“The feeling of satisfaction that characterizes an animated conversation does not much rely on its subject – neither the ideas nor the knowledge that may emerge are of primary interest. Rather, it relies on the sense of… reciprocally and rapidly giving one another pleasure; of speaking just as quickly as one thinks; of spontaneously enjoying oneself; of displaying one’s wit through all the nuances of accent, gesture, and glance, in order to produce at will a sort of electricity that causes sparks to fly, and that relieves some people of the burden of their excess of vivacity and awakens others from the state of painful apathy.”
This superb quote is not from me (it could’ve 
) but from Madame de Stael.
I have been devouring Francine du Plessix Gray’s book Madame de Stael: the first Modern Woman. Don’t get discouraged by the old fashion cover of the book, open the pages and let these women’s intelligence radiate.
The author, first, who has much written about strong, smart women from Simone Veil, a camp survivor who became ministry of health in France and legalized abortion, to Louise Colet, a French Poet who most likely was Flaubert’s inspiration to Madame Bovary.
The protagonist next for her extraordinary the life journey and intense personality in the midst of the French Revolution. Dailylit says: For twenty years the Swiss-born Parisienne, the daughter of Jacques Necker, Louis XVI’s finance minister, held sway over French society. Her reign spanned both the final days of Louis and the Napoleonic period. A prolific writer and notorious séductrice, she enjoyed whirlwind affairs with some of the most influential men of her time. Always attracting controversy, a staunch defender of constitutional rule, she was demonized by Napoleon for her forthrightness, her powerful intellect, and her prestigious salon, a hothouse of subversive ideas and sexual intrigue. The Emperor exiled her, on and off, for the last two decades of her life.
Reading Madame de Stael will most likely inspire you and besides her wit is somehow contagious. I can tell you that I am feeling sharper (at least I hope) each page I turn.
Now if you do not have the time to read, DailyLit will bring the book FREE to you in 67 daily (or weekly) installements of 5 minutes max on your blackberry, iphone or whatever your addicted to. And thank gran priestess of Feminity for it, indeed Diane von Furstenberg was so smitten with reading it that she sponsored its distribution on DailyLit.
Smart is the new sexy! Et oui!
