Domestic Cosmopolitanism in Germaine de Staël’s Coppet and in Corinne, or Italy

This essay argues for the intellectual ethos of cosmopolitanism shared in the salon culture of Germaine de Staël's Enlightenment centre at Coppet and reflects on the overlooked significance of a cosmopolitanism rooted in the host country (i.e. Switzerland) and played out domestically through dialogues and writing. Furthermore, this essay suggests that the cosmopolitan dimension surrounding Coppet acted as an inspiration for Staël's second novel Corinne, or Italy (1807), a European best-seller which not only sheds light on the society of Napoleonic Europe, but also exposes links between British nationalism and provincialism with Italian cosmopolitanism; Corinne's multilingual conversations with her cosmopolitan improvisations; and the interplay between the domestic and the cosmopolitan heroine ultimately embodied by the character of the child Juliet.