George Sand
George Sand is the pseudonym of the
French novelist and
feminist Amandine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant .
Encyclopedia
George Sand is the pseudonym of the
French novelist and
feminist Amandine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, later
Baroness Dudevant .
Life
Born in
Paris to a father of aristocratic lineage and a commoner mother, Sand was raised for much of her childhood by her grandmother at the family estate, Nohant, in the French region of
Berry, a setting later used in many of her novels. In 1822, she married Baron M. Casimir Dudevant , and they had two children, Maurice and Solange . In 1835, taking the children with her, she left her husband.
Her first novel,
Rose et Blanche was written in collaboration with Jules Sandeau, from whom she allegedly took her pen name, Sand. Her reputation was created the following year with the novel
Indiana.
After parting from her husband Sand made less and less a secret of preferring men's clothes to women's, although she continued to dress as a woman for social occasions. In her autobiography she explained that most of her motivation was economic: men's apparel was sturdier and less expensive than a noblewoman's dress. This male "disguise" also enabled Sand to circulate more freely about Paris, and gave her increased access to venues that might have been denied to a woman of her social standing. This was an exceptional practice for the
19th century, where social codes — especially in the upper class — were of the highest importance. As a consequence Sand lost many of the privileges attached to being a Baroness. Ironically, the mores of this period allowed women of higher classes to live physically separated from their husbands
without losing face, provided they did not show any blatant irregularity to the outer world.
She was linked romantically with
Alfred de Musset ,
Franz Liszt and
Frédéric Chopin whom she had met in Paris in 1831.
In
Majorca one can still visit the
Carthusian monastery of
Valldemossa, where she spent the winter of 1838–39 with Frédéric Chopin and her children. This trip to Mallorca was described by her in
Un Hiver à Majorque , published in 1855.
She left Chopin shortly before he died from
tuberculosis.
Her successful novels include
Indiana ,
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,
Mauprat ,
Le Compagnon du Tour de France ,
Consuelo , and
Le Meunier d'Angibault .
Drawing from her childhood experiences of the countryside, she wrote the rural novels
La Mare au Diable ,
François le Champi ,
La Petite Fadette , and
Les Beaux Messieurs Bois-Doré .
Further theatre pieces and autobiographical pieces include
Histoire de ma vie ,
Elle et Lui ,
Journal Intime , and
Correspondance. Sand often performed her theatrical works in her small private theatre at the Nohant estate.
In addition, Sand authored literary criticism and political texts. Her most widely used quote being, "There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved." Also, she was one of the few female pipe smokers.
She was known well in far reaches of the world, and her social practices, her writings and her beliefs prompted much commentary, often by other luminaries in the world of arts & letters. A few excerpts demonstrate much of what was often said about George Sand:
"She was a thinking bosom and one who overpowered her young lovers, all sybil — a Romantic."
V.S. Pritchett
"What a brave man she was, and what a good woman."
Ivan Turgenev
"The most womanly woman."
Alfred de Musset
George Sand died at Nohant, near Châteauroux, in the Indre
département of France on June 8, 1876 at the age of 72 and was buried in the grounds of her home at Nohant. In 2004, controversial plans were suggested to move her remains to the Panthéon in Paris.
Depiction in film and television
- Chopin starred Danuta Stenka as George Sand and Piotr Adamczyk as Chopin.
- Les Enfants du siècle starring Juliette Binoche as George Sand and Benoît Magimel as Alfred de Musset
- Impromptu starred Judy Davis as George Sand and Hugh Grant as Chopin.
- Notorious Woman a 7-part BBC miniseries starring Rosemary Harris as George Sand and George Chakiris as Chopin.
See also
- Gustave Flaubert, by whom she was befriended, leading to an intimate correspondence.
References
Correspondance by George Sand and her contemporaries ; Autobiographical writings as mentioned above .
In addition to these writings:* In French:
- "3ième édition du Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de la Langue Française".
External links
