Madame de Staël, The First Modern Woman, by Francine Du Plessix Gray

Back when I could keep the threads of several plot lines alive at the same, I had a book I was reading in the bedroom, one in the living room, and yes, sometimes one in the bathroom. Now, I have the high-tech version of that. My work vice (ok, one of them) is that I read DailyLit every day on my computer. If you haven’t already heard about it, it’s a terrific service where you receive an email with five minutes of reading a day. You choose the story, the length, and the frequency of the installments.

When I first started using this service, it was free for most classics, and more current fiction was offered for a fee. Today, everything’s free. But, I was nervous. Wuthering Heights, with one hundred and forty-five installments, seemed a little ambitious, and could take half a year! Now, in the year or so that I’ve been a member, I have read over a dozen classic novels, as well as several short stories.

Madame de Staël, The First Modern Woman, by Francine Du Plessix Gray, would not have been something I picked up at Barnes & Noble. I am not a huge fan of historical biography, especially when it comes heavily footnoted. But, in a recent note from dailylit, I was alerted to the book that Diane Von Furstenberg was “sponsoring”. Each installment came with a tiny DVF band at the top, but honestly, I will support anyone who gives free literature to the masses.

The book, for me, was truly remarkable. I was not quite sure who Germaine de Staël was at the start of the book, and, by the end, I could not believe I’d only vaguely heard of her before. She was an immovable force – by sheer will and conversation she brought some of the greatest men in modern France (and Europe) to their knees. Most remarkable was the long string of lovers and worshippers she left in her wake – despite her oft-noted plain, and even ugly, overweight appearance. I loved reading about these famous men who met her, complained openly at the sight of her, and then the next day were begging for her attention!

A little history, for those so inclined. Germaine de Staël (1766 – 1817) was the daughter of Jacques Necker, Minister of Finances to Louis XVI. She was born into a life of politics, where intellectual conversation was considered an art. She became a best-selling novelist and the mistress of one of the most celebrated salons in France. During her impassioned battles with Napoleon, she was repeatedly exiled from her beloved Paris, and forced to stay at her family home in Lake Geneva. (honestly, “Coppet” sounded very luxurious so I didn’t feel quite so sorry for her.) If you are a history buff, you will enjoy the countless famous men and women who people her amazing story; including many whose careers she orchestrated. She was a political figure, but also a humanitarian, and she did whatever she could to save lives in the time of the “Terror”.

Before her marriage, at twenty, to de Staël, she said, “I regret that I have not joined my fate to that of a great man; it is the only possible glory for a woman.” In truth, it was the great men who found glory in joining their fate to her.