Aesthetics of Early French Romanticism and Its Literary Aspects. Germaine de Stael

The article reconstructs the early romantic philosophical aesthetics of Madame de Stael, which was embodied in her literary work. She made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory of romanticism, compared the romantic and classical types of creativity. De Stael was one of the first French romantics to use the term “romanticism”, define it and analyze from a philosophical and aesthetic point of view a number of key concepts for this new direction of artistic life: love, passion, enthusiasm, spirituality, sensitivity, reflection, self-reflection, melancholy, self-sacrifice, loneliness, alienation, imagination, inspiration, imagery, aesthetic pleasure, taste, talent, genius, ideal. She conceptualized the trend that would become prevalent in mature romanticism — a combination of the incongruous, sharp contrasts and tragic collisions of opposite principles — the sublime and the low, the beautiful and the ugly. De Stael attached particular importance to the national characteristics of artistic creativity, its rootedness in popular culture, and the influence of social institutions on art. She made a significant contribution to the development of aesthetic aspects of literary theory, put forward an innovative thesis about the “metaphysical” language that distinguishes the romantic style. The aesthetic vector of de Stael is directed to the future associated with the development of romantic art. All these ideas were reflected in her literary works.

Years of Pilgrimage, First Steps in Politics, and a Betrothal (1816–1823)

This chapter sees Alamán through most of the decade 1814-1823 as he traveled and studied in Europe, travels that can be traced in some detail through his surviving passports and visas. He visited many of the major cities in the region, among them Paris, London, Madrid, and spent time in Italy and Germany. Along the way he met a number of the outstanding literary and scientific figures of the age, such as Alexander von Humboldt and Madame de Staël, and found himself once again in Paris during the return of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. He returned briefly to New Spain in 1820 to be betrothed to Narcisa Castrillo and occupy two minor political posts before being elected a deputy to the Spanish imperial Cortes (diet) in Madrid. He departed for Spain late in 1820 and would be gone for two years.

De la Flandre insolite au fantastique, une spécialité de la littérature belge francophone

This paper shows how the image of the uncanny Flanders, elaborated in the early nineteenth century by Madame de Staël as well as by French writers and voyagers contributed to the specificity of Belgian francophone literature and especially to the creation of the concept of the Belgian school of the bizarre. He examines the impact of the hetero-image on self-image and the role of literature in the formation and perpetuation of the stereotype of Belgium, land of strange. It reveals how Belgian writers used, petrified and propagated this image to build their difference and show their belgité in order to make it a specificity of Belgium.

Madame de Staël ou le plaidoyer pour une vie seconde : le théâtre

"Madame de Staël or the Necessity of a Second Life: The Theatre. Our contribution proposes an incursion into literary history at the time of the First Wave of French Romanticism. The subject of the investigation is Madame de Staël’s experimental theatre and the dramatic seasons that she organized between 1804 and 1811 in Coppet and Geneva. Our conclusions are twofold: on the aesthetic side, Coppet’s dramatic representations had the role of changing the aesthetic and literary canons of the early 19th century; on the historical side, the Coppet Group is one of the first romantic cenacles whose resounding literary activity was the theatre. Keywords: Madame de Staël, Coppet, Geneva, experimental theatre, French Romanticism, aesthetic and literary canons, 19th century literature, romantic theatre."

Obraz kobiety włoskiej w literaturze XIX wieku i jego realizacja w Półdiablęciu weneckim Józefa Ignacego Kraszewskiego

The type of la donna Italiana, the statuesque woman with dark hair, light skin and large, black, hypnotic eyes was popularized among the European men of letters in the nineteenth century. This stereotype had already been solidified in eighteenth-century Italian phraseology, but it was later brought into general use by Madame de Staël and George Byron. The Italian poet of the late nineteenth century, Annetta Ceccoli Boneschi, gathered and described the most distinctive features of the female citizens of different regions of Italy used by foreign writers to create their heroines. Among others, the Venetians were supposed to be the most beautiful and seductive women, with their soft accent and smouldering gaze. In Poland, this type of heroine appeared in Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s novel The Half-Demon of Venice, which is the main focus of this article. The creation of an Italian donna in this romance uses the stereotypes formed during the nineteenth century, but it also uses the individual observations made by Kraszewski himself during his tour through Italy.