The Education of Madame de Stael

Tim took me on a tour of his college, including the library, and I found a really interesting book: Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Stael by J. Christopher Herold, 1958. I've seen her name come up in CM's books and PR articles, so, naturally, I was intrigued. I was able to get a library card and check out the book.

Madame de Stael's first name was Germaine, and she was an only child. Her mother (Madame Suzanne Necker) was enamored of Rousseau's ideas and kept Germaine home to educate her herself. Here's a quote from the book. Sorry for the lack of caps - my fingers are tired, I'll go back and fix them later.

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Madame Necker, by some astounding feat of self-delusion, imagined that she was bringing up her daughter according to the teachings of rousseau--'like emile,' she wrote. a greater contrast than the education rousseau prescribed for emile and the education germaine received from her mother would be difficult to imagine.

rousseau, it may be recalled, had emile brought up in the country, isolated from the corrupting influences of society. germaine spent her childhood in a drawing room in the middle of paris. emile's tutor avoided any kind of formal instruction, seeking instead to let his pupil learn only through direct experience and guiding him in the spontaneous development of his natural gifts. 'for madame necker, all education consisted in instruction,' we are told. 'she taught mademoiselle necker latin and english, and she made her copy long extracts from books; but she never spent one hour alone with her in familiar conversation.

emile had not yet learned to read when germaine had read a whole library. emile's tutor reserved the idea of god for the end of his pupil's education; germaine learned her catechism before she was three. emile did not know of the existence of women until he was an adolescent; germaine had listened to discussions of love from infancy on.

emile's body was made strong and healthy by open air and exercise; knowledge and love of nature were the only discipline in his curriculum; and nature was his only textbook. 'the education of mademoiselle necker,' a childhood friend reminisced, 'was directed entirely toward the development of the mind. exercise, walks, everything that pleases and fortifies children did not in the least enter into madame necker's plans. and so her daughter knew how to dance, but not how to run. she recited thomson's 'seasons' but could not tell a hyacinth from a tubarose.'

there is one more striking contrast between germaine's education and emile's. rousseau had emile brought up not merely in solitude but away from his parents. 'oh, emile hadn't any father,' he said to boswell. 'he didn't exist.' he knew, of course, that emile's education was an ideal model rather than a practical possibility; but surely there is a middle ground between being brought up without parents and being, in a sense, married to them, as germaine was. her emotional involvement with her mother and father was the most decisive factor in her formation.

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the result of this education: germaine was starved for affection, because her mother's duty forbid her from showing affection. germaine thought her mother was dull and moralizing. she satisfied her craving for excitement with novels and plays, mostly sentimental. she faked coughing spells and fainted to get her mother's attention. a doctor diagnosed nerves and recommended rest, no exertion. So germaine's education ended at age thirteen, with her and her mother at odds.