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George Sand - short biography. Great love stories. George Sand and her passions

05.04.2019

(French George Sand, real name Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin - Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin; 1804 - 1876) - French writer.
Aurora Dupin was born on July 1, 1804 in Paris, in the family of nobleman Maurice Dupin (he was a descendant of the commander Count Moritz of Saxony). Her mother, Sophie-Victoria Delaborde, was the daughter of a bird catcher. Here's what George Sand later wrote:

She was already over thirty years old when my father saw her for the first time, and among what a terrible company! My father was generous! He realized that this beautiful creature was still capable of love...

Maurice's mother did not want to admit the unequal marriage for a long time, but the birth of her granddaughter softened her heart. However, after the death of Aurora's father in an accident, the countess mother-in-law and commoner daughter-in-law broke off their relationship. Aurora's mother, not wanting to deprive her of her large inheritance, left her daughter in Nohant (Indre department) in the care of her grandmother. Aurora Dupin received her education at the Augustinian Catholic convent in Paris. Aurora is interested in philosophical and religious literature: Chateaubriand, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Aristotle, Pascal - the young monastery student reads them.

However, it seemed to her that she found true Christianity, which requires absolute equality and brotherhood, only in Rousseau. To love and sacrifice oneself - this was, according to her conviction, the law of Christ

In 1822, Aurora married Casimir, the illegitimate son of Baron Dudevant. In this marriage she gave birth to two children: a son, Maurice, and a daughter, Solange (presumably not from Casimir). Very different people, the Dudevant couple actually separated in 1831, Aurora went to Paris, receiving a pension from her husband and promising to maintain the appearance of marriage. Later in Aurora’s life there were many love affairs. To earn a living (as a married woman, she lost the right to dispose of her inheritance - her husband remained the owner of the estate in Nohant), she began to write. The writer Henri de Latouche offered her cooperation in the newspaper Le Figaro, but a short journalistic style was not her element; she was more successful in lengthy descriptions of nature and characters. In 1831, her first novel, Rose et Blanche, was published, which she wrote together with her lover Jules Sandot. It was his last name that became the basis of the writer’s pseudonym.

Preferring men's clothing to women's, George Sand traveled to places in Paris where aristocrats, as a rule, did not go. For the upper classes France XIX century, such behavior was considered unacceptable, so she actually lost her status as a baroness.

From 1833 to 1834 her relationship with Alfred de Musset lasted. Then Dr. Pagelot, Charles Didier, and composer Frederic Chopin successively became her companions - for nine years, Georges was not so much a lover as a faithful friend and nurse for him. Sand was credited with having an affair with Liszt, but Georges and Liszt always denied this. Her friends were the critic Sainte-Beuve, the writers Merimee, Balzac, Dumas the father, Dumas the son, Flaubert, and the singer Pauline Viardot.

In 1836, the Dudevant couple divorced, Georges received the right to live on her estate in Nohant and raise her daughter, Casimir was entrusted with raising her son, but since 1837 Maurice has lived permanently with his mother.

Georges Sand died on June 8, 1876 in Nohant. Upon learning of her death, Hugo wrote: “I mourn the dead, I salute the immortal!”

She was born on July 1, 1804 in Paris, in the family of the nobleman Maurice Dupin (he came from the family of the commander Moritz of Saxony).

Her father, a young aristocrat gifted with both literary and musical abilities, joined the ranks of the revolutionary army during the Revolution of 1789, carried out a series of Napoleonic campaigns and died young. His wife Sophia Victoria Antoinette Delaborde was the daughter of a Parisian bird seller, a true daughter of the people. The future writer visited with her mother during the Napoleonic campaign in Spain, then found herself in a quiet village environment with her grandmother, who raised her according to the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Living in constant close contact with the peasants, the girl early learned the life of both the village poor and the village rich, got used to taking the interests of the former to heart and had a negative attitude towards the village kulaks. She received her education in a monastery, like many girls from her environment. Upon leaving the monastery, Aurora became passionately interested in reading and re-read the entire library of the old woman Dupin. She was especially fascinated by the works of Rousseau, and his influence was reflected in all her work. After the death of her grandmother, Aurora soon married Casimir Dudevant. Dudevant turned out to be a completely unsuitable companion for an intelligent, inquisitive, dreamy and peculiar woman. He was a typical bourgeois money-grubber. In 1830, she separated from him, went to Paris and began to lead there, on the one hand, a completely student, free life, and on the other, a purely professional, working life of a writer.

Aurora Dupin's literary talent showed itself very early. Her literary activity began with collaboration with Jules Sandot. 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 (half of Sandeau’s name - Sandeau) and was a success. The publishers wished to immediately publish a new work by this author. Aurora in Nogan wrote her part, and Sando wrote only one title. The publishers demanded that the novel be published under the name of the same, successful Sando, and Jules Sandot did not want to put his name under someone else's work. To resolve the dispute, Sando was advised from now on to write under his full name and surname, and Aurora was advised to take half of this surname and put in front of it the name Georges, common in Berry. This is how the pseudonym George Sand was born. Preferring men's clothing to women's, George Sand traveled to places in Paris where aristocrats, as a rule, did not go. For the upper classes of 19th-century France, such behavior was considered unacceptable, so she effectively lost her status as a baroness.

Contemporaries considered Sand fickle and heartless, called her a lesbian and wondered why she chose men younger than herself.

Georges Sand met Frederic Chopin at a reception with a countess. The composer was not amazed by her beauty - he did not even like the famous writer. It is all the more surprising that after some time the gentle, subtle, vulnerable Chopin fell in love with a woman who smoked tobacco and spoke openly on any topic. The place where they lived together was Mallorca. The scene is different, but the story is the same and with the same sad ending. Chopin, burning with passion, fell ill (as Alfred de Musset once did). When the composer showed the first signs of consumption, George Sand began to feel burdened by him. It is difficult to love a sick, capricious and irritable person. George Sand herself admitted this. Chopin did not want a break. A woman experienced in such matters 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 with all imaginable weaknesses, and exalted herself to the skies. It seemed that the end was now inevitable, but Chopin hesitated. He still thought that it was possible to return the irrevocable. In 1847, ten years after their first meeting, the lovers separated. A year after their separation, Chopin and George Sand met at the house of their mutual friend. Full of remorse, she approached her former lover and extended her hand to him. But Chopin left the hall without saying a word...

Georges Sand spent the last years of her life on her estate, where she enjoyed universal respect and earned the nickname “the good lady from Nohant.” She died there on June 8, 1876.

And she became his mistress. In 1696, she gave birth to a son, Moritz; the lovers separated even before the birth of the child. Maria Aurora settled in Quedlinburg Abbey, establishing a popular secular salon there.

In 1748, one of Moritz's mistresses, Marie de Verrieres (real name Rento), gave birth to a daughter, Maria Aurora (1748-1821). Since Marie de Verrieres was not faithful to Moritz, the marshal did not include her and her daughter in his will. Marie-Aurora turned to Moritz's niece, Dauphine Marie Josephine, for protection. She was placed in the Saint-Cyr convent and given an allowance of eight hundred livres. Maria Aurora was considered the daughter of unknown parents; her position scared off potential suitors for her hand. She appealed to the Dauphine for the second time so that she would be 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 the age of 18, Marie-Aurora married infantry captain Antoine de Horne. He received the position of commandant of the Alsatian town of Celeste. The couple arrived at de Orne's destination five months after the wedding; the next day, forty-four-year-old de Orne 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 a representative of the main tax farmer in Berry, Louis-Claude Dupin de Frankeuil - ex-lover his aunt Genevieve de Verrieres. The house of the Dupin couple was built on a grand scale; they spent a lot on charity and were interested in literature and music. Widowed in 1788, Marie-Aurora moved to Paris with her son Maurice. In 1793, believing that life was safer in the provinces, Marie-Aurora bought the Nohant-Vic estate, located between Chateauroux and La Chatre. At first, Madame Dupin, who called herself a follower of Voltaire and Rousseau, sympathized with the revolution. Her attitude to events changed when the terror began, she even signed up for 75 thousand livres to a fund to help emigrants. Because she belonged to the nobility, Madame Dupin was arrested in December 1793 and placed in the convent of the English Augustinians. She was released after the events of 9 Thermidor, and in October 1794 she left with her son for Nohant.

Childhood and youth

Aurora Dupin

Maurice Dupin (1778-1808), despite his classical education and love of music, chose a military career. Having begun his service as a soldier during the Directory, officer rank he received 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.

She was already over thirty years old when my father saw her for the first time, and among what a terrible company! My father was generous! He realized that this beautiful creature was still capable of love...

They registered their marriage at the mayor's office of the 2nd arrondissement 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.

George Sand's house in Nohant

The teacher of Aurora and her half-brother Hippolyte was Jean-François Deschartres, the estate manager and former mentor of Maurice Dupin. In addition to teaching her reading, writing, arithmetic and history, her grandmother, an excellent musician, taught her to play the harpsichord and sing. The girl also adopted her love for literature from her. No one was involved in Aurora’s religious education - Madame Dupin, “a woman of the last century, recognized only the abstract religion of philosophers.”

Since men's clothing was more convenient for riding, walking and hunting, Aurora became accustomed to wearing it from childhood.

The girl saw her mother only occasionally, when she came to Paris with her grandmother. But Madame Dupin, trying to reduce Sophie-Victoria's influence to a minimum, tried to shorten these visits. Aurora decided to run away from her grandmother; her intention was soon discovered, 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 her daughter’s further education. Aurora was struck by her mother's coldness, while once again arranged her personal life. “Oh my mother! Why don’t you love me, me who loves you so much?” . Her mother was no longer a friend or an adviser to her; subsequently Aurora learned to do without Sophie-Victoria, however, without breaking with her completely and maintaining purely external respect.

In the Augustinian Catholic monastery, where she entered on January 12, 1818, the girl became acquainted with religious literature and was overcome by mystical moods. “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 can 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,” decided to marry the girl off. Aurora left the monastery, which became for her “paradise 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 was nevertheless not considered an enviable match due to a series of illegitimate births in the family and the low origin of her mother.

As a result of the second blow, Madame Dupin was paralyzed, and Deschartres transferred to the girl all rights to manage the estate. Deschartres, who was the mayor of Nohant, also acted as a pharmacist and surgeon, Aurora helped him. At the same time, Aurora became carried away philosophical literature, studied Chateaubriand, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Aristotle, Pascal, but most of all she admired Rousseau, believing that only he had true Christianity, “which requires absolute equality and fraternity.”

She went on long rides on her horse Colette: “We had to live and ride together for fourteen years.” Those around her reproached Aurora for her lifestyle; the freedom she enjoyed was unthinkable at that time for a person of her gender and age, but she did not pay attention to it. At La Chatre, Aurora was friends with her peers, the sons of her father’s friends: Duvernay, Fleury, Pape. An affair began with one of them, Stefan Azhasson de Gransany, a student who taught her anatomy. 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 agree to this marriage because of Stefan’s poverty.

Aurora's grandmother died on December 26, 1821, agreeing, to the surprise of her believing granddaughter, to receive unction and receive communion before her death. “I am convinced that I am committing neither meanness nor lies by agreeing to a ritual that, in the hour of separation from loved ones, serves as a good example. May your heart be at peace, I know what I am doing.” The grandmother insisted that Aurora be present at her confession. With her last words, Madame Dupin addressed her granddaughter: “You are losing your best friend.”

Marriage

According to Madame Dupin's will, guardianship of the seventeen-year-old girl was transferred to Count Rene de Villeneuve, and Aurora herself was to live in Chenonceau, in the count's family. However, the girl's mother insisted on guiding her. The Villeneuves withdrew 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 a conflict arose between mother and daughter: Sophie-Victoria forced Aurora to marry a man for whom she did not have the slightest inclination. Aurora rebelled. Her mother threatened her with imprisonment in a monastery.

“You will be better here. We will warn the community about you; here they will be wary of your eloquence. Get ready for the idea that you will have to live in this cell until you come of age, that is, three and a half years. Don’t even think about appealing to the laws for help; no one will hear your complaints; and neither your defenders nor you yourself will ever know where you are...” But then - either they were ashamed of such a despotic act, or they were afraid of the retribution of the law, or they simply wanted to scare me - they abandoned this plan. .

Aurora realized that a lonely woman without protection is doomed to face difficulties at every turn. Due to nervous overstrain, she fell ill: “she began to have stomach cramps, which refused to take food.” For a while, Sophie-Victoria left her daughter alone. In 1822, Aurora stayed with the family of her father's friend, Colonel Rethier du Plessis. Through the du Plessis spouses she met Casimir Dudevant (1795-1871), the illegitimate son of Baron Dudevant, owner of the Guillery estate in Gascony. Suffering from loneliness, she “fell in love with him as the personification of masculinity.” Casimir proposed not through his relatives, as was customary then, 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 of his father and his wife.

Despite the mother's doubts, in September Aurora and Casimir got married in Paris and left for Nohant. Casimir replaced Deschartres as 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, was involved in “local politics” and feasted with local noblemen like himself. Soon Aurora was overcome by attacks of melancholy, which irritated her husband, who did not understand what was going on. For the romantically inclined Aurora, who dreamed of “love in the spirit of Rousseau,” the physiological side of marriage turned out to be a shock. But at the same time, she remained attached to Casimir, an honest man and an excellent father. She was able to regain some peace of mind by communicating with her mentors at the English Catholic monastery, where she moved with her son. But Maurice fell ill, and Aurora returned home.

The time comes when you feel the need for love, exclusive love! Everything that happens needs to be related to the object of love. I wanted you to have both charm and talents for him alone. You didn't notice this about me. My knowledge turned out to be unnecessary, because you did not share it with me.

Aurora felt unwell; her husband believed that all her illnesses existed only in her imagination. Disagreements between spouses have become more frequent.

Solange Dudevant

At the end of 1825, the Dudevant couple made a trip to the Pyrenees. There, Aurora met Aurélien de Sez, a fellow prosecutor at the Bordeaux court. The affair with de Sez was platonic - Aurora felt happy and at the same time reproached herself for changing her attitude towards her husband. In her “Confession,” which she wrote to her husband on the advice of de Seza, Aurora explained in detail the reasons for her action, by saying that her feelings did not resonate with Casimir, that she changed her life for his sake, but he did not appreciate it. Returning to Nohant, Aurora maintained correspondence with de Sez. At the same time, she meets again with Stéphane Azhasson de Grandsan and the youthful romance continues. On September 13, 1828, Aurora gives birth to a daughter, Solange (1828-1899); all Sand's biographers agree that the girl's father was Azhasson de Gransagne. Soon the Dudevant couple actually separated. Casimir began to drink and started several love affairs with Noan's servants.

Aurora felt that it was time to change the situation: her new lover, Jules Sandot, went to Paris, she wanted to follow him. She left the estate to her husband in exchange for rent, stipulating that she would spend six months in Paris, the other six months in Nohant, and maintain the appearance of marriage.

Beginning of literary activity

Auguste Charpentier. Portrait of George Sand

Aurora arrived in Paris on January 4, 1831. A pension of three thousand francs was not enough to live on. To save money, she wore a men's suit, and besides, it became a pass to the theater: ladies were not allowed into the stalls - the only seats that she and her friends could afford.

To earn money, Aurora decided to write. She brought a novel (“Aimé”) to Paris, which she intended to show to de Keratry, 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 “Aimé” did not make an impression on him, but he offered Madame Dudevant cooperation in the newspaper and introduced her to the Parisian literary world. A brief journalistic style was not her element; she was more successful in lengthy descriptions of nature and characters.

More decisively than ever, I choose a literary profession. Despite the troubles that sometimes happen there, despite the days of laziness and fatigue that sometimes interrupt my work, despite my more than modest life in Paris, I feel that from now on my existence is meaningful.

At first, Aurora wrote together with Sando: the novels “The Commissioner” (1830), “Rose and Blanche” (1831), which had great success among readers, were published under his signature, since Casimir Dudevant’s stepmother did not want to see her name on the covers of books. In “Rose and Blanche,” Aurora used her memories of the monastery, notes about her trip to the Pyrenees, and stories from her mother. Aurora has already started on her own new job, the novel Indiana, the theme of which was the contrast of a woman seeking ideal love with a sensual and vain 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 slavish position to which a woman was doomed modern society. Keeping the surname Sand, she added the name Georges.

Latouche believed that in Indiana Aurora copied the style of Balzac, however, after reading the novel more carefully, he changed his mind. The success of Indiana, which was praised by Balzac and Gustave Planche, allowed her to sign a contract with the Revue de Deux Mondes and gain financial independence.

The beginning of Sand's friendship with Marie Dorval dates back to that time. famous actress romantic era.

To understand what power she (Dorval) has over me, one would have to know to what extent she is not like me... She! God put in her a rare gift - the ability to express her feelings... This woman, so beautiful, so simple, has not learned anything: she guesses everything...<…>And when this fragile woman appears on stage with her seemingly broken figure, with her careless gait, with a sad and soulful look, then you know what seems to me?... It seems to me that I see my soul...

Sand was credited with having a love affair with Dorval, but these rumors are unconfirmed. In 1833, the novel “Lelia” was published, causing a scandal. Main character(in many ways this is a self-portrait), in pursuit of happiness, which gives other women, but not her, physical love, passes from lover to lover. Later, regretting that she had given herself away, George Sand corrected the novel, removing confessions of impotence and giving it greater moral and social overtones. Jules Janin in the Journal de Debats called the book “disgusting”; the journalist Capeau de Feuilde “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 Mondes and challenged Capo de Feuillide to a duel. Sainte-Beuve noted in a letter to Sand:

The general public, demanding in the reading room to be given a book, will refuse this novel. But on the other hand, he will be highly appreciated by those who will see in him the most vivid expression of the eternal thoughts of humanity... To be a woman who has not yet reached thirty years of age, according to appearance which one cannot even understand when she managed to explore such bottomless depths; to carry this knowledge within yourself, a knowledge that would make our hair fall out and our temples turn gray - to carry it with ease, ease, maintaining such restraint in expression - this is what I admire most about you; really, madam, you are an extremely strong, rare nature...

George Sand and Alfred de Musset

Alfred de Musset

In April 1835, he acted for the defense at the trial of the Lyon insurgents. Sand followed him to Paris to attend the meetings and take care of Michel, “who did not spare himself in the defense of the April accused.”

In January 1836, Sand filed a complaint against her husband in the La Chatre court. After hearing witnesses, the court entrusted the upbringing of the children to Mrs. Dudevant. Casimir Dudevant, fearing to lose his rent, did not defend himself and agreed to a sentence in absentia. However, soon, when dividing property between ex-spouses disagreements arose. Dudevant appealed the court's decision and outlined his claims against his wife in a special memorandum. Michel was Sand's lawyer in the divorce proceedings that resumed in May 1836. His eloquence impressed the judges; their opinions, however, were divided. But the next day, Casimir Dudevant went to peace: he had to raise his son and received the use of the Narbonne Hotel in Paris. Madame Dudevant was entrusted with the daughter, Nohan remained behind her.

Sand broke up with Michel in 1837 - he was married and had no intention of leaving his family.

Christian socialism

Prone, like George Sand, to mysticism, Franz Liszt introduced the writer to Lamennais. She immediately became an ardent supporter of his views and even went to some extent to cool relations with Sainte-Beuve, who criticized the abbot for inconsistency. For the Lamennais-founded newspaper Le Monde, Sand offered to write for free, giving herself freedom to choose and cover topics. “Letters to Marcy,” correspondence in the form of a novel, included Sand’s actual messages to the poor dowry-less Elisa Tourangin. When Sand touched upon the equality of the sexes in love in The Sixth Letter, Lamennais was shocked, and upon learning that the next one would be devoted to “the role of passion in a woman’s life,” he stopped publishing.

...he (Lamennais) does not want them to write about the divorce; he expects from her (Sand) those flowers that fall from her hands, that is, fairy tales and jokes. Marie d'Agoux - Franz Liszt

However, the main reason for the break between Lamennais 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 gender equality 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 “peace, strength, faith, hope” in his teaching. For fifteen years, Sand supported Leroux, including financially. Under Leroux's influence, Sand wrote the novels Spyridion (co-authored with Leroux) and The Seven Strings of the Lyre. In 1848, after leaving the conservative publication Revue de Deux Mondes, she founded the newspaper Revue Independent with Louis Viardot and Leroux. Sand published her novels “Horace”, “Consuelo” and “Countess Rudolstadt” in it. She supported poets from the proletarian environment - Savignen Lapointe, Charles Mague, Charles Poncey and promoted their work (“Dialogues on the Poetry of the Proletarians”, 1842). In her new novels (“The Wandering Apprentice,” “The Miller from Anjibo”) the virtue of the proletarians was contrasted with the “selfishness of the noble rich.”

George Sand and Chopin

At the end of 1838, Sand began a relationship with Chopin, who by that time had separated from his fiancée Maria Wodzinska. 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 his children. Her expectations were not met: the rainy season began, Chopin began to have coughing attacks. 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 money, they spent the winter in Paris. Differences in character, political preferences, and jealousy for a long time could not prevent them from maintaining affection. Sand quickly realized that Chopin was dangerously ill and devotedly took care of his health. But no matter how his situation improved, Chopin’s character and illness did not allow him to remain in a peaceful state for a long time.

This is a man of extraordinary sensitivity: the slightest touch to him is a wound, the slightest noise is a clap of thunder; a person who recognizes conversation only face to face, who has gone into some mysterious life and only occasionally manifests himself in some uncontrollable antics, charming and funny. Heinrich Heine

Some of Sand's friends pitied her, calling Chopin her "evil genius" and "cross." Fearing for his condition, she reduced their relationship to purely friendly ones. Chopin suffered from this state of affairs and attributed her behavior to other hobbies.

If any woman could inspire complete confidence in him, it was me, and he never understood this... I know that many people blame me - some because I exhausted him with the unbridledness of my feelings, others because that I drive him into despair with my foolishness. It seems to me that you know what's going on. And he, he complains to me that I’m killing him with refusals, whereas I’m sure that I would kill him if I did otherwise... From a letter from George Sand to Albert Grzimala, a friend of Chopin.

The relationship with Chopin was reflected in Sand's novel Lucrezia Floriani. Subsequently, she denied that she had based Lucretia on herself and Karol on Chopin. Chopin did not recognize or did not want to recognize himself in the image young man, a charming egoist who was loved by Lucretia and caused her premature death. In 1846, a conflict arose between Chopin and Maurice, as a result of which the latter announced his desire to leave home. Sand took her son’s side:

This could not have happened, it should not have happened, Chopin could not stand my intervention in all this, although it was necessary and legal. He lowered his head and said that I stopped loving him. What blasphemy after eight years of maternal dedication! But the poor offended heart was not aware of its madness...

...she hates her mother, slanderes her, denigrates her most sacred motives, desecrates her home with terrible speeches! You like to listen to all this and maybe even believe it. I will not enter into such a fight, it terrifies me. I prefer to see you in a hostile camp than to defend myself from an enemy who was fed by my breasts and my milk. George Sand to Frederic Chopin.

Last time Sand and Chopin met by chance in March 1848:

I thought that a few months of separation would heal the wound and restore peace to friendship and justice to memories... I shook his cold, trembling hand. I wanted to talk to him - he disappeared. Now I could tell him, in turn, that he stopped loving me.

The composer maintained friendly relations with Solange, who married the sculptor Auguste Clésingé, until his death.

Revolution and Second Empire

After the events of May 15, 1848, when a crowd of demonstrators tried to seize the National Assembly, some newspapers held her responsible for inciting the riot. There were rumors that she would be arrested. Sand remained in Paris for two more days in order to “be at hand for justice if it decided to settle scores with me,” and returned to Nohant.

After the December coup of 1851, she obtained an audience with Louis Napoleon and gave him a letter calling for an end to the persecution of political opponents. With the help of Napoleon-Joseph Sand, the fate of many Republicans was mitigated. From the moment Louis Napoleon was proclaimed emperor, she no longer saw him, turning to the Empress, Princess Mathilde or Prince Napoleon for help.

Recent years

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 Daniella (1857), which attacked the Catholic religion, caused a scandal, and the newspaper La Presse, in which it was published, was closed.

Georges Sand died from complications of intestinal obstruction on June 8 at her Nohant estate. Upon learning of her death, Hugo wrote: “I mourn the dead, I salute the immortal!”

Essays

Major Novels

Indiana (1832)
Valentine (1832)
Melchior (Melhior, 1832)
Lelia (Lélia, 1833)
Cora (1833)
Jacques (1834)
Metella (1834)
Leone Leoni (1835)
Mauprat (Mauprat, 1837)
The Masters of the Mosaic (Les Maîtres mozaïstes, 1838)
Orco (L’Orco, 1838)
Uskok (L'Uscoque, 1838)
Spiridion (1839)
The Traveling Apprentice (Le Compagnon du tour de France, 1841)
Horace (Horace, 1842)
Consuelo (1843)
Countess Rudolstadt (La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, 1843)
The Miller of Angibault (Le Meunier d’Angibault, 1845)
The Devil's Swamp (La Mare au diable, 1846)
The Sin of Monsieur Antoine (Le Péché de M. Antoine, 1847)
Lucrezia Floriani (1847)
Piccinino (Le Piccinino, 1847)
Little Fadette (La Petite Fadette, 1849)
François the Foundling (François le Champi, 1850)
Mont Revèche, 1853
The Story of My Life (Histoire de ma vie, 1855)
The Fair Gentlemen of Bois-Doré (Ces beaux messieurs de Bois-Doré, 1858)
She and He (Elle et lui, 1859)
The Snowman (L'Homme de neige, 1859)
Marquis de Villemer (Le Marquis de Villemer, 1861)
Confession of a Young Girl (La Confession d’une jeune fille, 1865)
Pierre Tumbleweed (Pierre qui roule, 1870)
Nanon (Nanon, 1872)

Prose

The Commissioner (Le Commissionnaire, 1830, with Jules Sandot).
Rose and Blanche (1831, with Jules Sandeau)
The Girl from Albano (La Fille d'Albano, 1831)
Aldo le Rimeur (1833)
Conspiracy in 1537 (Une conspiration en 1537, 1833)
Intimate diary (Journal intime, 1834)
The Private Secretary (Le Secrétaire intime, 1834)
Marquise (La Marquise, 1834)
Garnier (1834)
Lavinia (1834)
André (1835)
Mattea (1835)
Simon (Simon, 1836)
The Last of Aldini (La Dernière Aldini, 1838)
Pauline from the Mississippi (Pauline. Les Mississipiens, 1840)
The Seven Strings of the Lyre (Les Sept Cordes de la lyre, 1840)
Mony Rubin (1842)
Georges de Guérin (1842)
Winter in Majorca (Un hiver à Majorque, 1842)
Dialogues on the poetry of the proletarians (1842, article)
The Younger Sister (La Sœur cadet, 1843)
Koroglou (Kouroglou, 1843)
Carl (1843)
Jan Zizka (1843)
Jeanne (1844)
Isidora (1846)
Teverino (1846)
Champagne Holidays (Les Noces de campagne, 1846)
Evenor and Lesippus. Love in the Golden Age (Evenor et Leucippe. Les Amours de l'Âge d'or, 1846)
Castle of Solitude (Le Château des Désertes, 1851)
The story of a true simpleton named Gribouille (Histoire du veritable Gribouille, 1851)
La Fauvette du docteur (1853)
Goddaughter (La Filleule, 1853)
The Country Musicians (Les Maîtres sonneurs, 1853)
Adriani (1854)
Around the table (Autour de la table, 1856)
Daniella (La Daniella, 1857)
The Devil in the Fields (Le Diable aux champs, 1857)
Rural walks (Promenades autour d’un village, 1857)
Jean de la Roche (1859)
Narcissus (1859)
The Green Ladies (Les Dames vertes, 1859)
Constance Verrier (1860)
Country Evenings (La Ville noire, 1861)
Valverde (1861)
The Germand Family (La Famille de Germandre, 1861)
Tamaris (Tamaris, 1862)
Mademoiselle La Quintinie (1863)
Antonia (1863)
Laura (Laura, 1865)
Monsieur Sylvestre (1866)
Flavia (Flavie, 1866)
The Last Love (Le Dernier Amour, 1867)
Cadio (Cadio, 1868)
Mademoiselle Merquem, 1868
The Beautiful Laurence (Le Beau Laurence, 1870)
Despite everything (Malgré tout, 1870)
Cesarine Dietrich (1871)
Diary of a Wartime Traveler (Journal d'un voyageur pendant la guerre, 1871)
France (Francia. Un bienfait n’est jamais perdu, 1872)
Grandmother's Tales (Contes d'une grand'mère vol. 1, 1873)
My Sister Jeanne (Ma sour Jeanne, 1874)
Flemish (Flamarande, 1875)
Two Brothers (Les Deux Frères, 1875)
Tower of Percemont (La Tour de Percemont, 1876)
Grandmother's Tales (Contes d'une grand'mère vol. 2, 1876)
Marianne (1876)
Rural legends (Légendes rustiques, 1877)

Notes

George Sand. The story of my life. Quoted from: A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 33
Hippolyte Shatiron (1798-1848). Subsequently the owner of the castle of Montgievre near Nohant. Was married to Emilie de Villeneuve
George Sand. The story of my life. Quoted from: A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 41
A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 41
Quote by: A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 44
George Sand. The story of my life. Quoted from: A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 50
George Sand, Histoire de ma vie, I, p. 1007
A. Maurois. Lelia, or the life of George Sand. - M.: Pravda, 1990. p. 61

George Sand (French: George Sand), real name - Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin (French: 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), the sister of Philip von Königsmarck, who was killed by order of the Elector of Hanover, while finding out the reasons for the death of her brother, 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 separated even before the birth of the child. Maria Aurora settled in Quedlinburg Abbey, creating a popular secular salon there.

Moritz of Saxony, who has early age There was an attraction to military affairs, my father raised me. At his insistence, Moritz traveled on foot through Europe in the harshest conditions: he carried military equipment with him and ate only soup and bread. At the age of thirteen, he already took part in the battle and received the rank of officer. Having begun his military career with his father, Moritz of Saxony served in Russia and France, distinguishing himself in the War of the Austrian Succession.

At the age of 18, Marie-Aurora married infantry captain Antoine de Horne. He received the position of commandant of the Alsatian town of Celeste. The couple arrived at de Orne's destination five months after the wedding; the next day, forty-four-year-old de Orne 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 a representative of the main tax farmer in Berry, Louis-Claude Dupin de Frankeuil, the former lover of her aunt Genevieve de Verrieres. The house of the Dupin couple was built on a grand scale; they spent a lot on charity and were interested in literature and music. Widowed in 1788, Marie-Aurora moved to Paris with her son Maurice.

In 1793, believing that life was safer in the provinces, Marie-Aurora bought the Nohant-Vic estate, located between Chateauroux and La Chatre. At first, Madame Dupin, who called herself a follower and, sympathized with the revolution. Her attitude to events changed when the terror began, she even signed up for 75 thousand livres to a fund to help emigrants. Because she belonged to the nobility, Madame Dupin was arrested in December 1793 and placed in the convent of the English Augustinians. She was released after the events of 9 Thermidor, and in October 1794 she left with her son for Nohant.

Maurice Dupin (1778-1808), despite his classical education and love of music, chose a military career. Having begun his service as a soldier during the Directory, he received his officer rank during 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 mayor's office of the 2nd arrondissement of Paris on June 5, 1804, when Sophie-Victoria was expecting their first common child - Maurice had an illegitimate son, Hippolyte, and 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 admit her son's unequal marriage for a long time; the birth of her 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 her son Auguste. On September 8 of the same year, the family left the country along 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: his horse ran into a pile of stones in the dark.

After the death of Aurora's father, the countess mother-in-law and the commoner daughter-in-law became close for a while. However, Madame Dupin soon decided that her mother could not give a decent upbringing to Noan’s heiress, and besides, she did not want to see Sophie-Victoria’s daughter Caroline in her house. After much hesitation, Aurora’s mother, not wanting to deprive her of her large inheritance, left her with her grandmother, moving with Caroline to Paris. Aurora took the separation hard: “My mother and grandmother tore my heart to shreds”.

Since men's clothing was more convenient for riding, walking and hunting, Aurora became accustomed to wearing it from childhood.

The girl saw her mother only occasionally, when she came to Paris with her grandmother. But Madame Dupin, trying to reduce Sophie-Victoria's influence to a minimum, tried to shorten these visits. Aurora decided to run away from her grandmother; her intention was soon discovered, 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 her daughter’s further education. 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 a friend or an adviser to her; subsequently Aurora learned to do without Sophie-Victoria, however, without breaking with her completely and maintaining purely external respect.

As a result of the second blow, Madame Dupin was paralyzed, and Deschartres transferred to the girl all rights to manage the estate. Deschartres, who was the mayor of Nohant, also acted as a pharmacist and surgeon, Aurora helped 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 had true Christianity, “which requires absolute equality and fraternity.”

She went on long horseback rides on her horse Colette: “We had to live and travel together for fourteen years”. Those around her reproached Aurora for her lifestyle; the freedom she enjoyed was unthinkable at that time for a person of her gender and age, but she did not pay attention to it. At La Chatre, Aurora was friends with her peers, the sons of her father’s friends: Duvernay, Fleury, Pape. An affair began with one of them, Stefan Azhasson de Gransany, a student who taught her anatomy. 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 agree to this marriage because of Stefan’s poverty.

Aurora's grandmother died on December 26, 1821, agreeing, to the surprise of her believing granddaughter, to receive unction and receive communion before her death. “I am convinced that I am not committing either meanness or lies by agreeing to a ritual that, in the hour of separation from loved ones, serves as a good example. May your heart be at peace, I know what I’m doing.”. The grandmother insisted that Aurora be present at her confession. With her last words, Madame Dupin addressed her granddaughter: "You're Losing Your Best Friend".

Aurora realized that a lonely woman without protection is doomed to face difficulties at every turn. Due to nervous overstrain, she fell ill: “she began to have stomach cramps, which refused to take food.” For a while, Sophie-Victoria left her daughter alone. In 1822, Aurora was visiting the family of her father's friend, Colonel Rethier du Plessis. Through the du Plessis spouses she met Casimir Dudevant (1795-1871), the illegitimate son of Baron Dudevant, owner of the Guillery estate in Gascony. Suffering from loneliness, she “fell in love with him as the personification of masculinity.” Casimir proposed not through his relatives, as was customary then, 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 of his father and his wife.

Despite her mother's doubts, in September 1822, Aurora and Casimir got married in Paris and left for Nohant. Casimir replaced Deschartres as 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, was involved in “local politics” and feasted with local nobles like him. Soon Aurora was overcome by attacks of melancholy, which irritated her husband, who did not understand what was going on. For the romantically inclined Aurora, who dreamed of “love in the spirit of Rousseau,” the physiological side of marriage turned out to be a shock. But at the same time, she remained attached to Casimir, an honest man and an excellent father. She was able to regain some peace of mind by communicating with her mentors at 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 existed only in her imagination. Disagreements between spouses have become more frequent.

At the end of 1825, the Dudevant couple traveled to the Pyrenees. There, Aurora met Aurélien de Sez, a fellow prosecutor at the Bordeaux court. The affair with de Sez was platonic - Aurora felt happy and at the same time reproached herself for changing her attitude towards her husband.

In her “Confession,” which she wrote to her husband on the advice of de Seza, Aurora explained in detail the reasons for her action, by saying that her feelings did not resonate with Casimir, that she changed her life for his sake, but he did not appreciate it. Returning to Nohant, Aurora maintained correspondence with de Sez. At the same time, she meets again with Stéphane Azhasson de Grandsan, and the youthful romance continues. On September 13, 1828, Aurora gives birth to a daughter, Solange (1828-1899); all Sand's biographers agree that the girl's father was Azhasson de Gransagne. Soon the Dudevant couple actually separated. Casimir began to drink and started several love affairs with Noan's servants.

To earn money, Aurora decided to write. She brought a novel (“Aimé”) to Paris, which she intended to show to de Keratry, 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 taken charge of Le Figaro. The novel “Aimé” did not make an impression on him, but he offered Madame Dudevant cooperation in the newspaper and introduced her 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 together with Sando: the novels “The Commissioner” (1830), “Rose and Blanche” (1831), which had great success among readers, were published under his signature, since Casimir Dudevant’s stepmother did not want to see her name on the covers of books. In “Rose and Blanche,” Aurora used her memories of the monastery, notes about her trip to the Pyrenees, and stories from her mother. Already on her own, Aurora began a new work, the novel “Indiana,” the theme of which was the contrast of a woman seeking ideal love with a sensual and vain man. Sando approved the novel, but refused to sign someone else's text. Aurora chose a male pseudonym: this became for her a symbol of deliverance from the slavish position to which modern society doomed women. Keeping the surname Sand, she added the name Georges.

Latouche believed that in Indiana Aurora copied the style, however, after reading the novel more carefully, he changed his mind. The success of Indiana, which was praised by Balzac and Gustave Planche, allowed her to sign a contract with the Revue de Deux Mondes and gain financial independence.

Sand's friendship with Marie Dorval, the famous actress of the romantic era, dates back to that time.

Sand was credited with having a love affair with Dorval, but these rumors are unconfirmed. In 1833, the novel “Lelia” was published, causing a scandal. The main character (in many respects this is a self-portrait), in pursuit of happiness, which gives other women, but not her, physical love, passes from lover to lover. Later, regretting that she had given herself away, George Sand corrected the novel, removing confessions of impotence and giving it greater moral and social overtones. Jules Janin in the Journal de Debats called the book “disgusting”; the journalist Capeau de Feuilde “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 Mondes and challenged Capo de Feuillide to a duel.

Sainte-Beuve, who admired Musset, wanted 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, having accidentally met him at a dinner hosted by the Revue de Deux Mondes, she changed her mind.

A correspondence began between them, and 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 her coldness: every day, no matter what, she devoted eight hours to 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 break, 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 first meeting, Sand and Musset resumed their relationship. However, after some time, tired of scenes of jealousy, a series of breaks and reconciliations, Sand left Musset. Alfred de Musset carried with him throughout his life the memory of this painful connection for both. In his “Confession of the Son of the Century” (1836), under the name of Brigitte Szpilman, he depicted ex-lover, in the epilogue expressing the hope that someday they will forgive each other. After Musset's death, Sand described their relationship in the novel She and He (1859), which caused negative reaction Alfred's brother Paul, who responded to her with the novel “He and She.”

In 1835, Georges Sand decided to get a divorce and turned for help to the famous lawyer Louis Michel (1797-1853). A Republican, a brilliant orator, the undisputed leader of all the liberals of the southern provinces, Michel played decisive role in the formation political views Sand.

In April 1835, he acted on the defense at the trial of the Lyon insurgents. Sand followed him to Paris to attend the meetings and take care of Michel, “who did not spare himself in the defense of the April accused.”

In January 1836, Sand filed a complaint against her husband in the La Chatre court. After hearing witnesses, the court entrusted the upbringing of the children to Mrs. Dudevant. Casimir Dudevant, fearing to lose his rent, did not defend himself and agreed to a sentence in absentia. However, soon disagreements arose between the former spouses during the division of property. Dudevant appealed the court's decision and outlined his claims against his wife in a special memorandum. Michel was Sand's lawyer in the divorce proceedings that resumed in May 1836. His eloquence impressed the judges; their opinions, however, were divided. But the next day, Casimir Dudevant went to peace: he had to raise his son and received the use of the Narbonne Hotel in Paris. Madame Dudevant was entrusted with the daughter, Nohan remained behind her.

Sand broke up with Michel in 1837 - he was married and had no intention of leaving his family.

Prone to mysticism, like George Sand, Franz Liszt introduced the writer to Lamennais. She immediately became an ardent supporter of his views and even went to some extent to cool relations with Sainte-Beuve, who criticized the abbot for inconsistency. For the newspaper Le Monde, founded by Lamennais, Sand offered to write for free, giving herself freedom to choose and cover topics. “Letters to Marcy,” correspondence in the form of a novel, included Sand’s actual messages to the poor dowry-less Elisa Tourangin. When Sand touched upon the equality of the sexes in love in The Sixth Letter, Lamennais was shocked, and upon learning that the next one would be devoted to “the role of passion in a woman’s life,” he stopped publishing.

For fifteen years, Sand supported Leroux, including financially. Under Leroux's influence, Sand wrote the novels Spyridion (co-authored with Leroux) and The Seven Strings of the Lyre. In 1848, after leaving the conservative publication Revue de Deux Mondes, she founded the newspaper Revue Independent with Louis Viardot and Leroux. Sand published her novels “Horace”, “Consuelo” and “Countess Rudolstadt” in it. She supported poets from the proletarian environment - Savignen Lapointe, Charles Mague, Charles Poncey and promoted their work (“Dialogues on the Poetry of the Proletarians”, 1842). In her new novels (“The Wandering Apprentice,” “The Miller from Anjibo”) the virtue of the proletarians was contrasted with the “selfishness of the noble rich.”

At the end of 1838, Sand began a relationship with, who by that time had separated from his fiancée Maria Wodzinska. 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 his children. Her expectations were not met: the rainy season began, Chopin began to have coughing attacks. 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 money, they spent the winter in Paris. Differences in character, political preferences, and jealousy for a long time could not prevent them from maintaining affection. Sand quickly realized that Chopin was dangerously ill and devotedly took care of his health. But no matter how his situation improved, Chopin’s character and illness did not allow him to remain in a peaceful state for a long time.

The relationship with Chopin was reflected in Sand's novel Lucrezia Floriani. Subsequently, she denied that she had based Lucretia on herself and Karol on Chopin. Chopin did not recognize or did not want to recognize himself in the image of a young man, a charming egoist, loved by Lucretia and who became the cause of her premature death. In 1846, a conflict arose between Chopin and Maurice, as a result of which the latter announced his desire to leave home.

Georges Sand died from complications of intestinal obstruction on June 8, 1876 at her Nohant estate. Upon learning of her death, Hugo wrote: “I mourn the dead, I salute the immortal!” She was buried in her estate in Noan. Proposals were put forward to transfer her ashes to the Pantheon (Paris).

Works of George Sand:

Indiana (1832)
Valentine (1832)
Melchior (Melhior, 1832)
Lelia (Lélia, 1833)
Cora (1833)
Jacques (1834)
Marquise (La Marquise, 1834)
Metella (1834)
Leone Leoni (1835)
Mauprat (Bernard Mauprat, or the Reformed Savage) (Mauprat, 1837)
The Masters of the Mosaic (The Mosaists) (Les Maîtres mozaïstes, 1838)
Orco (L’Orco, 1838)
Uskok (L'Uscoque, 1838)
Spiridion (1839)
The Wandering Apprentice (Pierre Huguenin; Countryman Villepre (Comrade of Circular Tours in France); Castle of Villepre) (Le Compagnon du tour de France, 1841)
Winter in Majorca (Un hiver à Majorque, 1842)
Horace (Horace, 1842)
Consuelo (1843)
Countess Rudolstadt (La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, 1843)
The Miller of Angibault (Le Meunier d’Angibault, 1845)
Devil's swamp (Devil's puddle; Damned swamp) (La Mare au diable, 1846)
The Sin of Monsieur Antoine (Le Péché de M. Antoine, 1847)
Lucrezia Floriani (1847)
Piccinino (Le Piccinino, 1847)
François the Foundling (Foundling, or Hidden Love; Adopted) (François le Champi, 1850)
Monsieur Rousset (excerpt from the novel) (Monsieur Rousset, 1851)
Mont Revèche (Mont Revèche 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)
The Snowman (L'Homme de neige, 1859)
Marquis de Villemer (Le Marquis de Villemer, 1861)
Confession of a Young Girl (La Confession d’une jeune fille, 1865)
The Last Love (Le Dernier Amour, 1867)
Pierre Tumbleweed. Handsome Laurence (Pierre qui roule. Le Beau Laurence, 1870)
France (Francia. Un bienfait n’est jamais perdu, 1872)
Nanon (Nanon, 1872)
Percemont Castle (La Tour de Percemont, 1876).

Turgenev and Sainte-Beuve admired her novels, and Prosper Merimee and Frederic Chopin were crazy about her. The high society of Paris eagerly awaited each of her books, afraid to admit it to themselves.

But the writer with a male name was always and first of all a woman. Perhaps more than in other European countries, her works were read, reveled and inspired by them in Russia. “George Sand is, undoubtedly, the first poetic glory modern world“,” wrote V. G. Belinsky in 1842. “George Sand is one of our saints,” said I. S. Turgenev in the year of her death. She was born on July 1, 1804, a month after the wedding of her parents - the adjutant of a Napoleonic general and an actress. Her father, Maurice Dupin, belonged to a noble family, had a successful military career and served as Murat's adjutant. Moreover, through a series of extramarital affairs, the writer’s father is the grandson of the Chief Marshal of France Maurice of Saxony, who, in turn, was illegitimate son Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Augustus the Strong. This means that Amandine Aurora Lucille Dupin (full and real name of Georges Sand) was of royal blood.
The mother of the writer Sophie-Victoria Delaborde is a commoner. In her youth, she worked as a dancer in a boulevard theater, then became the mistress of a rich man. When she married Dupin, she was over 30, and had an illegitimate daughter, Caroline, in her arms. Aurora felt this social difference between her parents since childhood.

Aurora’s grandmother, the daughter of Moritz of Saxony, the illegitimate son of the Polish king, did not want to recognize this unequal marriage and the granddaughter born from it for almost four years. She softened only when the baby was accidentally placed on her lap. Suddenly she found out beautiful eyes her son and was conquered...

Unfortunately, the family idyll did not last long. When the girl was four years old, her father died after falling from an unbroken horse. And his widow, leaving her little daughter in the care of her grandmother, went to Paris. Aurora loved her mother and grandmother equally, and the gap between them caused her her first serious pain. Portrait of Grandmother George Sand.

The grandmother made her granddaughter an excellent musician and instilled in her a love of literature. Aurora Dupin

At the age of fourteen, Aurora was sent to a boarding school in an Augustinian monastery, where girls from the most noble families of France were educated. All the teachers were English, and for the rest of her life Aurora retained the habit of drinking tea, speaking and even thinking in English.

She returned home to Nohant as an educated, deeply religious girl, and also a rich heiress. Outwardly, Aurora looked like a Creole: dark-skinned, with large black eyes and thick hair. Large teeth and a slightly protruding chin did not spoil her face at all.

“As a child,” she said, “I promised to be very beautiful. I didn’t keep my promise, perhaps because at that age when beauty blossoms, I already spent my nights reading and writing.”

Contemporaries depict her as a woman of short stature, thick build, with a gloomy expression on her face, an absent-minded look, yellow skin and premature wrinkles on the neck...

Unlike most of her peers, Aurora enjoyed almost unlimited freedom. She went hunting and rode horseback in a man's suit, learned from her teacher the secrets of managing the estate, and freely met with young people. Old Madame Dupin died when her granddaughter was only seventeen.

At the age of 16, due to her grandmother’s illness, Aurora received all rights to manage the estate. Now it was possible to completely ignore secular society, and even then it was quite shocked by the freedom that the young girl allowed herself.

A year later, with her friends in Paris, the young owner of Noana met the artillery lieutenant Casimir Dudevant. Being ten years older than her, he was not particularly handsome, but was considered what is called a “kind fellow.” Aurora fell in love with him as the embodiment of masculinity. In September 1822, Aurore Dupin de Frankeneuil became Baroness Dudevant. Her husband had a very simplistic attitude towards women, especially since he was used to dealing with maids and milliners. The feelings of his beloved mattered little to him. So for the young baroness, already six months after the wedding, nothing mattered except the unborn child. At nineteen she gave birth to a son, Maurice.

And having recovered from childbirth, I realized with amazement that I was unlikely to find the calm and peace of mind in marriage that I had so counted on. Her husband did not ignore any maid in the house. And one day Kazimir hit his wife... The marriage of two people suffered a serious crack.

There is evidence that it was Aurora’s studies in literature (due to a constant lack of funds, she took up translations and began writing a novel, which was later thrown into the fire) that contributed to family quarrels. Casimir's stepmother, having learned that Aurora intended to publish her works, was furious and insisted that the name Dudevant never appear on any of the books. And she really didn’t show up...

At one of the picnics, Aurora met a fragile, aristocratic appearance, the blond Jules Sandot, who fell madly in love with a young woman. “Baby” Sando completely personified her dreams of Prince Charming - a child and a lover at the same time.

The province turned a blind eye to the relationship between Nohan's owner and the young Parisian. But the fact that Baroness Dudevant rushed after her lover to the capital was unheard of! According to one version, her husband gave her several hundred francs from her own fortune for the trip - an amount that was barely enough for the first days of her stay in Paris.

After a series of mutual infidelities, the spouses came to an agreement: Aurora left for Paris, leaving her estate to her husband; she was entitled to only a small annuity. At the same time, the appearance of marriage was maintained. From that moment on, the woman herself determined her life. And, given that secular society turned a blind eye to adultery, the status of a married woman did not so much interfere with her freedom, but rather, on the contrary, provide protection.

In the scandalous novel "Lelia", the heroine, disappointed in love, changes lovers one after another, but cannot receive physical satisfaction. She leads a life of “self-sacrifice and self-denial,” as she agrees to give pleasure that she cannot experience herself.

“Letters to Marcy” also caused a scandal, where Sand reflected on gender equality in love union, about divorce and the possibility of happiness for a girl without marriage, about the role of passion in a woman’s life. The Le Monde newspaper, where these letters were first published, withdrew them from publication. Such frank talk about female sensuality and equality was unacceptable.

In the first years of her life in Paris, Aurora shocked the public by ostentatiously wearing a men's suit. In fact, it was not so much a sign of protest as a forced measure that allowed her to save on clothes. And since Aurora valued independence above all else, she could not follow the well-known path and set out in search of a rich patron. What remained was literature.

In order to get rid of the costs of women's clothes, Aurora began to wear a men's suit... She washed and ironed the clothes herself, and she took her daughter, little Solange, who was born, as they said, from one of her lovers, for a walk. The husband, when visiting Paris, would certainly visit Aurora and appear with her at the theater. In the summer she returned to Nohant for several months, mainly to see her beloved son...

Aurora brought the novel “Aimé,” written in Nohant, to the capital, but the manuscript was rejected by the publishers. Then she managed to penetrate the journalistic world of Paris in order to earn some pennies. A little later she dragged Jules along with her - their articles were signed like this: J. Sandot. The novel “Rose and Blanche” was also published under the same name. Auguste Charpentier. Portrait of George Sand

After another trip to Nohant, Aurora returned with a new manuscript - it was “Indiana”. Shocked, Jules (his beloved clearly surpassed him in talent!) refused to sign the work, to the creation of which he had not the slightest connection. This is how Aurora’s pseudonym was born: Georges Sand.

The novel was a dizzying success. And its author already had the next one ready - “Valentine” - and several stories. The connection with Sando continued, although it was clearly painful for both. First of all, the writer, who began to be annoyed by the constantly tired, whining, sickly Jules. And then, at one of the dinner parties, she met the famous actress Marie Dorval and her friend Alfred de Vigny, who opened the world of bohemian circles in Paris to yesterday’s provincial girl. She was noticed. Chateaubriand predicted that she would become the “Byron of France.”

In the personal life of George Sand, everything was not easy. She was courted for about two years by Prosper Merimee, a writer of great talent and no less cynicism. Subsequently, he claimed that Aurora’s lack of modesty killed all desire in him. After he left, she cried - from grief, disgust, hopelessness.

And then a man came into her life, equal to her in talent: Alfred de Musset - a child spoiled by women and fame, a man fed up with champagne, opium and prostitutes.
Alfred de Musset (French: Alfred de Musset), December 11, 1810

“When I saw her for the first time,” he later recalled, “she was in a woman’s dress, and not in an elegant men’s suit, with which she so often disgraced herself. And she also behaved with truly feminine grace, inherited from her noble grandmother. Traces of youth still lay on her cheeks, her magnificent eyes sparkled brightly, and this shine under the shadow of dark thick hair produced a truly enchanting impression, striking me to the very heart. The stamp of infinity of thoughts lay on his forehead. She spoke little, but firmly.”

Musset recalled that he seemed to be reborn under the influence of this woman, that neither before nor after her had he ever experienced such an enthusiastic state, such outbursts of love and happiness...

First, the lovers went on a romantic trip to Italy. Aurora's hours remained the same: eight hours of work per day. Day or night, she would certainly cover twenty sheets of paper with her large handwriting. Her exhausted lover was becoming rude. “Dreamer, fool, nun” - these are his most innocent attacks against his friend.

The weeks spent in Venice became a nightmare for George Sand. The illness confined her to bed, but Musset was clearly burdened by it. He left the hotel for a long time in search of entertainment in the city. When she felt better and got up, Musset suddenly fell ill. Doctors suspected brain inflammation or typhus. Aurora fussed around the patient day and night, without undressing and almost without touching food.

There is a legend about Sand's Venetian lover, the doctor Pagelo, who treated her first for fever, then for dysentery. Desire and illness do not get along well together, and one fine day Georges heard from her “boy”: “I was wrong, I ask you for forgiveness, but I don’t love you.” She would have left at that very second, but her illness did not allow it. In addition, Pagelo had to simultaneously treat de Musset for something like inflammation of the brain: seizures accompanied by hallucinations and delusions. A picture arose in his sick brain: his mistress (note, already rejected by him) was giving herself to his doctor right at the head of the patient’s bed. And this fairy tale went for a walk throughout Europe, finally acquiring the status of an immutable fact. The most interesting thing is that de Musset’s ill-fated seizure began in a Venetian brothel, from where he, beaten and bloodied, was brought to Georges’ hotel. Even if there is even a shred of truth in the legend of Pagello, one thing can be said: quits. History, however, turned out to be more favorable to the poet than to the writer.
Be that as it may, de Musset left for Paris, and Sand remained in Venice with Pagello. It is reliably known that from Italy Georges brought with her the novel “Jacques”, wonderful impressions of Venice and... a doctor in love with her.
For what? And to return de Musset! At least for a while: quit yourself, and not be abandoned. Very similar to a typical male desire. The trap “worked” flawlessly - the “little boy” returned. And three months later, Sand ran away from him to Nohant, arranging it with such dexterity that Alfred understood everything too late.

But in any case, he owes it to George Sand that he wrote the brilliant play “You Can’t Joke with Love,” which has not left the French stage to this day. A brilliant fruit of the love of geniuses!
After some time, Aurora decided to divorce her husband in order to gain the long-awaited freedom. Friends introduced her to lawyer Louis Michel. For the first time in her life, George Sand was dealing with a more strong-willed person than herself. Curiosity soon grew into passion.

Louis Michel.

But when Michel achieved a favorable outcome in the divorce proceedings, the relationship between the lovers began to rapidly cool down. Georges had to beg for every date... Finally, her patience ran out.

Six months later, Georges Sand met Honoré de Balzac for the first time. The great novelist made, in his words, a “pilgrimage to Nohant,” having previously sought permission from the mistress and muse of the estate. She received him in the most friendly manner.

Finally, Sand's dream came true: she found an interlocutor - just an interlocutor, and not a lover or even a friend! - to match yourself. The most interesting thing was that their beliefs were diametrically opposed. She was a republican, he was a monarchist. She preached the emancipation of women and marriage for love, he preached the restriction of the freedom of a married woman and marriage of convenience... Nevertheless, they had a great time in conversations and, although they did not share each other’s beliefs, respected them. What a celebration of the soul for Aurora! It is curious that after personal acquaintance with Georges Sand and Balzac, he wrote one of his best novels, Beatrice, or Forced Love.

...At the end of the 1820s, when Aurora Dudevant had not yet thought about literary activity, she was in the grip of the sentimental tradition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and women's novels. She spoke about “sensitive hearts” and considered love to be the highest human activity and happiness.

Then, in the 1830s, she was already drawn to the psychological novel, which Stendhal was vigorously preaching at that time. Hundreds of works were written by her over forty-five years of continuous work - novels, stories, journalistic and critical articles, memories…

In her work, George Sand gave the main place women's fate. Indiana, Valentina, Lelia, Lavinia, Consuelo, the heroines of “Leone Leoni” or “Andre” - all of them are better and superior to their spouses or lovers, despite the fact that they are humiliated and insulted and suffer from the selfishness, cowardice or villainy of men.

World recognition came to her relatively early. Letters flew from all over Europe... Russian, Italian, Polish, Hungarian writers, public figures thanked us and expressed their delight.

Almost inhuman intensity creative work required extreme mental and physical stress. After a short sleep - a desk, household chores, activities with children, looking at manuscripts sent from all over the country with requests to read, correct, print. There was always not enough money: it was necessary to help everyone - friends, acquaintances and strangers, aspiring writers, peasants of the area.

“You ask if I work,” she wrote to one of her correspondents. “Of course, yes, since I still exist in the world.” Luigi Kalamata. Portrait of Maurice Dudevant (son)

Solange Dudevant (daughter)

Secretaries sometimes helped with housekeeping and correspondence, and teachers were hired for children and grandchildren, but excessive work caused insomnia, for which neither cigarettes nor medications helped. And there were any number of personal troubles, from oral and printed slander to the tactless interference in her household affairs by her daughter Solange, who had turned into a beautiful woman and an inventive intriguer.

Sand can well be called a “femme fatale.” As a rule, it was she who initiated the love affair, which was atypical for the 19th century. His own love experiences were the material from which George Sand's books grew.

But George Sand's most famous lover was, of course, Frederic Chopin. Sand lived with the Polish composer for almost nine years. The writer supported Chopin financially and was actually the head of their unofficial family. However, this relationship was ambiguous and painful - for both Chopin and Sand. Sand described her vision of this love affair in the novel Lucrezia Floriani.

...Many books have been written about George Sand’s last great love. The subject of her passion and adoration was the young Polish pianist, the brilliant composer Fryderyk Chopin.
Frederic Chopin. Portrait of an unknown artist, 1831

He was only seven years younger than her, but Aurora treated him with almost maternal tenderness. Chopin showed himself not to be very experienced in love affairs, although the “child” was already twenty-eight years old.
E. Delacroix. George Sand and Frederic Chopin

And the “aging” seductress is thirty-four! Their relationship lasted seven years. During the “Chopin” period, she wrote one of her best works - the novel “Consuelo”, imbued with a great passion for music and art.

For all his angelic appearance, blue-eyed Fryderyk had by no means an easy character. George Sand had to maneuver between his suspiciousness, the filial jealousy of Maurice and the evil whims of Solange. The latter went so far as to openly flirt with Chopin, to the great delight of provincial gossips, and deftly pit Fryderyk against his frivolous brother.

Parisian journalist Jules Dufour wrote: “What reasonable person would claim that the love of two statues, two monuments can last longer than a day? They will be bored to death on a common pedestal. And in bed, monuments are simply funny..."
Honoré Balzac, when asked what he thought of this sensational novel, replied: “Madame Sand’s previous failures in love are contained in her unshakable faith in happy love. She believes in her and waits like a woman. And he pursues it like a man..."

George Sand's expectations did not materialize: the rainy season began, and Chopin began to have coughing attacks. 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 money, they spent the winter in Paris. Differences in character, political preferences, and jealousy for a long time could not prevent them from maintaining affection. Sand quickly realized that Chopin was dangerously ill and devotedly took care of his health. But no matter how his situation improved, Chopin’s character and illness did not allow him to remain in a peaceful state for a long time.

This is a man of extraordinary sensitivity: the slightest touch to him is a wound, the slightest noise is a clap of thunder; a person who recognizes conversation only face to face, who has gone into some mysterious life and only occasionally manifests himself in some uncontrollable antics, charming and funny. Heinrich Heine

If any woman could inspire complete confidence in him, it was me, and he never understood this... I know that many people blame me - some because I exhausted him with the unbridledness of my feelings, others because that I drive him into despair with my foolishness. It seems to me that you know what's going on. And he, he complains to me that I’m killing him with refusals, whereas I’m sure that I would kill him if I did otherwise... From a letter from George Sand to Albert Grzimala, a friend of Chopin.

The relationship with Chopin was reflected in Sand's novel Lucrezia Floriani. Subsequently, she denied that she had based Lucretia on herself and Karol on Chopin. Chopin did not recognize or did not want to recognize himself in the image of a young man, a charming egoist, loved by Lucretia and who became the cause of her premature death. In 1846, a conflict arose between Chopin and Maurice, as a result of which the latter announced his desire to leave home. Sand took her son’s side:

This could not have happened, it should not have happened, Chopin could not stand my intervention in all this, although it was necessary and legal. He lowered his head and said that I stopped loving him. What blasphemy after eight years of maternal dedication! But the poor offended heart was not aware of its madness...

And yet, if George Sand did not cure Chopin, she at least strengthened his health with her care. And most importantly: she always encouraged his creativity. If it weren’t for her tender hand on his shoulder, would he have been the Chopin that the whole world recognizes? And would he have lived that long?
During the “Chopin” period, she wrote one of her best novels, Consuelo, imbued with a huge, high passion for music and art. This work is immortal, like the music of the composer, whose image inspired the novelist. Truly, the paths of inspiration are inscrutable!

Chopin left in November 1846, at first he and Georges exchanged letters. Chopin's daughter Sand pushed him to the final break. Solange, having quarreled with her mother, came to Paris and turned Chopin against her. Solange, who married a famous sculptor, persistently turned Chopin against her mother, attributing to her countless lovers.

...she hates her mother, slanderes her, denigrates her most sacred motives, desecrates her home with terrible speeches! You like to listen to all this and maybe even believe it. I will not enter into such a fight, it terrifies me. I prefer to see you in a hostile camp than to defend myself from an enemy who was fed by my breasts and my milk. George Sand to Frederic Chopin.

The last time Sand and Chopin met by chance was in March 1848 in the living room of mutual friends:

I thought that a few months of separation would heal the wound and restore peace to friendship and justice to memories... I shook his cold, trembling hand. I wanted to talk to him, but he disappeared. Now I could tell him, in turn, that he stopped loving me.

The writer, full of remorse, approached her former lover and extended her hand to him. beautiful face Chopin turned pale. He recoiled and left the hall without saying a word. A year and a half later, Fryderyk died...

Love relationships are a sealed secret. From the outside it is impossible to understand whose fault the union is failing. You can only analyze what is on the surface.
Many of Chopin's friends and acquaintances, speaking about his affair with George Sand, often portrayed him as a sufferer, to whom this union brought nothing but torment.

But there are other memories indicating that the accusations against George Sand are greatly exaggerated. The years spent with her turned out to be the most fruitful in his life. During his short life (Chopin lived only 39 years), he wrote two concertos and many piano pieces - sonatas, nocturnes, scherzos, etudes, fantasies, impromptu songs...
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, after the breakup, George Sand was still energetic, sociable and efficient, and Chopin seemed to have lost his air; he could no longer compose music, he only performed it.
But even these observations do not give reason to blame George Sand for everything. Wasn’t it this woman, accustomed to noisy success and worship, who spent entire nights at Chopin’s bedside when he was ill?

While their union fed her imagination and gave a powerful impetus to her creativity, she was inexhaustible in her devotion to him and was not at all upset that she gave more than she received.
Perhaps neither he nor she imagined how the break would turn out for them. George Sand had no idea that she would so easily endure separation from Chopin, and Chopin did not realize that she would not be able to live and work without George Sand. He suffered, tossed about and did not believe that she would never return to him.

When George Sand found out about his illness, she was eager to go to him, but her friends did not allow her, fearing that strong anxiety would worsen his condition.
And Chopin, a few days before his death, told his friend Franchom: “She said that she would not let me die without her, that I would die in her arms...”

It is reliably known: after him, George Sand did not love anyone. True, there were other attachments in her life. For fifteen years, from forty-five to sixty, she lived quietly and peacefully with Alexander Manso, who was thirteen years younger than her and also (again!) in poor health.

George Sand was the first to give sensuality a political meaning. She was one of the first to openly declare that a woman can claim not only the role of wife and mother. First of all, the writer sought equality of the sexes in love.

The union of a man and a woman became the support point from which women’s struggle for their rights began. The affirmation of a woman as an equally active subject of love relationships (and not just a trophy to be conquered) is the main thing that Sand did.

With age, Mrs. Sand turned from a “lark” into a “night owl” and did not get up until four o’clock in the afternoon. Close friends have left forever, ex-lovers, even a beloved grandson. Alexander Manso also passed away. For five months, Georges did not leave the dying man for a single day - he died in her arms... Manso was replaced by the artist Charles Marshall, whom Georges called “my fat child.”

Further? Then there was a tender, but completely innocent friendship with Gustav Flaubert. Patronage without a hint of condescension to Alexandre Dumas the son. She still continued to write novels, but out of habit rather than necessity.

A writer who has worn all her life male name, died at seventy-two. This happened on July 8, 1876. Telling one of the young writers about her life, she asked if George Sand was accused of treachery in her presence, to answer like this:

“If George Sand lost the right to be tried as a woman, she retained the right to be tried as a man, and in love she was the most honest of you. She never cheated, she never had two lovers at the same time. Her only fault was that in those days when art was in first place, she always preferred the company of people of art and put men's morality above women's. I have experience in love, alas, very complete! If I could start my life over again, I would be chaste!”

Well, the great Aurora knew herself better than anyone else, so there is nothing to add to her monologue.
Monument to Georges Sand in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris (left), monument to Chopin and Georges Sand at the Singapore Botanic Gardens

Perhaps more than in other European countries, her works were read, reveled and inspired by them in Russia. “George Sand is, undoubtedly, the first poetic glory of the modern world,” wrote V. G. Belinsky in 1842. “George Sand is one of our saints,” said I. S. Turgenev in the year of her death.