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SAND, GEORGE. 



reconcile his mother, and to gain her consent 

 to his mesalliance. After the death of her 

 father, in 1808, her mother went to Paris, 

 while she remained with her grandmother at 

 the manor of Nohant, near La Chatre, in the 

 ancient province of Berry. At this period, 

 while still a child, she invented numerous 

 stories, her tender youth being nearly ab- 

 sorbed by the composition of a romance, which 

 she never published, but whose hero, Corambi, 

 half pagan and half Christian, was the ideal of 

 her dreams. She received a good education, 

 but was taught no religion, as her grandmother 

 was a bitter enemy of the Catholic Church. 

 In her thirteenth year she was sent into the 

 convent of the English Sisters of St. Augustin, 

 where she remained three years. At first she 

 was one of the wildest of the pupils of the con- 

 vent, but when she had accomplished her fif- 

 teenth year, an ardent devotion replaced her 

 precocious skepticism, and she resolved to take 

 the veil. This period of her life she called a 

 " religious disease," and she gave herself up to 

 it entirely for the time being. But through 

 various causes; mainly through her father-con- 

 fessor, she was led to different views, and she 

 soon renounced the idea of taking the veil. 

 Her favorite literature now became the works 

 of Locke, Aristotle, Leibnitz, and, later on, 

 Rousseau and Byron. Having returned, after 

 the death of her grandmother in 1821, under 

 the control of her mother, she had daily to 

 contend with a most irritable temper, and, in 

 order to escape the maternal petty tyranny, 

 she married in 1822, when only eighteen, Casi- 

 mir Dudevant, the son of an ancient officer of 

 the Imperial Guard, by whom she had two 

 children, a son and a daughter. The relation 

 between her husband and herself soon became 

 unbearable to both. Their tastes widely dif- 

 fered, and, in addition, their pecuniary affairs 

 were in an unsatisfactory condition. She was 

 forced to apply to her husband for every franc 

 she needed, thus giving her a feeling of entire 

 dependency. As this position appeared to her 

 unendurable, she parted from him amicably in 

 1831, and went to Paris with her daughter, 

 purposing to use her remarkable talents in 

 drawing, painting, and writing, and thus win 

 money enough to provide for her wants and 

 those of her daughter. She set to work with 

 energy, translating foreign romances, drawing 

 portraits, and painting microscopic flowers 

 and birds on snuff-boxes and cigar-cases. In 

 order to enjoy more freedom in the French 

 capital, and, above all, to attend the great the- 

 atrical performances of that time without be- 

 ing exposed to improper remarks, she assumed 

 male apparel, and soon became popular among 

 artists and literary people. But she had still 

 many hard rebukes to encounter before laying 

 the firm foundation of her fame. M. de Kera- 

 try, a prominent novelist and director of a 

 periodical review, disdainfully told her that " a 

 woman must not write." Balzac himself did 

 not pay much attention to her literary projects, 



so strong and powerful was the general preju- 

 dice against female writers. But Delatouche, 

 the publisher of the Figaro, welcomed her 

 with sympathy, and accepted her contribu- 

 tions to his paper. This was her debut in litera- 

 ture, she being at the time nearly twenty -eight 

 years old. She then undertook to compose her 

 first novel, "Rose et Blanche," with her old 

 friend Jules Sandeau, from whom she took 

 and ever after retained her nom de plume, 

 George Sand. "Indiana," which she wrote in 

 1832, caused quite a sensation in the literary 

 world. Soon afterward came "Valentine," 

 followed by "Le1ia" (1833), one of the most 

 remarkable rowans de mceurs ever published. 

 She then started on a tour through Italy in 

 company with Alfred de Musset, from whom, 

 however, she soon separated. While in Italy 

 her money gave out, and she was compelled to 

 write steadily for several months in Venice. 

 From there she sent to the Revue des Deux 

 Mondes: "Andre\" " Leone Leoni," "Mattea," 

 and several "Lettres d'un Voyageur" and 

 "Lettresd'un Oncle." Another result of her 

 liaison with Musset, and of her Italian journey, 

 was "Le Secretaire Intime," which was not 

 written, however, until two years later. In 

 1836 her relations with her husband became 

 worse than ever, and a decree of the Tribunal- 

 Civil granted her legal separation from him, 

 and gave her the exclusive care of their two 

 children. He appealed twice from this deci- 

 sion, but was defeated both times. By this 

 decision she also came again into possession 

 of her father's old estate of Nohant, being 

 thus placed above want for the rest of her life. 

 She visited Switzerland after the separation 

 from her husband, and fell in love with Fre- 

 deric Chopin, the great composer, with whom 

 she spent eight years, and who accompanied 

 her to Majorca in 1838. 



From 1833 to 1841 she published the greater 

 part of her novels, criticisms, etc., in the Re- 

 vue des Deux Mondes. Besides the works al- 

 ready mentioned, there appeared in its columns 

 the following works from her pen : " Simon," 

 "Metella," "Les MaitresMosai'stes," "Lader- 

 niere Aldini," "L'Orco," "Gabriel," "Pau- 

 line," etc. In October, 1841, "she at once 

 broke off her relations with it, because its 

 editor refused her novel " Horace," on account 

 of its radical and socialistic tendencies. To- 

 gether with Leroux and Viardot she then es- 

 tablished the Revue Contemporaine, which, 

 however, did not exist very long, although she 

 published in it, among other contributions, the 

 novels "Consuelo" and "La Comtesse de Ru- 

 dolstadt." After her quarrel with the Revue, 

 she began to devote herself to the stage. When 

 she wrote her first play, " Cosima," her fame 

 was already so great that its appearance was 

 awaited with great impatience ; it was, never- 

 theless, a failure. But with "Francois le 

 Champi," in 1849, and " Claudie," in 1851, 

 she was more successful, the latter piece being 

 played one hundred consecutive nights. The 



