De Staël as a historian of the French Revolution, or historical narrative on a human scale

The Considérations sur la Révolution française belong to the category of philosophical history, as defined in De la littérature, in that the work reveals the interior of the historical process, placing an emphasis on the emotions of the protagonists. By means of the biographical approach deployed by de Staël, it becomes possible to write history on a human scale—especially the experience of Necker—, to bring to light the uncertainty and contingency in the narration of the events.