George Sand
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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George Sand (July 1, 1804 – June 8, 1876) was a pseudonymous French novelist and feminist. She was a close friend of Flaubert.
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Relationships
She was linked romantically with Alfred de Musset (summer 1833-March 1834), Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin (1837-1847). Later in life, she corresponded with Gustave Flaubert; despite their obvious differences in temperament and aesthetic preference, they eventually became close friends.
She was engaged in an intimate friendship with actress Marie Dorval, which led to widespread but unconfirmed rumors of a lesbian affair.
In Majorca one can still visit the (then abandoned) 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 ("A Winter in Mallorca"), published in 1855.
She left Chopin shortly before he died from tuberculosis.
Contemporary perception
Her reputation was questioned when she began sporting menswear in public, the clothes being far sturdier and less expensive than a noble woman's dress. Also, she was one of the few female pipe smokers of her time. 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.
The poet Charles Baudelaire is one example of a contemporary critic of George Sand. He described her disparagingly in My Heart Laid Bare: "She is stupid, heavy and garrulous. Her ideas on morals have the same depth of judgment and delicacy of feeling as those of janitresses and kept women...The fact that there are men who could become enamoured of this slut is indeed a proof of the abasement of the men of this generation."
Works
- Voyage En Auvergne (1827, Autobiographical sketch)
- Compagnon Du Tour De France (1840)
- La Petite Fadette (1848)
- Château Des Désertes (1850)
- Histoire De Ma Vie (1855, Autobiography up to the revolution of 1848)
Novels
- Rose Et Blanche (1831, with Jules Sandeau)
- Indiana (1832)
- Valentine (1832)
- Lélia (1833)
- Andréa (1833)
- Mattéa (1833)
- Jacques (1833)
- Kourroglou / Épopée Persane (1833)
- Leone Leoni (1833)
- Simon (1835)
- Mauprat (1837)
- les Maîtres Mosaïtes (1837)
- l'Oreo (1838)
- l'Uscoque (1838)
- Un Hiver À Majorque (1839)
- Pauline (1839)
- Horace (1840)
- Consuelo (1842)
- la Comtesse De Rudolstady (1843, a sequel to Consuelo)
- Jeanne (1844)
- Teverino (1845)
- Pêche de M Antoine (1845)
- Le Meunier D'Angibault (1845)
- La Mare au Diable (1846)
- Lucrezia Floriani (1846)
- François Le Champi (1847)
- Les Maîtres Sonneurs (1853)
- La Daniella (1857)
- Elle Et Lui (1859)
- Jean De La Roche (1859)
- L'Homme De Neige (1859)
- La ville Noire (1860)
- Marquis De Villemer (1860)
- Mademoiselle La Quintinie (1863)
- Laura, Voyage Dans Le Cristal (1864)
- Le Dernier Amour (1866, dedicated to Flaubert)
Plays
- Gabriel (1839)
- François Le Champi (1849)
- Claudie (1851)
- Le Mariage De Victorine (1851)
- Le Pressoir (1853, Play)
- French Adaptation of As You Like It (1856)
- Le Marquis De Villemer (1864)
- L'Autre (1870, with Sarah Bernhardt)
