Biography of George Sand. George Sand: biography of the writer, novels and personal life George sand real name
George Sand (fr. George Sand), real name - Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin (fr. Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin). Born July 1, 1804 - died June 8, 1876. French writer.
Aurora Dupin's great-grandfather was Moritz of Saxony. In 1695, Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662-1728), sister of Philip von Königsmarck, who was killed on the orders of the Elector of Hanover, while figuring out the reasons for her brother's death, met the Elector of Saxony, the future King of Poland, Augustus the Strong, and became his mistress. In 1696, she gave birth to a son, Moritz, the lovers broke up even before the birth of the child. Maria Aurora settled in the Abbey of Quedlinburg, creating a popular secular salon there.
Moritz of Saxony, who has early age there was an attraction to military affairs, brought up by his father. At his insistence, Moritz made a foot trip through Europe in the most severe conditions: he carried military equipment with him and ate only soup and bread. At the age of thirteen, he already participated in the battle and received an officer's rank. Starting his military career with his father, Moritz of Saxony served in Russia and France, distinguished himself in the War of the Austrian Succession.
In 1748, one of Moritz's mistresses, Marie de Verrières ( real name Rento) gave birth to a daughter, Maria Aurora (1748-1821). Since Marie de Verrières was not faithful to Moritz, the marshal did not include her and her daughter in his will. Maria Aurora turned for patronage to Moritz's niece Dauphine Maria Josephine. She was placed in the convent of Saint-Cyr and assigned an allowance of eight hundred livres. Maria Aurora was considered the daughter of unknown parents, her position scared off potential applicants for her hand. She again turned to the Dauphine so that she was allowed to be called "the illegitimate daughter of the Marshal of France, Count Moritz of Saxony and Marie Rento." Paternity was confirmed by an act of the Parliament of Paris.
At 18, Marie Aurora married an infantry captain, Antoine de Horne. He received the post of commandant of the Alsatian town of Celeste. The couple arrived at de Horn's destination five months after the wedding, the next day the forty-four-year-old de Horn fell ill, and died three days later. Maria Aurora settled in a monastery, and later, due to lack of funds, she moved to the house of her mother and aunt. At the age of thirty, she married a second time to the representative of the chief tax-farmer in Berry, Louis-Claude Dupin de Françøy - former lover his aunt Geneviève de Verrières. The house of the Dupin spouses was put on a grand scale, they spent a lot on charity, were interested in literature and music. Having been widowed in 1788, Marie-Aurora, together with her son Maurice, moved to Paris.
In 1793, believing that life in the provinces was safer, Marie-Aurora bought the estate of Noan-Vic, located between Châteauroux and La Chatre. At first, Madame Dupin, who called herself a follower of and, sympathized with the revolution. Her attitude to events changed when the terror began, she even signed up for 75,000 livres in a fund to help emigrants. For her belonging to the nobility in December 1793, Madame Dupin was arrested and placed in the monastery of the English Augustines. She was released after the events of 9 Thermidor, and in October 1794 she left with her son for Noan.
Maurice Dupin (1778-1808), despite his classical education and love of music, chose a military career. Having started his service as a soldier during the Directory, he received an officer's rank in the Italian campaign. In 1800, in Milan, he met Antoinette-Sophie-Victoria Delaborde (1773-1837), the mistress of his boss, the daughter of a bird-catcher, and a former dancer.
They registered their marriage at the city hall of the 2nd district of Paris on June 5, 1804, when Sophie Victoria was expecting their first common child - Maurice had an illegitimate son, Hippolyte, Sophie Victoria had a daughter, Caroline.
On July 1, 1804, in Paris, Sophie-Victoria gave birth to a girl named Aurora. Maurice's mother did not want to recognize her son's unequal marriage for a long time, the birth of a granddaughter softened her heart, but the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law remained cold. In the spring of 1808, Colonel Maurice Dupin, Murat's adjutant, took part in the Spanish campaign. Pregnant Sophie Victoria followed him with her daughter. Here, on June 12, Sophie-Victoria gave birth to a son, Auguste. On September 8 of the same year, the family left the country with the retreating troops and returned to Nohant. On the way, the children fell ill: Aurora recovered, the boy died. Four days after his return, Maurice died in an accident while riding a horse: the horse ran into a pile of stones in the dark.
After the death of Aurora's father, the countess-in-law and the commoner daughter-in-law became close for a while. However, soon Madame Dupin considered that her mother could not give a worthy upbringing to Noan's heiress, in addition, she did not want to see Sophie-Victoria's daughter Caroline in her house. After long hesitation, Aurora's mother, not wanting to deprive her of a large inheritance, left her with her grandmother, moving with Caroline to Paris. Aurora was very upset by the separation: “My mother and grandmother tore my heart to shreds”.
Aurora's teacher and her stepbrother Hippolyte was Jean-Francois Deschartres, manager of the estate, former tutor of Maurice Dupin. In addition to teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, and history, her grandmother, an excellent musician, taught her how to play the harpsichord and sing. The girl also took over the love of literature from her. No one was involved in the religious education of Aurora - Madame Dupin, "a woman of the last century, recognized only the abstract religion of philosophers."
Since men's clothes were more comfortable for riding, walking and hunting, Aurora got used to wearing them from childhood.
The girl saw her mother only occasionally, coming with her grandmother to Paris. But Madame Dupin, in an effort to minimize the influence of Sophie-Victoria, tried to shorten these visits. Aurora decided to run away from her grandmother, soon her intention was revealed, and Madame Dupin decided to send Aurora to a monastery. Upon arrival in Paris, Aurora met with Sophie-Victoria, and she approved of her grandmother's plans for the further education of her daughter. Aurora was struck by the coldness of her mother, who at that time was once again arranging her personal life: “Oh my mother! Why don't you love me, me, who loves you so much?". Her mother was no longer her friend or adviser, later Aurora learned to do without Sophie Victoria, however, without completely breaking with her and maintaining purely outward respect.
In the Augustinian Catholic Monastery, where she entered on January 12, 1818, the girl became acquainted with religious literature and mystical moods seized her. “I perceived this complete merging with the deity as a miracle. I literally burned like Saint Teresa; I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, I walked without noticing the movements of my body ... ”She decided to become a nun and do the hardest work. However, her confessor, Abbot Premor, who believed that a person could fulfill his duty without leaving secular life, dissuaded Aurora from this intention.
Her grandmother survived the first blow and, fearing that Aurora might remain under the care of "her unworthy mother", she decided to marry the girl. Aurora left the monastery, which became for her "heaven on earth." Soon the grandmother decided that her granddaughter was still too young for family life. Aurora tried to reconcile her mother and grandmother, but was defeated. She invited her mother to stay with her, but Sophie Victoria did not agree to this. In 1820, Aurora returned with her grandmother to Nohant. A wealthy heiress, Aurora nevertheless was not considered an enviable match due to a string of illegitimate births in the family and the low birth of her mother.
As a result of the second blow, Madame Dupin was paralyzed, and Dechartre transferred to the girl all the rights to manage the estate. Dechartre, who was mayor of Nohant, also acted as an apothecary and surgeon, Aurora assisted him. At the same time, Aurora became interested in philosophical literature, studied Chateaubriand, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Aristotle, Pascal, but most of all she admired Rousseau, believing that only he has true Christianity, "which requires absolute equality and fraternity."
She took long rides on Colette's horse: "We had to live and travel together for fourteen years". Aurora was criticized by those around her for her way of life, the freedom she enjoyed was unthinkable at that time for a person of her sex and age, but she did not pay attention to it. In La Chatre, Aurora was friends with her peers, the sons of her father's friends: Duvernay, Fleury, Pape. With one of them - Stephane Ajasson de Grandsagne, a student who taught her anatomy, an affair began. But youthful love did not lead to anything: for Gransan's father, the count, she was the daughter of a commoner, but her grandmother would not have agreed to this marriage because of Stefan's poverty.
Aurora's grandmother died on December 26, 1821, having agreed, to the surprise of her believing granddaughter, to take unction and take communion before her death. “I am convinced that I do not commit any meanness or lies, agreeing to a ceremony that, at the hour of separation from loved ones, serves as a good example. Keep your heart at ease, I know what I'm doing". Grandmother insisted that Aurora be present at her confession. FROM last words Madame Dupin turned to her granddaughter: "You are losing your best friend".
According to the will of Madame Dupin, custody of the seventeen-year-old girl was transferred to Count Rene de Villeneuve, and Aurora herself was supposed to live in Chenonceau, in the family of the Count. However, the girl's mother insisted on leading her. The Villeneuve abstained from guardianship - they did not want to deal with an "adventurer" of low origin. Aurora obeyed her mother "out of a sense of duty" and justice - class prejudices were alien to her. Soon there was a conflict between mother and daughter: Sophie-Victoria forced Aurora to marry a man to whom she had not the slightest inclination. Aurora was furious. Her mother threatened her with imprisonment in a monastery.
Aurora realized that a lonely woman without protection is doomed to face difficulties at every turn. Due to nervous tension, she fell ill: "she began to have cramps in her stomach, which refused to eat." Sophie Victoria left her daughter alone for a while. In 1822, Aurora was visiting the family of her father's friend, Colonel Retier du Plessis. Through the du Plessis, she met Casimir Dudevant (1795-1871), the illegitimate son of the Baron Dudevant, owner of the Guillieri estate in Gascony. Suffering from loneliness, she "fell in love with him as the personification of masculinity." Casimir made an offer not through relatives, as was then customary, but personally to Aurora, and thus conquered her. She was sure that Casimir was not interested in her dowry, since he was the only heir to his father and his wife.
Despite their mother's doubts, in September 1822, Aurora and Casimir got married in Paris and left for Nohant. Casimir replaced Deschartres as the manager of Noan, and the couple began to lead the life of ordinary landowners. On June 30, 1823, Aurora gave birth to a son, Maurice, in Paris. The husband was not interested in books or music, he hunted, engaged in "local politics" and feasted with local nobles like him. Soon, Aurora was seized by bouts of melancholy, which irritated her husband, who did not understand what was happening. For the romantically inclined Aurora, who dreamed of "love in the spirit of Rousseau", the physiological side of marriage was a shock. But at the same time, she retained affection for Casimir - an honest man and an excellent father. She was able to regain some peace of mind by communicating with her mentors in the English Catholic monastery, where she moved with her son. But Maurice fell ill, and Aurora returned home.
Aurora felt unwell, her husband believed that all her illnesses exist only in her imagination. Quarrels between spouses became more frequent.
At the end of 1825, the Dudevant couple traveled to the Pyrenees. There, Aurora met Aurelien de Cez, a fellow prosecutor of the court of Bordeaux. The affair with de Cez was platonic - Aurora felt happy and at the same time reproached herself for having changed her attitude towards her husband.
In her "Confession", which she wrote to her husband on the advice of de Cez, Aurora explained in detail the reasons for her act, that her feelings did not resonate with Casimir, that she changed her life for him, but he did not appreciate it. Returning to Nohant, Aurora maintained a correspondence with de Cez. At the same time, she again meets with Stéphane Ajasson de Gransan, and the youthful romance gets its continuation. On September 13, 1828, Aurora gives birth to a daughter, Solange (1828-1899), all Sand's biographers agree that Ajasson de Grandsagne was the girl's father. Soon the Dudevant couple actually separated. Casimir began to drink and made several love affairs with the Noan servants.
Aurora felt that it was time to change the situation: her new lover, Jules Sando, had gone to Paris, she wished to follow him. She left the estate to her husband in exchange for an annuity, on the condition that she would spend half a year in Paris, the other six months in Nohant, and maintain the appearance of a marriage.
Aurora arrived in Paris on January 4, 1831. A pension of three thousand francs was not enough to live on. Out of economy, she wore a men's suit, besides, he became a pass to the theater: the stalls were the only places that she and her friends could afford, ladies were not allowed.
To earn money, Aurora decided to write. In Paris, she brought a novel ("Aimé"), which she intended to show to de Keratri, a member of the Chamber of Deputies and a writer. He, however, advised her not to study literature. On the recommendation of her friend from La Chatre, Aurora turned to the journalist and writer Henri de Latouche, who had just headed Le Figaro. The novel "Aime" did not impress him, but he offered Ms. Dudevant cooperation in the newspaper and introduced him to the Parisian literary world. A brief journalistic style was not her element, she was more successful in lengthy descriptions of nature and characters.
At first, Aurora wrote with Sando: the novels "The Commissioner" (1830), "Rose and Blanche" (1831), which had great success with readers, came out with his signature, since Casimir Dudevant's stepmother did not want to see her name on book covers. In "Rose and Blanche" Aurora used her memories of the monastery, notes about a trip to the Pyrenees, the stories of her mother. Already independently Aurora started new job, the novel "Indiana", the theme of which was the opposition of a woman looking for ideal love, a sensual and conceited man. Sando approved the novel, but refused to sign someone else's text. Aurora chose a male pseudonym: it became for her a symbol of deliverance from the slave position to which modern society doomed a woman. Keeping the surname Sand, she added the name Georges.
Latouche felt that in "Indiana" Aurora copied the style, however, after reading the novel more carefully, he changed his mind. The success of Indiana, lauded by Balzac and Gustave Planche, allowed her to sign a contract with the Revue de Deux Monde and gain financial independence.
By that time, the beginning of Sand's friendship with Marie Dorval, a famous actress of the romantic era, dates back.
Sand was credited with a love affair with Dorval, but these rumors are not confirmed by anything. In 1833, the novel Lelia was published, which caused a scandal. main character(in many ways this is a self-portrait), in pursuit of the happiness that gives other women, but not her, physical love passes from lover to lover. Later, regretting that she had betrayed herself, George Sand corrected the novel, removing confessions of impotence and giving it a greater moral and social coloring. Jules Janin in the Journal de Debas called the book "disgusting", the journalist Capo de Feuyid "demanded a 'flaming coal' to cleanse his lips of these base and shameless thoughts..." Gustave Planche published a positive review in the Revue de Deux Monde and challenged Capo de Feuyid to a duel.
Sainte-Beuve, who admired Musset, wished to introduce the young poet Sand, but she refused, believing that she and Musset were too different people, between whom there could be no understanding. However, after meeting him by chance at a dinner hosted by the Revue de Deux Monde, she changed her mind.
Correspondence began between them, soon Musset moved to Sand's apartment on the Malaquay embankment. Sand was sure that now she would definitely be happy. The crisis came during their joint trip to Italy, when Musset's nervous and fickle nature made itself felt. Quarrels began, Musset reproached Sand for coldness: every day, in spite of everything, she spent eight hours literary work. In Venice, he announced to Sand that he was mistaken and did not love her. Sand becomes the mistress of Dr. Pagello, who treated the sick Musset.
In March 1834, Alfred de Musset left Venice, George Sand remained there for another five months, working on the novel Jacques. Both Sand and Musset regretted the breakup, and correspondence continued between them. Sand returned to Paris with Pagello, who wrote to his father: “I am at the last stage of my madness... Tomorrow I leave for Paris; there we will part with Sand ... ”At the very first meeting, Sand and Musset resumed relations. However, after a while, tired of scenes of jealousy, a series of breaks and reconciliations, Sand left Musset. Alfred de Musset carried the memory of this painful connection for both through his whole life. In his Confessions of a Son of the Century (1836), under the name of Brigitte Shpilman, he portrayed a former mistress, in the epilogue expressing the hope that someday they would forgive each other. After the death of Musset, Sand described their relationship in the novel She and He (1859), which provoked a negative reaction from Alfred's brother Paul, who answered her with the novel He and She.
In 1835, George Sand decided to get a divorce and turned to the well-known lawyer Louis Michel (1797-1853) for help. A Republican, a brilliant orator, the undisputed leader of all the liberals of the southern provinces, Michel played a decisive role in shaping Sand's political views.
In April 1835, he spoke for the defense at the trial of the Lyons insurgents. Sand followed him to Paris to attend the hearings and take care of Michel, who "spoiled himself not in the defense of the April defendants."
In January 1836, Sand filed a complaint against her husband with the court of La Chatre. After hearing the witnesses, the court entrusted the upbringing of the children to Madame Dudevant. Casimir Dudevant, afraid of losing his rent, did not defend himself and agreed to a sentence in absentia. However, disagreements soon arose during the division of property between the former spouses. Dudevant appealed the court's decision and set out his claims to his wife in a special memorandum. Michel was the defender of Sand in the divorce proceedings resumed in May 1836. His eloquence impressed the judges, but their opinions were divided. But the next day, Casimir Dudevant went to the world: he had to raise his son and received the Narbonne Hotel in Paris for use. Madame Dudevant was entrusted with her daughter, and Nohant remained behind her.
Sand broke up with Michel Sand in 1837 - he was married and had no intention of leaving his family.
Prone, like George Sand, to mysticism, Franz Liszt introduced the writer to Lamennay. She immediately became an ardent supporter of his views and even went to some cooling of relations with Sainte-Beuve, who criticized the abbe for inconsistency. Sand offered to write for the Le Monde, a newspaper founded by Lamennay, free of charge, with the freedom to choose and cover topics for herself. "Letters to Marcy," a correspondence in the form of a novel, included actual messages from Sand to the poor dowry Eliza Tourangin. When in the "Sixth Letter" Sand touched on gender equality in love, Lamenne was shocked, and after learning that the next one would be devoted to "the role of passion in a woman's life", he stopped publishing.
However, the main reason for the break between Lamenne and Sand was that she was a faithful follower of the philosophy of Pierre Leroux. Most of Leroux's ideas were borrowed from Christianity, Leroux only did not allow the immortality of the individual. He also advocated equality of the sexes in love and the improvement of marriage as one of the conditions for the emancipation of women. According to Sand, Leroux, “the new Plato and Christ”, “saved” her, who found in his teaching “calmness, strength, faith, hope”.
For fifteen years, Sand supported Leroux, including financially. Under the influence of Leroux, Sand wrote the novels Spiridion (co-authored with Leroux) and The Seven Strings of the Lyre. In 1848, after leaving the conservative edition of the Revue des Deux Mondes, she founded, together with Louis Viardot and Leroux, the newspaper Revue Independente. Sand published her novels Horace, Consuelo and Countess Rudolstadt in it. She supported poets from the proletarian milieu - Savignen Lapointe, Charles Magu, Charles Ponsy and promoted their work ("Dialogues on the Poetry of the Proletarians", 1842). In her new novels (The Wandering Apprentice, The Miller from Anzhibo), the virtue of the proletarians was opposed to the "egoism of the noble rich."
At the end of 1838, Sand began a relationship with, by that time, who had parted with his bride Maria Vodzinskaya. Hoping that the climate of Mallorca will have a beneficial effect on Chopin's health, Sand decides to spend the winter there with him and the children. Her expectations were not justified: the rainy season began, Chopin had coughing fits. In February they returned to France. Sand recognizes himself as the head of the family. From now on, she tries to live only for children, Chopin and her work. To save winter they spent in Paris. The difference in characters, political preferences, jealousy for a long time could not prevent them from maintaining affection. Sand quickly realized that Chopin was dangerously ill and devotedly cared for his health. But no matter how his situation improved, Chopin's character and his illness did not allow him to be in a peaceful state for a long time.
Relations with Chopin are reflected in Sand's novel Lucrezia Floriani. Subsequently, she denied that she wrote off Lucrezia from herself, and Karol from Chopin. Chopin did not recognize or did not wish to recognize himself in the image young man, a charming egoist, beloved by Lucrezia and who caused her untimely death. In 1846, a conflict broke out between Chopin and Maurice, as a result of which the latter announced his desire to leave the house.
Chopin left in November 1846, at first he and Georges exchanged letters. Chopin was pushed to the final break by his daughter Sand. Solange, having quarreled with her mother, came to Paris and turned Chopin against her.
During the years of the Second Empire, anti-clerical sentiments appeared in Sand's work as a reaction to the policies of Louis Napoleon. Her novel Danielle (1857), which attacked the Catholic religion, caused a scandal, and the newspaper La Presse, in which it was published, was closed.
George Sand died from complications of intestinal obstruction on June 8, 1876 at her estate Nohant. Upon learning of her death, Hugo wrote: “I mourn the deceased, I salute the immortal!” She was buried at her estate in Nohant. Proposals were made to transfer her ashes to the Pantheon (Paris).
Works by George Sand:
Indiana (Indiana, 1832)
Valentine (Valentine, 1832)
Melchior (Melchior, 1832)
Lelia (Lélia, 1833)
Cora (Cora, 1833)
Jacques (Jacques, 1834)
Marquise (La Marquise, 1834)
Metella (Métella, 1834)
Leone Leoni (1835)
Moprá (Bernard Moprat, or The Reformed Savage) (Mauprat, 1837)
Mosaic Masters (Mosaists) (Les Maîtres mozaïstes, 1838)
Orco (L'Orco, 1838)
Uskok (L'Uscoque, 1838)
Spiridion (Spiridion, 1839)
Wandering Apprentice (Pierre Huguenin; Countryman Villepret (Fellow of Circular Tours in France); Villeprey Castle) (Le Compagnon du tour de France, 1841)
Winter in Mallorca (Un hiver à Majorque, 1842)
Horace (Horace, 1842)
Consuelo (Consuelo, 1843)
Countess Rudolstadt (La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, 1843)
Miller from Angibault (Le Meunier d'Angibault, 1845)
Devil's Swamp (Devil's Puddle; Cursed Swamp) (La Mare au diable, 1846)
Sin of Monsieur Antoine (Le Péché de M. Antoine, 1847)
Lucrezia Floriani (1847)
Piccinino (Le Piccinino, 1847)
François the Foundling (Foundling, or Hidden Love; Foster) (François le Champi, 1850)
Monsieur Rousset (excerpt from a novel) (Monsieur Rousset, 1851)
Mont Reveche (Mont Reveche Castle) (Mont Revèche, 1853)
Daniella (La Daniella, 1857)
The Fair Gentlemen of Bois-Doré (The Beauties of Bois-Doré) (Les beaux messieurs de Bois-Doré, 1858)
Green Ghosts (Les Dames vertes, 1859)
She and He (Elle et lui, 1859)
Snowman (L'Homme de neige, 1859)
Marquis de Villemer (1861)
Confession of a Young Girl (La Confession d'une jeune fille, 1865)
Last Love (Le Dernier Amour, 1867)
Pierre Tumbleweed. Handsome Laurence (Pierre qui roule. Le Beau Laurence, 1870)
Francia (Francia. Un bienfait n'est jamais perdu, 1872)
Nanon (1872)
Persmont Castle (La Tour de Percemont, 1876).
210 years ago, Amandine Aurora Lucille Dupin was born, who later became a famous writer under a pseudonym (albeit a male one!) - George Sand. For 40 years of literary activity, George Sand created about a hundred works,in the center of which most often is the fate of a woman, her struggle for individual freedom, for justice, for high love. Many of her novels, such as Indiana, Consuelo, and The Countess Rudolstadt, are still popular with modern readers.
George Sandtook place July 1, 1804 in Paris, in noble family. By the way, her father, Maurice Dupin, came from the family of the commander Moritz of Saxony. The father of the future writer was fond of literature and music. However, at the height of the Revolution of 1789, he joined the revolutionaries and together with them made several Napoleonic campaigns and died at a young age.
Mother, Sophia Victoria Antoinette Delaborde, was the daughter of a Parisian bird seller. During the Napoleonic campaign, George Sand was with her mother in Spain, and then came under the care of her grandmother, who raised her according to the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the village, the girl closely communicated with the peasants. Therefore, I learned early about social inequality. She was never left indifferent to the interests of the village poor, and she treated the village rich negatively. The girl studied in a convent. Reading has become a real passion for Aurora. In her grandmother's library, she read all the books from cover to cover. But she was especially interested in the writings of Rousseau. It was they who had an influence in the future on all her work. After the death of her grandmother, Aurora soon married Casimir Dudevant. Dudevant turned out to be a completely unsuitable life partner for such a dreamy and peculiar woman with an inquisitive mind. And in 1830 she broke up with him, went to Paris and began to lead there, on the one hand, a completely student, free, and on the other, a purely professional, working life of a writer.
Origin of the pseudonym
Her literary activity began with a collaboration with Jules Sando. The fruit of this "collective creativity" - the novel "Rose and Blanche", or "The Actress and the Nun" was published in 1831 under the pseudonym of Jules Sand and was a success. The publishers wished to immediately publish a new work of this author. Aurora in Nogan wrote her part, and Sando wrote only one title. The publishers demanded that the novel come out with the name of the same successful Sando, and Jules Sando did not want to put his name under someone else's work. To resolve the dispute, Sando was advised to write under his own name from now on. full name and a surname, and Aurora to take half of this surname and prefix it with the name Georges, common in Berry. So the well-known pseudonym George Sand was born. Preferring men's suits to women's, George Sand traveled to places in Paris where aristocrats, as a rule, did not get. For the upper classes of France in the 19th century, such behavior was considered unacceptable, so that she actually lost her status as a baroness.
Men George Sand
It is interesting to know what this unusual Frenchwoman looked like? Was George Sand beautiful? Some said yes, while others considered it disgusting. Contemporaries portrayed her as a woman of short stature, dense build, with a gloomy face, large eyes, yellow skin and premature wrinkles on her neck. True, everyone agreed that she had very beautiful hands. She constantly smoked cigars, and her movements were sharp and impetuous. But the men in love with her did not spare enthusiastic epithets to describe her. Men were attracted by her intellect and lust for life. Among the lovers of George Sand were the poet Alfred de Musset, the engraver Alexander Damien Manso, the artist Charles Marshal, whom Sand called "my fat child", and Frederic Chopin.
George Sand spent the last years of her life on her estate, where she enjoyed universal respect and earned the nickname "the good lady of Noan". She died there on June 8, 1876.
Creativity George Sand
The work of the French writer George Sand became one of the most significant phenomena in European culture of the 19th century. George Sand was a creative, bright, freedom-loving and talented person. And many heroines of George Sand's works are similar to their creator.
Consuelo
The novel "Consuelo" is considered one of the best creations in the literary heritage of the famous French writer George Sand. The French singer Pauline Viardot served as the prototype for Consuelo, and the writer's most famous novel tells of a vocation. true artist, about the heavy burden of talent bestowed by fate, and sometimes a tragic choice between success, fame and personal happiness, the joy of family life ...
Countess Rudolstadt
The continuation is the novel "Countess Rudolstadt". A new meeting with the dark-skinned woman Consuelo is a great opportunity to plunge into the atmosphere of a gallant era full of dangers and genuine passion, when people knew how to live in full force and die with a smile on their lips.
Indiana
The action of the novel takes place in the era of the Restoration, a time when everyone still remembers both the events of the revolution and the reign of Napoleon. The heroine of the novel suffers from the despotism of her husband, Colonel Delmare. Love for Raymond de Ramier fills her life with new meaning, but they are not destined to be together.
Valentine
The provincial Valentina, the young heiress of the count's title and an enviable fortune, becomes the bride of a handsome count, but she gives her heart to a simple poor young man. She cannot resist her feelings, however, a pure, noble soul and a sense of duty do not allow her to neglect the cynical and deceitful laws of society. What choice will the girl make and will it bring her happiness?
Lelia
The novel "Lelia" is a sincere confession of a woman, noble, beautiful, but cold as a statue, disappointed in love; in her agitated soul, one feeling survived - the need to believe in love, and, perhaps, in divine love. The young poet Stenio passionately loves Lelia and tries in vain to revive her. The tenderness and poetry of the characters, the enchanting beauty of style cannot leave anyone indifferent. The book, if not completely autobiographical in nature, then, in any case, reflects the personal feelings experienced by the author.
These and other works of the unsurpassed queen of French romanticism, George Sand, are waiting for their readers in the Central Library. A.S. Pushkin and in all municipal libraries of the city of Chelyabinsk.
George Sand - French writer XIX century. This woman knew how to surprise with her bold ideas about the emancipation of women and equality - this can be seen both in her work and in the pseudonym, which is a male name. Biography of George Sand is both a fascinating and tragic story.
The bibliography of the writer includes about two dozen novels. The most popular works of George Sand:
- "Eme".
- "Oras".
- "Countess Rudolstadt".
- Lucrezia Floriani.
Childhood
Sand's real name is Amandine Aurora Lucille Dupin. Father George Sand was a creative person and was fond of music, but despite this he became a military man. Maurice Dupin began his career as a simple soldier and became an officer during the campaign in Italy.
In 1800 he met his future wife, Sophie Victoria Delaborde. Maurice is inspired by a new acquaintance and gives her his heart, not paying attention to her far from young age (she was about 33 years old) and dubious reputation (at that time she was the mistress of his boss).
After another 4 years, the family went to Spain - Maurice was invited there to participate in the Spanish company. At this time, his wife was expecting their second common child, and on June 12, brother George Sand, Auguste, was born. In September 1808, the family was returning back to France, and then difficulties began. On the way, little children fell ill: Aurora managed to recover, and her little brother died. However, the troubles did not end there: Maurice himself soon died during an unsuccessful horse ride.
Women had to live under the same roof. Peace in their home did not last long: Maurice's mother began to realize that Sophie-Victoria could not give her granddaughter a proper education. In addition, she did not like the fact that the daughter-in-law's first child from another man lived with them. Aurora's mother, taking care of her future, decided to leave her mother-in-law's house, leaving the girl with her grandmother. Later, the writer recalled this period as one of the most difficult in her life.
The girl rarely saw her mother, and Madame Dupin tried to reduce even these infrequent meetings. That is why Aurora decided to leave her grandmother's house, but her plan was not destined to come true: Madame Dupin sent her granddaughter to a monastery.
Surprisingly, Aurora's mother agreed with her mother-in-law's opinion. The girl began to notice the growing coldness on the part of her mother, she understood that Sophie-Victoria was not interested in her fate, since she was passionate about building relationships with a new man. Aurora gradually gets used to living without a mother.
In the new place of study, Aurora became interested in religion. She read religious books with passion and felt merged with divine powers. The young lady decided to devote herself completely to God and become a nun, but the girl's confessor dissuaded her from this, saying that intimacy with divine forces can be maintained in ordinary secular life.
The girl is fond of philosophy, especially she likes the teachings of Rousseau. Every day Aurora could be seen galloping on her horse Colette. Many people condemned her for a free life, but the words of reprimand did not touch the heart of George Sand. Aurora calmly communicated with men. Already at a young age, she had a short romance, the hero of which was the son of her father's friend, Stephan Ajasson de Grandsan.
Official marriage and the birth of children
In 1821 Aurora's grandmother died. According to her will, custody of her granddaughter was to go to Count Villeneuve, but the girl's mother opposed this and took care of her daughter herself. The mother exacerbates the already tense relationship with her daughter, demanding that Aurora marry a man unpleasant for her. Due to stress, George Sand developed nervous illnesses - she often had stomach cramps.
After 3 years, the first son appeared in the family, who was named Maurice. At the same time, the spouses begin to realize their differences: Casimir was not interested in art, he was fond of hunting and politics, while Aurora dreamed of a Rousseau-style relationship. Attacks of melancholy occur in a young wife and mother more and more often, which leads to quarrels in marriage.
At the same time, Aurora met Aurelien de Cez, with whom she began a platonic romance. Later, she again began to communicate with her first love Stefan. In 1828, a daughter, Solange, appeared in the family, but the likelihood that Casimir was her father was negligible. Soon the couple broke up, agreeing that outwardly they would maintain the appearance of their union for society. The husband gave some money to his wife every month, and she went to Paris.
Creativity and love
Their first books "The Commissioner", "Rose and Blanche" were published under the same name Sando. The works were successful among readers, and then Aurora begins to work independently. She writes her novel "Indiana" and signs with a pseudonym - George Sand. Taking advantage male name, she gets rid of a low position and from that moment gains financial independence.
In their best years Aurora met actress Marie Dorval. The novel was attributed to these ladies, but this fact has not yet been confirmed. In 1833, the novel Lelia was written, which tells about a girl who cannot find happiness in love in any way and therefore changes men like gloves. The product caused a lot of both positive and negative reviews.
After Aurora had an affair with the attending physician Musso. However, after some time, correspondence between Musso and Sand begins again, they converge, but again realize that their union brings pain to both. They part a second time, and as a result, two famous books: Musso writes his novel "Confessions of the Son of the Age", and Aurora creates the work "She and He".
In 1835, George Sand decides to officially separate from her husband. In order to win the trial, she turns to Louis Michel, a famous lawyer, who later becomes her lover until 1837. By a court decision, Aurora's ex-husband Casimir took over the upbringing of his son and received the management of the Narbonne Hotel in Paris, and the writer George Sand took up the upbringing of their daughter.
After 1835, Aurora wrote groundbreaking works on the equality of men and women. During this period, she collaborated with Pierre Leroux, who adhered to the same ideas. Under the influence of their friendship, the novels "Countess Rudolstadt", "Horas", "Consuelo" appear.
George Sand and Chopin heard a lot of negative feedback about their relationship from the outside, many acquaintances of this couple believed that this union only makes both suffer. After some time, George Sand and Frederic Chopin became just friends. This love story was captured by the writer in the novel Lucrezia Floriani.
In his mature years, the work of George Sand acquired anti-religious sentiments. She was not satisfied with the policy of Louis Napoleon, in addition, she was against the Catholic religion. The newspaper in which her texts were published was soon closed.
On June 8, 1876, George Sand died from complications of an intestinal disease. Her body was buried in Nohant. Takova short biography worldwide famous writer, filled with unexpected twists of fate and relationships with famous men. Author: Ekaterina Lipatova
(real name - Amandine Aurora Lucia Dupin, Baroness Dudevant) (1804-1876)
French writer
George Sand enjoyed wide recognition during her lifetime, and even now her novels are read all over the world. At one time, I. Turgenev called her "one of our saints", and N. Chernyshevsky argued that Sand "... had more literary and social influence on the development than any poet since Byron." After her death, V. Hugo said: "I mourn the deceased and salute the immortal ... George Sand will remain the pride of our century and our country."
The biography of the writer is partially reflected in her work. She created her works at a time when romanticism replaced sentimentalism, and after it realism. Therefore, in her novels one can find a touch of excessive sensitivity, and enthusiastic pathos, and impartial fixation of the most intimate experiences.
Born in Paris, Aurora Dupin was often referred to by literary historians as a regimental connection. The union of a handsome military man and the bird-catcher's daughter was legalized in the mayor's office on the eve of the birth of their child. Shortly after arriving at his grandmother's, the father of little Aurora fell to his death, running into a pile of stones at night.
Madame Aurora Dupin de Francueil decided to raise her granddaughter herself and saw her in the future as an outwardly attractive, carefully dressed, graceful girl. The mother of Aurora Jr. returned to Paris, and the girl remained at her grandmother's estate in Nohant. From the age of five she was taught French grammar, Latin, arithmetic, geography, history and botany.
Aurora enjoyed a certain freedom, she was not prevented from making friends with village children. The mentor raised her in a boyish way and even taught her to wear a men's suit. So timidity and unbridledness, education and natural ingenuity began to coexist in Aurora.
Grandmother was a supporter of Rousseau's ideas, she wanted to instill labor skills in her granddaughter and gave her to a monastery. Aurora spent three years there. After the death of Madame Dupin, Aurora became the sole heiress of the Noan estate.
She was well aware that modern world it's hard to be an independent woman. Aurora marries the illegitimate son of Baron Dudevant - Casimir. His father recognized the child, but he bequeathed the entire inheritance to his legal wife, and Casimir allocated only 60 thousand francs. Aurora thought that she and her husband would have a lot in common: both origin and almost equal financial situation. In fact, it turned out that Dudevant was a typical small landowner, more fond of hunting, maids and good food. True, he tried to indulge the whims of his wife, courting her in his own way. But at the same time, he was surprised at her habits of playing the piano, sitting up after midnight with a book, and expressing her thoughts in letters.
Alienation grew more and more between the spouses. But Aurora was still faithful to her husband for a long time. Only after the birth of her son did she flare up with a platonic love for Aurélien de Cez. Most likely, Aurora was looking for not just a lover, but a friend and even a confessor. The letters of the future writer are full of amazing confessions. Some of them would later be included in the ten-volume History of My Life (1855).
Biographers Zh.Sand believe that Solanzhon gave birth to her daughter from an accidental relationship with Stefan Ajansson de Grandsal. Nevertheless, the Dudevant couple continued to live together in Nohant. Only in 1831, Aurora decided on an incredible step for those times and left for Paris to become the mistress of the writer Jules Sando. In her luggage, Aurora brings the novel "Aimé".
In search of income, she writes newspaper articles and notes for the chronicle. Together with Sando, Aurora plans to write the novel "Rose and Blanche" - the story of an actress and a nun. It included Aurora's monastic impressions, travel notes, frank confessions of some acquaintances.
By then, writing has become a pressing need for Aurora. Being at home with the children, she wrote at night, and when she returned to Sando, she set herself a certain norm and always fulfilled it.
Almost every year, George Sand (Mrs. Dudevant chooses such a pseudonym for herself) creates based on the novel - “Indiana” (1832), “Lelia” (1833), “Jacques” (1834). Each of them was based on a specific story. The works of George Sand were striking in their openness and unpretentiousness.
At this time, Aurora breaks up with Sando, who burdens her with his carelessness, and embarks on love affairs. Some of them last a long time, others, as, for example, with the writer Alfred de Musset, end in a short relationship. Musset would later express his feelings for Aurora in Confessions of a Son of the Century.
It must be admitted that friends, relatives and just acquaintances did not condemn the writer. They perceived her first open connection with Sando not as a challenge to society, but as a romantic fusion of two loving hearts. Only later did one of her friends, the famous Honore de Balzac, agree with her assessment of Sando. Both writers were simply burned with a passion for creativity, they could, as soon as they started writing one work, immediately move on to the next. But Sando lived for today, he was not capable of continuous work. Their the best works he wrote under the influence of Aurora, just as he later achieved wealth by marrying favorably.
So, Aurora continues to eagerly absorb impressions, makes her first trip to Italy, where she meets the republican lawyer Michel, the composer Liszt. She finally disagrees with her husband in order to gain material and moral independence.
During this second period of creativity, George Sand wrote such famous works, as "The Socialist Rhapsodies Spiridon" (1838), "Consuelo" (1842-1844), "Countess Rudolstadt" (1843-1845), "The Miller from Anzhibo" (1847). At this time, it is under the clear influence of modern philosophers and socialists - M. Bourget and P. Leroux.
Among all these novels, the novel "Consuelo" stands out in particular. It is rightfully considered one of the best works of the writer. The story of the gypsy Consuelo serves as an occasion for a deep conversation about the values of life. A skillfully constructed plot, where colorful descriptions are interspersed with unexpected twists, keeps the reader in suspense until the last pages of the novel. The continuation of the story of Consuelo - the novel "Countess Rudolstadt" - turned out to be much weaker. But even in it, Sand showed herself to be a subtle psychologist. In the center of the novel is the history of the society of the Invisibles, in which it is easy to see the features of the real secret organizations of that time.
One of the most significant works Sand is also her other novel - Horas. It is written in the form of the memoirs of Theophile de Mont. From them we learn about the life of the protagonist - the young man Oras, who goes through a long path of internal development. In this novel, George Sand uses an innovative technique: she does not directly describe the hero, but only conveys the attitude of different people towards him. Gradually it becomes obvious that the actions of the hero invariably contradict his loud statements, and Horace turns from a hero into an insignificant person. Herzen described Horace as follows: "He captivates with his phrases in order to betray at the first opportunity."
Sand devoted several novels to rural life. The most famous of them are "The Devil's Sea" (1846), "Francois de Champy" (1847 - 1848) and "Little Fadette" (1849). Simple and sincere stories about ordinary people found their reader.
At this time, a new lover appeared in the life of the writer - the composer and pianist F. Chopin. Their eight-year relationship was reflected in the work of George Sand, filled her novels with a lyrical mood. True, the writer again took on the functions of a leader, showing masculine character traits. But when she sincerely loved, she knew how to be both affectionate and gentle. Aurora was comprehensively gifted by nature. According to her biographer A. Morua, she understood better than anyone else the language of sounds. Aurora's drawings have also been preserved, and later her son took over the passion for drawing from his mother.
For the last twenty years of her life, George Sand lived almost without a break in Nohant, only occasionally coming to Paris for theatrical premieres. Only after the death of her granddaughter did she go to Europe to unwind a little. In the same years, George Sand wrote her best works - "The Beautiful Gentlemen of Bois Doré" (1858), "Marquise Velemer" (1861), "Mademoiselle Quintina" (1863), which reflected the impressions of that time. Still describing the world she knew and making prototypes of close people, Sand at the same time believed that in a novel the author does not have to be realistic and achieve literal similarity.
At the same time, Aurora tried to find personal peace and family comfort. Her son Maurice finally married, and Sand wrote several fairy tales for her granddaughters, which were included in the collection Tales of a Grandmother (1873).
George Sand wrote almost a hundred works in her life. True, critics say that they are not all equal. But after all, this happens with all writers, but Sand's contemporaries noted that the power of form and passion comes from her works. Maybe that's why Sand's novels are still read and loved.
SAND GEORGES
Real name - Amandine Lucy Aurora Dupin
(born in 1804 - died in 1876)
The reputation of George Sand was scandalous. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and spoke in a low male voice. Her pseudonym itself was male. It is believed that this is how she fought for the freedom of women. She was not beautiful and considered herself a freak, proving that she did not have that grace which, as is well known, sometimes replaces beauty. Contemporaries described her as a woman of short stature, dense build, with a gloomy expression, large eyes, absent-minded gaze, yellow skin, premature wrinkles on the neck. Only hands they recognized as unconditionally beautiful.
V. Efroimson, who devoted many years to the search for the biological prerequisites for giftedness, noted the paradoxical fact that prominent women often have a clearly defined male characterology. These are Elizabeth I Tudor, Christina of Sweden, and the writer George Sand. The researcher puts forward as a possible explanation for giftedness the presence of a hormonal imbalance of the adrenal cortex and increased secretion of androgens (not only in women themselves, but also in their mothers).
V. Efroimson notes that if the excess of androgens in the mother falls on the critical phases of intrauterine development nervous system, and above all the brain, then there is a "reorientation" of the psyche in the male direction. Such prenatal hormonal exposure leads to the fact that girls grow up to be "tomboys", pugnacious, preferring boyish games to dolls.
Finally, he hypothesizes that George Sand's masculine behavior and tendencies - like those of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor - were the result of Morris syndrome, a type of pseudo-hermaphroditism. This anomaly is very rare - about 1:65,000 among women. Pseudo-hermaphroditism, writes V. Efroimson, “... could give rise to severe mental trauma, but the emotional stability of such patients, their love of life, diverse activity, energy, physical and mental, are simply amazing. For example, in terms of physical strength, speed, dexterity, they are so much superior to physiologically normal girls and women that girls and women with Morris syndrome are subject to exclusion from women's sports. With the rarity of the syndrome, it is found in almost 1% of outstanding athletes, that is, 600 times more often than one would expect if it did not stimulate exceptional physical and mental development. An analysis of many facts allowed V. Efroimson to suggest that the talented and brilliant George Sand was a representative of this rare type of woman.
George Sand was a contemporary and friend of both Dumas, Franz Liszt, Gustave Flaubert and Honore de Balzac. Her favor was sought by Alfred de Musset, Prosper Merimee, Frederic Chopin. They all highly appreciated her talent and what can be called charm. She was a child of her age, which became a century of trials for her native France.
Amandine Lucy Aurora Dupin was born in Paris on July 1, 1804. She was the great-granddaughter of the illustrious Marshal Moritz of Saxony. After the death of his beloved, he became friends with an actress, from whom he had a girl, who received the name Aurora. Subsequently, Aurora of Saxony (grandmother of George Sand), a young, beautiful and innocent girl, married the rich and depraved Earl of Hawthorne, who, fortunately for the young woman, was soon killed in a duel.
Then chance brought her to Dupin, an official from the Treasury. He was an amiable, elderly and somewhat old-fashioned gentleman, prone to clumsy gallantry. Despite his sixty years, he managed to win over a thirty-year-old beauty and enter into a marriage with her, which turned out to be very happy.
From this marriage, the son Moritz was born. During the turbulent days of the reign of Napoleon I, he fell in love with a woman of dubious behavior and secretly married her. Moritz, being an officer and receiving a meager salary, could not feed his wife and daughter, since he himself was dependent on his mother. Therefore, his daughter Aurora spent her childhood and youth on the estate of her grandmother Aurora-Marie Dupin in Nohant.
After the death of her father, she often had to witness scandals between her grandmother and mother. Aurora-Maria reproached the mother of the future writer with a low origin (she was either a dressmaker or a peasant woman), a frivolous relationship with the young Dupin before marriage. The girl took the side of her mother, and at night they often shed bitter tears together.
From the age of five, Aurora Dupin was taught French grammar, Latin, arithmetic, geography, history and botany. Madame Dupin vigilantly followed the mental and physical development of her granddaughter in the spirit pedagogical ideas Rousseau. The girl received further education in a monastery, as was customary in many aristocratic families.
Aurora spent about three years in the monastery. In January 1821, she lost her closest friend - Madame Dupin died, making her granddaughter the sole heiress of the Noan estate. A year later, Aurora met a young artillery lieutenant, Baron Casimir Dudevant, and agreed to become his wife. The marriage was doomed to failure.
The first years of marriage seemed happy. Aurora gave birth to a son Moritz and a daughter Solange, she wanted to devote herself completely to their upbringing. She sewed dresses for them, although she did not know how well, took care of the household and tried with all her might to make life in Nohant pleasant for her husband. Alas, she could not make ends meet, and this served as a source of constant reproaches and quarrels. Madame Dudevant took up translations, began to write a novel, which, due to many shortcomings, was thrown into the fireplace.
All this, of course, could not contribute to family happiness. Quarrels continued, and one fine day in 1831, the husband allowed his thirty-year-old wife to leave for Paris with Solange, where she settled in a room in the attic. To support herself and her child, she took up porcelain painting and sold her fragile work with varying degrees of success.
To get rid of the cost of expensive women's outfits, Aurora began to wear a men's suit, which was convenient for her because it made it possible to walk around the city in any weather. In a long gray (fashionable at that time) coat, a round felt hat and strong boots, she wandered the streets of Paris, happy with her freedom, which rewarded her for all hardships. She dined for one franc, washed and ironed the linen herself, took the girl for a walk.
When a husband came to Paris, he would certainly visit his wife and take her to the theater or some expensive restaurant. In the summer she returned to Nohant, chiefly to see her beloved son.
Her husband's stepmother also occasionally met her in Paris. Once she learned that Aurora intended to publish books, she was furious and demanded that Dudevant's name never appear on any cover. Aurora with a smile promised to fulfill her demand.
In Paris, Aurora Dudevant met Jules Sandeau. He was seven years younger than Aurora. He was a frail, fair-haired man of aristocratic appearance. Together with him, Aurora wrote her first novel, Rose and Blanche, and several short stories. But these were only the first steps on the difficult path of a writer; great life in French literature was still ahead and she had to pass it without Sando.
The triumphant entry into French literature was the novel "Indiana", published under the pseudonym George Sand (originally it was Jules Sand - a direct reference to the name of the former lover Jules Sando). The action of the novel begins in 1827 and ends at the end of 1831, when the July Revolution took place. The Bourbon dynasty, in the person of its last king, Charles X, has left the historical stage. The throne of France was occupied by Louis Philippe of Orleans, who during his eighteen-year reign did everything possible to protect the interests of the financial and industrial bourgeoisie. In "Indiana" the change of cabinets, the uprising in Paris and the flight of the king are mentioned, which gave the story a modern touch. At the same time, the plot is permeated with anti-monarchist motives, the author condemns the intervention of the French troops of Spain. This was new, as many Romantic writers in the 1830s were fascinated by the Middle Ages and did not address the topic of modernity at all.
The novel "Indiana" was greeted with approval and interest by both readers and critics. But, despite the recognition and growing popularity, contemporaries treated George Sand with hostility. She was considered frivolous (even easily accessible), fickle and heartless, called a lesbian or, in best case, bisexual, indicated that a deeply hidden maternal instinct was hiding in her, because Sand always chose men younger than herself.
In November 1832, George Sand published her new novel"Valentina". In it, the writer demonstrates remarkable skill, painting nature, and looks like a penetrating psychologist who can recreate the images of people of various classes.
It would seem that everything was going well: financial security, reader success, recognition of criticism. But it was at this time, in 1832, that George Sand was going through a deep depression (the first of many that followed), almost ending in suicide.
The emotional unrest and despair that gripped the writer arose due to government repression, which struck the imagination of everyone who was not immersed only in personal experiences. In The Story of My Life, George Sand acknowledged that her pessimism, her gloomy mood were generated by the absence of the slightest prospects: “My horizon expanded when all sorrows, all needs, all despair, all the vices of a great social environment appeared before me, when focus on my own destiny, but turned to the whole world, in which I was only an atom - then my personal longing spread to everything that exists, and the fatal law of fate appeared to me so terrible that my mind was shaken. In general, it was a time of general disappointment and decline. The republic that was dreamed of in July brought about an atoning sacrifice at the convent of Saint-Merry. Cholera mowed down the people. Saint-Simonism, which carried away the imagination with a swift stream, was struck down by persecution and ingloriously perished. It was then, seized with deep despondency, that I wrote Lelia.
The basis of the plot of the novel is the story of a young woman, Lelia, who, after several years of marriage, breaks with a man unworthy of her and, withdrawing in her grief, rejects secular life. In love with her, Stenio, the young poet, like Lelia, is seized by the spirit of doubt, filled with indignation at the horrifying conditions of existence.
With the advent of Lelia, an image of a strong-willed woman appeared in French literature, rejecting love as a means of fleeting pleasure, a woman who overcomes many hardships before getting rid of the ailment of individualism, finding solace in useful activity. Lelia condemns the hypocrisy of high society, the dogmas of Catholicism.
According to George Sand, love, marriage, family can unite people, contribute to their true happiness; as long as the moral laws of society are in harmony with the natural inclinations of man. Controversy and noise arose around Lelia, readers saw this as a scandalous autobiography of the writer.
After reading Lelia, Alfred de Musset stated that he learned a lot about the author, although in essence he learned almost nothing about her. They met in the summer of 1833 at a reception hosted by the owner of the Revue des Deux Mondes magazine. At the table they were side by side, and this accidental proximity played a role not only in their fate, but also in French and world literature.
Musset was known as a Don Juan, a frivolous egoist, not devoid of sentimentality, an Epicurean. The aristocrat de Musset earned a reputation as the only socialite among French romantics. The affair with Musset became one of the brightest pages in the life of the writer.
George Sand was six years older than Alfred. He was an insufferable prankster, drawing cartoons and writing funny rhymes in her scrapbook. They loved to play pranks. One day they gave a dinner, at which Musset was dressed in the costume of an eighteenth-century marquis, and George Sand was in a dress of the same era, in tankins and flies. On another occasion, Musset dressed in the clothes of a Norman peasant woman and waited at the table. Nobody recognized him, and George Sand was delighted. Soon the lovers left for Italy.
According to her, Musset continued to lead the dissolute life in Venice that he had become accustomed to in Paris. However, his health deteriorated, doctors suspected inflammation of the brain or typhus. She fussed around the patient day and night, without undressing and hardly touching her food. And then a third character appeared on the scene - the twenty-six-year-old doctor Pietro Pagello.
The joint struggle for the life of the poet brought them so close that they guessed each other's thoughts. The disease was defeated, but for some reason the doctor did not leave the patient. Musset realized that he had become superfluous and left. Upon George Sand's return to France, they finally separated, but under the influence of Musset's former lover, he wrote the novel Confessions of a Son of the Century.
During her stay in Italy in 1834, being in another depression after the departure of Alfred de Musset, Sand wrote psychological novel"Jacques". It embodies the writer's dream of moral ideals, that love is a healing force that elevates a person, the creator of his happiness. But often love can be associated with betrayal and deceit. She thought about suicide again.
Evidence of this are the lines written in a letter to Pietro Pagello: “Since the day I fell in love with Alfred, every moment I play with death. In my desperation, I went as far as possible for human soul. But as soon as I feel the strength to desire happiness and love, I will also have the strength to rise.
And in her diary an entry appears: “I can no longer suffer from all this. And all this in vain! I am thirty years old, I am still beautiful, at least I will be beautiful in fifteen days, if I can force myself to stop crying. There are men around me who are worth more than me, but who, nevertheless, accept me for who I am, without lies and coquetry, who generously forgive me my mistakes and give me their support. Oh, if only I could force myself to love one of them! My God, give me back my strength, my energy, as it was in Venice. Give me back this fierce love of life, which has always been for me an outlet in the moment of the most terrible despair. Make me fall in love again! Ah, does it please you to kill me, does it please you to drink my tears! I... I don't want to die! I want to love! I want to be young again. I want to live!"
George Sand also wrote several wonderful short stories and novellas. Like many French novelists of the 19th century, she drew on a rich tradition national literature took into account the experience of predecessors and contemporaries. And contemporaries are Balzac, to whom she gave the plot for the novel "Beatrice, or Forced Love", Stendhal, Hugo and Nodier, Merimee and Musset.
In one of the early stories "Melchior" (1832), the writer, outlining life philosophy a young sailor, described the hardships of life, the absurd prejudices of society. It embodies Sand's typical theme of an unhappy marriage with tragic consequences. French critics compared the story "Marquis" with the best short stories by Stendhal and Merimee, found in it a special gift of a writer who managed to create a brief psychological study on the theme of fate, life and art. There is no complex intrigue in the story. The story is told from the perspective of the old marquise. The world of her memories resurrects the former feeling of platonic love for the actor Lelio, who played the main roles in classic tragedies Corneille and Racine.
The famous novel "????" (1838) adjoins the cycle of Venetian stories by George Sand - "Mattea", "The Last Aldini", the novels "Leone Leoni" and "Uskok", created during the writer's stay in Italy. The main motives of this fantastic story are based on real facts. The Venetian Republic, captured by the troops of General Bonaparte, was transferred to Austria in 1797, which began to ruthlessly suppress the rights of the Venetians. The story tells about the ongoing struggle of patriots in Venice for the national revival of Italy. George Sand constantly showed deep respect for the courageous people of Italy, who aspired to create a single state. In later years, she devoted the novel Daniella to this topic.
In the thirties, George Sand met many prominent poets, scientists, and artists. She was greatly influenced by the ideas of the utopian socialist Pierre Leroux and the doctrine of Christian socialism by Abbé Lamennet. At that time, the theme of French Revolution XVIII century, which the writer embodied in her work. In the novel Maupra (1837), the action takes place in the pre-revolutionary period. The narrative is based on a psychological and moral moment, due to the author's belief in the ability to change, improve the natural features of human nature. The historical views of the author of the novel "Maupra" are very close to the views of Victor Hugo. The French Revolution of 1789-1794 was perceived by the Romantics as a natural embodiment of the idea of the development of human society, as its inexorable movement towards the future, illuminated by the light of political freedom and moral ideal. George Sand was of the same opinion.
The writer seriously studied the history of the French Revolution of 1789-1794, and read a number of studies about this era. Judgments about the positive role of the revolution in the progressive movement of mankind, the improvement of morals are organically included in the novel "Mopra" and subsequent ones - "Spiridion", "Countess Rudolyptadt". In a letter to L. Desage, she speaks positively of Robespierre and sharply condemns his Girondin opponents: “The people in the revolution were represented by the Jacobins. Robespierre - greatest man modern era: calm, incorruptible, prudent, inexorable in the struggle for the triumph of justice, virtuous ... Robespierre, the only representative of the people, the only friend of truth, the implacable enemy of tyranny, sincerely sought to ensure that the poor ceased to be poor, and the rich - rich.
In 1837, George Sand became close to Frederic Chopin. Gentle, fragile, feminine, imbued with reverence for everything pure, ideal, sublime, he unexpectedly fell in love with a woman who smoked tobacco, wore a man's suit and openly carried on frivolous conversations. When she became close to Chopin, Mallorca became their place of residence.
The scene is different, but the situation is the same, and even the roles turned out to be the same and the same sad ending. In Venice, Musset, lulled by the closeness of George Sand, skillfully rhymed beautiful words, in Mallorca, Frederick created his ballads and preludes. Thanks to the dog George Sand, the famous "Dog Waltz" was born. Everything was fine, but when the composer had the first signs of consumption, George Sand began to be weary of him. Beauty, freshness, health - yes, but how to love a sick, frail, capricious and irritable person? George Sand thought so. She herself admitted this, trying, of course, to soften the reason for her cruelty, referring to other motives.
Chopin became too attached to her and did not want a break. A famous woman, experienced in love affairs, tried all means, but in vain. Then she wrote a novel in which, under fictitious names, she portrayed herself and her lover, and endowed the hero (Chopin) with all conceivable and inconceivable weaknesses, and naturally portrayed herself as an ideal woman. It seemed that the end was inevitable, but Frederick hesitated. He still thought that he could return love. In 1847, ten years after their first meeting, the lovers parted.
A year after the separation, Frederic Chopin and George Sand met at the house of a mutual friend. Full of remorse, she approached her former lover and held out her hands to him. The composer's handsome face turned pale. He recoiled from Sand and silently left the room.
In 1839, George Sand lived in Paris on the Rue Pigalle. Her cozy apartment became a literary salon where Chopin and Delacroix, Heinrich Heine and Pierre Leroux, Pauline Viardot met. Adam Mickiewicz read his poems here.
In 1841, George Sand, together with Pierre Leroux and Louis Viardot, undertook the publication of the journal Independent Review. The magazine dedicated one of its articles to young German philosophers who lived in Paris - Karl Marx and Arnold Ruge. It is known that Karl Marx completed his work "The Poverty of Philosophy" with the words of George Sand from the essay "Jan Zizka" and, as a sign of respect, presented his essay to the author of "Consuelo".
The Independent Review introduced French readers to the literature of other peoples. Articles in this journal were devoted to Koltsov, Herzen, Belinsky, Granovsky. On the pages of the Independent Review in 1841-1842, Sand's well-known novel Horas was published.
In "Oras" characters belong to different strata of the population: workers, students, intellectuals, aristocrats. Their destinies are no exception, they are generated by new trends, and these trends are reflected in the novel of the writer. George Sand, touching social problems, speaks of the norms of family life, draws the types of new people, active, hardworking, sympathetic, alien to everything petty, insignificant, self-serving. Such, for example, are Laravinier and Barbès. The first is the fruit of the author's creative imagination; he died fighting on the barricades. The second is a historical person, the famous revolutionary Armand Barbès (at one time he was sentenced to death, but at the request of Victor Hugo the execution was replaced by eternal hard labor), who continued the work of Laravignère during the revolution of the forty-eighth year.
Over the next two years, George Sand energetically worked on the dilogy "Consuelo" and "Countess Rudolstadt", published in 1843-1844. She sought in this extensive narrative to give an answer to the important social, philosophical, and religious questions posed by modernity.
In the forties, the authority of George Sand increased so much that a number of magazines were ready to provide her with pages for articles. At that time, Karl Marx and Arnold Ruge undertook the publication of the German-French Yearbook. Together with publishers, F. Engels, G. Heine, M. Bakunin collaborated in it. The editors of the journal asked the author of Consuelo, in the name of the democratic interests of France and Germany, to agree to cooperate in their journal. In February 1844, a double issue of the German-French Yearbook was published, at which point the publication ceased, and, naturally, George Sand's articles were not published.
In the same period, a new novel by George Sand, The Miller from Anzhibo (1845), was published. It depicts provincial customs, the foundations of the French countryside, as they developed in the forties, at a time when noble estates disappeared.
George Sand's next novel, Monsieur Antoine's Sin (1846), was a success not only in France, but also in Russia. The severity of conflicts, a number of realistic images, the fascination of the plot - all this attracted the attention of readers. At the same time, the novel provided abundant food for critics who ironically perceived the author's "socialist utopias".
After the victory on February 24, 1848, the people demanded the establishment of a republic in France; The Second Republic was soon proclaimed. In March, the Ministry of the Interior began to issue Bulletins of the Provisional Government. George Sand was appointed executive editor of this official organ of the government.
With special passion and literary skill, she writes various kinds of proclamations and appeals to the people, collaborates in the leading organs of the democratic press, and establishes the weekly newspaper Delo Naroda. Victor Hugo and Lamartine, Alexandre Dumas and Eugene Xu also took an active part in the social movement.
The defeat of the June uprising in 1848, George Sand took it very painfully: "I no longer believe in the existence of a republic that begins with the murder of its proletarians." In the extremely difficult situation that developed in France in the second half of 1848, the writer defended her democratic convictions. Then she typed open letter, where she strongly protested against the election of Louis Bonaparte as President of the Republic. But soon his election took place. In December 1851, Louis Bonaparte staged a coup d'état, and a year later proclaimed himself emperor under the name of Napoleon III.
George Sand's friendship with Dumas son began in 1851, when he found Sand's letters to Chopin on the Polish border, bought them and returned them to her. Perhaps, and most likely it is, Sand would like their relationship to develop into something more than friendship. But Dumas, the son, was carried away by the Russian princess Naryshkina, his future wife, and Sand was satisfied with the role of mother, friend and adviser.
This forced role sometimes drove her crazy, causing depression and suicidal thoughts. Who knows what could have happened (perhaps even suicide), if not for the truly friendly disposition on the part of Dumas the son. He helped her turn the novel "Marquis de Vilmer" into a comedy - he inherited the gift of editing from his father.
After the December coup, George Sand finally withdrew into herself, settled in Nohant and only occasionally came to Paris. She still worked fruitfully, wrote several novels, essays, "The Story of My Life." To the number latest works Sand include Good Gentlemen of Bois Doré, Daniella, The Snowman (1859), Black City (1861), Nanon (1871).
In 1872 I. S. Turgenev visited Nohant. George Sand, wanting to express her admiration for the talent of the great writer, published an essay from peasant life, Pierre Bonin, which she dedicated to the author of The Hunter's Notes.
Deadly illness caught George Sand at work. She worked on the last novel "Albina", which was not destined to be completed. She died on June 8, 1876 and was buried in the family cemetery in Nohant Park.
Whether Morris syndrome contributed to the disclosure of George Sand's talent, whether it was a matter of physiology, but a talented and brilliant writer, a great lover of great people, a great worker lived her life, overcoming herself and circumstances, and left a bright mark in the history of France and world literature.
From the book of 50 famous patients author Kochemirovskaya ElenaPart Three George Sand Are we fascinated by sensuality? No, this is a desire for something completely different. This agonizing longing to find true love, which always beckons and disappears. Marie
From the book The most piquant stories and fantasies of celebrities. Part 2 by Amills RoserChapter Two From Jules Sandeau to George Sand In April 1831, fulfilling her promise to Casimir, she returned to Nohant. She was greeted as if she had returned from the most ordinary trip. Her plump daughter was as good as a clear day; her son almost strangled her in his arms;
From the book Love letters great people. Women author Team of authorsChapter Three Birth of George Sand Solange's appearance in Paris surprised Aurora's Berrian friends. Is it proper for a mother to take into her illegitimate family a child of three and a half years old? Aurora Dudevant - Émile Regnault: Yes, my friend, I bring Solange and I'm not afraid of what she will experience
From the book Love Letters of Great People. Men author Team of authorsThe main dates of the life and work of George Sand 1804, July 1 - Maurice and Antoinette-Sophie-Victoria Dupin had a daughter, Amantina-Lucile-Aurora. 1808, June 12 - Birth of the younger brother Aurora Dupin, who died soon after. Maurice Dupin, father of Georges
From the author's bookGeorge Sand Real name - Amanda Aurora Lyon Dupin, married Dudevant (born in 1804 - died in 1876) Famous French writer, author of the novels Indiana (1832), Horace (1842), Consuelo "(1843) and many others, in which she created images of free, emancipated women.
From the author's bookGeorge Sand They wore mustaches and beards, - Thundering tragedian, novelist, poet ... But in general, the guys were women; After all, there is no more feminine soul than the French! They captivated the whole world with carelessness, Charmed the world with grace
From the author's bookSAND GEORGES Real name - Amandine Lucy Aurora Dupin (born in 1804 - died in 1876) George Sand's reputation was scandalous. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and spoke in a low male voice. Her pseudonym itself was male. It is believed that this is how she fought for the freedom of women.
From the author's book From the author's bookGeorge Sand (1804-1876) ... the feelings that bind us combine so much that they cannot be compared with anything. George Sand, whose real name is Amandine Aurora Lucile Dupin, was born into a wealthy French family that owns an estate in Nohant, near the Indre Valley. At nineteen
From the author's bookAlfred de Musset by George Sand (1833) My dear Georges, I need to tell you something stupid and funny. I'm writing you foolishly, I don't know why, instead of telling you all this after returning from a walk. In the evening, I will fall into despair because of this. You will laugh at me
