are, in effect, just names. If that's the case, take heart: Renee Winegarten's fine dual biography will bring them to blazing life.
Marie Marmo Mullaney - Library Journal
This "dual biography" is the first full-length exploration of the tempestuous 17-year partnership between Madame de Stael, the most celebrated woman writer of the Napoleonic period, and up-and-coming liberal politician, journalist, and theorist Benjamin Constant. Literary critic Winegarten (Accursed Politics) uses letters, diaries, and published accounts to reveal the pair's innermost thoughts and feelings on love, marriage, and politics, skillfully interweaving the story of their parallel lives against the backdrop of the social and political maneuverings of post-revolutionary France. While the two were never a married couple, they consulted, advised, inspired, and used each other, and each responded in distinct ways to the new Napoleonic order. At times, the complexities of French politics in this period may make the book difficult to follow for all but the most engaged and informed readers, yet Winegarten's recounting of the nature of this partnership and clear examination of the pair's political ideas, writings, and emotions make her book an important contribution to the field. The author concludes that despite their private shortcomings, these two should be remembered and admired for their key contributions to Western liberalism in its formative phase. Students of French literary and cultural history will best appreciate this highly readable, if occasionally complex, narrative. Recommended for academic collections and large public libraries.
Table of Contents:
Prologue 1
1 A Chance Encounter 6
2 Prodigies 33
3 A Bold Throw 67
4 Enter the Hero 98
5 A New Order 125
6 Journey into the Unknown 155
7 Corinne and Adolphe 180
8 The Flight to Freedom 218
9 Reunion in Paris - and After 247
10 The Death of Corinne 277
Epilogue 288
Notes 301
Bibliography 319
Index 327
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Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origin of the Constitution
Author: Forrest McDonald
This is the first major interpretation of the framing of the Constitution to appear in more than two decades. Forrest McDonald, widely considered one of the foremost historians of the Constitution and of the early national period, reconstructs the intellectual world of the Founding Fathers--including their understanding of law, history political philosophy, and political economy, and their firsthand experience in public affairs--and then analyzes their behavior in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in light of that world. No one has attempted to do so on such a scale before. McDonald's principal conclusion is that, though the Framers brought a variety of ideological and philosophical positions to bear upon their task of building a "new order of the ages," they were guided primarily by theiy own experience, their wisdom, and their common sense.
William and Mary Quarterly
Thoroughly impressive. A book that is consistently enlightening and one that, more than any of McDonald's previous works, stands as a monument to his remarkable talents.
Georgia Historical Quarterly
As provocative as it is difficult to put down.
The New York Times Book Review
A witty and energetic study of the ideas and passions of the Framers.
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