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Germaine de Staël’s Réflexions sur le procès de la reine : An act of compassion?

Cabak Rédei, Anna LU orcid (2020) In Semiotica 2020(232). p.41-52
Abstract
In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of de Staël. (1996 [1793]. Réflexions sur le procès de la reine. Paris: Mercure de France), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favor of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Staël write it? Mme de Staël and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women’s March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Staël witnessed people’s hatred for the Queen, that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a... (More)
In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of de Staël. (1996 [1793]. Réflexions sur le procès de la reine. Paris: Mercure de France), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favor of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Staël write it? Mme de Staël and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women’s March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Staël witnessed people’s hatred for the Queen, that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a public opinion that had been “manipulated” (Thomas. 1996. Preface. In Réflexions sur le procès de la reine, 7–14. Paris: Mercure de France: 12) in a systematic way, and to which she herself had been a victim. Pursuing some ideas formulated by Reddy (2000, 2001) and (Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) in their work on emotion and empathy in history and philosophy respectively, I hope to offer some suggestions, with the aid of cultural semiotics. More specifically I hope to be able to provide some answers to the question whether Mme de Staël’s apology might be regarded as an act of compassion. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of Réflexions sur le procès de la reine, (1996 [1820, 1793]), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favour of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Staël write it? Mme de Staël and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Staël witnessed people’s hatred for the Queen that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a public opinion that had been... (More)
In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of Réflexions sur le procès de la reine, (1996 [1820, 1793]), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favour of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Staël write it? Mme de Staël and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Staël witnessed people’s hatred for the Queen that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a public opinion that had been “manipulated” (Thomas 1996: 12) in a systematic way, and to which she herself had been a victim. Pursuing some ideas formulated by William Reddy (2001) and Martha C. Nussbaum (2001) in their work on emotion and empathy in history and philosophy respectively, I hope to offer some suggestions, with the aid of cultural semiotics. More specifically I hope to be able to provide some answers to the question whether Mme de Staël’s apology might be regarded as an act of compassion. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Germaine de Staël, cultual semiotics, history culture, empathy, Marie-Antoinette, France, cultural semiotics, Germaine de Staël, emotion, empathy, history
in
Semiotica
volume
2020
issue
232
pages
12 pages
publisher
De Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:85078103069
ISSN
0037-1998
DOI
10.1515/sem-2019-0039
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ebd1ed4c-fa1c-4ce8-b77d-127aa0dc2222
date added to LUP
2019-04-15 15:21:36
date last changed
2023-11-15 02:32:09
@article{ebd1ed4c-fa1c-4ce8-b77d-127aa0dc2222,
  abstract     = {{In the foreword to the Mercure de France edition of de Staël. (1996 [1793]. Réflexions sur le procès de la reine. Paris: Mercure de France), Chantal Thomas, French historian and writer, writes that this apology in favor of Marie-Antoinette did not help the queen nor the author herself; on the contrary it only made the latter more unpopular. So why did Germaine de Staël write it? Mme de Staël and Marie-Antoinette did not share many interests; however, at the moment of The Women’s March on Versailles in October 1789, the situation had changed. It was at this moment, when Mme de Staël witnessed people’s hatred for the Queen, that she for the first time felt that she was on her side. She had the feeling that the Queen would be a victim to a public opinion that had been “manipulated” (Thomas. 1996. Preface. In Réflexions sur le procès de la reine, 7–14. Paris: Mercure de France: 12) in a systematic way, and to which she herself had been a victim. Pursuing some ideas formulated by Reddy (2000, 2001) and (Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.) in their work on emotion and empathy in history and philosophy respectively, I hope to offer some suggestions, with the aid of cultural semiotics. More specifically I hope to be able to provide some answers to the question whether Mme de Staël’s apology might be regarded as an act of compassion.}},
  author       = {{Cabak Rédei, Anna}},
  issn         = {{0037-1998}},
  keywords     = {{Germaine de Staël; cultual semiotics; history culture; empathy; Marie-Antoinette; France; cultural semiotics; Germaine de Staël; emotion; empathy; history}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{232}},
  pages        = {{41--52}},
  publisher    = {{De Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Semiotica}},
  title        = {{Germaine de Staël’s <i>Réflexions sur le procès de la reine</i> : An act of compassion?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/sem-2019-0039}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/sem-2019-0039}},
  volume       = {{2020}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}