ABSTRACT
Explicit discussions of the relation between ‘plot and passion’ can be found in health guides, treatises and novels and in poetic texts. Poetry is regarded as the genre par excellence which gives expression to the emotions. This chapter discusses the connection between the education of the heart and the nation, since the thematic link simultaneously affirms and subverts the Victorian discourses on emotions and indicates in which direction they may have moved towards the end of the 19th century. Stories of the dangers of repression are included in the non-fictional texts on the emotions, but the majority of writers prefer the stories of excess leading to disaster. Women who are able to follow the guidelines will be principled and morally superior emotional guides. The introduction by George Saintsbury praises Corinne’s ‘higher moral tone’, compared to Stael’s other novel Delphine, and is particularly taken by the ‘truth’ of the representation of emotion.
