Delphine (novel)
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 1803 edition | |
| Author | Germaine de Staël |
|---|---|
| Language | French |
| Genre | Epistolary novel |
Publication date | 1802 |
| Publication place | France |
Delphine is the first novel by Germaine de Staël, published in 1802. The book is written in epistolary form (as a series of letters) and examines the limits of women's freedom in an aristocratic society. Although de Staël denied political intent, the book was controversial enough for Napoleon to exile the author.
In this tragic novel, influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Julie, or the New Heloise, she reflects on the discussions on divorce in the National Assembly before the Concordat of 1801, when the laws were changed; the consequences after the Battle of Verdun (1792) leading to arrests and the September Massacres, the fate of the émigrés. The main characters have traits of Benjamin Constant and Talleyrand, and the liberalist view of the Italian politician Melzi d'Eril.[1]
In a literary and political essay called De la littérature dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales published in 1800, Germaine de Staël wrote about the history of literature and its links with political contexts, and also advocated the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment, which did not please Napoleon. The emperor of the French was also afraid of de Staël's political relations, and suspected her to be an opponent. Delphine's publication in 1802 made things even worse: de Staël was exiled from Paris, and forbidden to get closer than 40 lieues from the city.
When publishing Delphine, she claimed she was not interested in politics any more. Yet, this novel dedicated to "the silent France" (la France silencieuse) explicitly talks about such political and sociological subjects such as women's status, Protestantism, political liberalism, and emigration.[2]
