Corinne in the North. Madame de Staël’s Influence on Sophie von Knorring and August Strindberg

Since its publication in 1807 Mme de Staël’s novel Corinne, ou l’Italie has become a fundamental reference point for many women writers, who have found in it a prototypical representation of the conflict between genius and current definitions of femininity. Translated into Swedish in 1808-09, Corinne inspired writers such as Fredrika Bremer and Sophie von Knorring. The latter offered, in her 1836 novel Kvinnorna, a rewriting of de Staël’s novel, using it to reflect on a woman’s place in a patriarchal society and on the relationship between art and femininity. Later on, when the Woman Question... Mehr ...