Abstract: De Staël’s work embodies the European spirit because it articulates both the universal and the individual. However, this must be understood in a philosophical sense: the individual must be open to alterity and, like a country, imagine oneself as a “nationality,” or in other words, as a space for critical thought that is capable of accommodating difference. Like Montaigne and Descartes before her, de Staël seeks convictions that can reconcile a confidence in progress and a respect for national differences.
