The Coppet group (Groupe de Coppet), also known as the Coppet circle, was an informal intellectual and literary gathering centred on Germaine de Staël during the time period between the establishment of the Napoleonic First Empire (1804) and the Bourbon Restoration of 1814–1815.[1][2][3][4] The name comes from Coppet Castle in Switzerland.

Madame de Stael et le groupe de Coppet

The group, which broadly continued the activities of Madame de Staël's previous salons, had a considerable influence on the development of nineteenth century liberalism and romanticism.[5][6] Stendhal referred to the Coppet guests as "the Estates General of European opinion."[7]

Participants

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Coppet Castle in Switzerland

Around the core group which consisted of the hosts at Coppet Castle, the Necker family, that is Jacques Necker and his daughter, Germaine de Staël and her long time lover, Benjamin Constant, with her cousin by marriage, Albertine Necker de Saussure, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Jean de Sismondi, Charles Victor de Bonstetten, Prosper de Barante, Mathieu de Montmorency and August Wilhelm Schlegel, there was a stream of international men and women visitors of influence.[8] These included:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Tenenbaum, Susan (1980). "The Coppet Circle. Literary Criticism as Political Discourse". History of Political Thought. 1 (2): 453–473.
  2. ^ Lefevere, Andre (2016). Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. Taylor & Francis. p. 109.
  3. ^ Fairweather, Maria (2013). Madame de Stael. Little, Brown Book Group.
  4. ^ Hofmann, Etienne; Rosset, François (2005). Le Groupe de Coppet. Une constellation d'intellectuels européens. Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes.
  5. ^ Jaume, Lucien (2000). Coppet, creuset de l'esprit libéral: Les idées politiques et constitutionnelles du Groupe de Madame de Staël. Presses Universitaires d'Aix-Marseille. p. 10.
  6. ^ Delon, Michel (1996). "Le Groupe de Coppet". In Francillon, Roger (ed.). Histoire de la littérature en Suisse romande t.1. Payot.
  7. ^ Ellis, David (2011). Byron in Geneva: That Summer of 1816. Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9781846316432. Passing through Lausanne in the following year, Stendhal was so impressed to learn of the number of distinguished people Madame de Staël had managed to gather together in 1816 that he described Coppet as 'the Estates-General of European opinion' [...].
  8. ^ Kete, Kathleen (2012). Making Way for Genius: The Aspiring Self in France from the Old Regime to the New. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300174823.
  9. ^ Guiccioli, Teresa (2005). Lord Byron's Life in Italy. University of Delaware Press. p. 77.

Further reading

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  • Hofmann, Étienne, ed. (1982). Benjamin Constant, Madame de Staël et le Groupe de Coppet: Actes du Deuxième Congrès de Lausanne à l'occasion du 150e anniversaire de la mort de Benjamin Constant Et Du Troisième Colloque de Coppet, 15-19 juilliet 1980 (in French). Oxford, The Voltaire Foundation and Lausanne, Institut Benjamin Constant. ISBN 0-7294-0280-0.
  • Garonna, Paolo (2010). L'Europe de Coppet - Essai sur l'Europe de demain (in French). Le Mont-sur-Lausanne: LEP Éditions Loisirs et Pėdagogie. ISBN 978-2-606-01369-1.