About the influence of Mme de Staël’s De l'Allemagne on the young Ernest Renan

In 1845 Renan studied Madame de Staël's De l'Allemagne. This work brought him closer to romanticism, influencing his literary tastes, his philosophy, his poetic and linguistic theories. He discovered there a philosophical affinity with Herder and he rediscovered himself in Faust, the personification of incredulity and of a desire for knowledge pushed to the point of perversion. This is the reason why De l’Allemagne can be considered among the stimuli for the abandonment of Saint Sulpice.