George Sand (real name Aurore Lucie Dupin) was a French Romantic novelist and feminist, noted for her numerous love affairs with such prominent figures as the writers Prosper Merimée (1833) and Alfred de Musset (1833–34), the composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin (1838-47) and her last love, the engraver Alexandre Manceau (1849–65).
Aurora Dupin was born in Paris on July 1, 1804. She was left in the care of her grandmother, Marie-Aurore de Saxe, Madame Dupin de Francueil, and mother after her father died.
Aurora spent much of her childhood by her grandmother's estate, Nohant, in the French province of Berry. She later used the setting in many of her novels.
Seeking to escape conflict with her grandmother and mother, Aurora entered the Convent of the Dames Augustines Anglaises, Paris, at 14, spending two years there before re-joining her grandmother in Nohant.
Aurora Dupin was less than 5ft tall and dark haired. She was notorious for wearing trousers, smoking cigars and taking a man's name. Her refusal to act like a "real woman" made her popular among the artists and intelligentsia of her time and helped ignite the woman's revolution.
Aurora Dupin never wrote in the daytime. She did all her writing between 10.00pm and 5.00am.
A liaison with the writer and then-lover Jules Sandeau heralded Dupin's literary debut. They began writing some articles under the name "J. Sand" then published together the novel Rose et Blanche (1831) under the same pseudonym,
Dupin consequently adopted, for her first independent novel, Indiana (1832), the pen name that made her famous – George Sand. The story of an unhappy wife who struggles to free herself from the imprisonment of marriage, it made her an overnight celebrity.
As well as her novels, Sand authored literary criticism and political texts, in which she sided with the poor and working class as well as women's rights.
Sand was passionate in her endorsement of radical socialism and an ardent republican. When the 1848 Revolution began, Sand started her own newspaper, which was published in a workers' co-operative.
On December 10, 1822, at age 19, George Sand married François Casimir Dudevant (1795 – 1871), the illegitimate son of Baron Jean-François Dudevant, a French military officer, and his mistress, Augustine Soulé.
George Sand and Dudevant had two children: Maurice (1823–1889) and Solange (1828–1899). The latter married the artist Auguste Clésinger in 1847.
In early 1831 Sand left her husband and entered upon a four- or five-year period of "romantic rebellion." In 1835 she was legally separated from Dudevant.
Sand's reputation came into question when she began sporting men's clothing in public. She adopted the full works: shirt, trousers, jacket, tie, top hat. Sand justified this by claiming the male apparel was far sturdier, more comfortable and less expensive than the typical dress of a noblewoman at the time. Probably the only reason she got away with it was because she was such a famous writer.
Also scandalous to many of her upper class contemporaries was Sand's smoking tobacco in public and her rowdy sense of humor.
In 1837 George Sand was introduced by Franz Liszt to Frédéric Chopin, who was six years younger than her. They embarked on a relationship, which lasted a decade.
Un hiver à Majorque (A Winter in Majorca) is an autobiographical travel novel that describes the period that Sand and Chopin spent on that island in 1838-9.
Their relationship continued for a decade but they separated in 1847 for various reasons. When Chopin died of tuberculosis two years later, George Sand, was notable by her absence from his funeral.
A cordon-bleu cook, Sand was particularly partial to chavignol, (a soft goats' milk cheese). She was also fond of the sheep's trotters served at Magny's in Paris.
George Sand ate her breakfast from the same bowl as her cat Minou.
In the middle and late part of the 19th century, there was a fashion for literary puppet theater in France. George Sand opened a puppet theater in Nohant in 1847, showing plays written by her son, Maurice.
George Sand died at Nohant, near Châteauroux, in France's Indre département on June 8, 1876, at the age of 71 and was buried in the private graveyard behind the chapel at Nohant-Vic.
Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
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| Sand, as photographed in 1864 by Nadar |
EARLY LIFE
Aurora Dupin was born in Paris on July 1, 1804. She was left in the care of her grandmother, Marie-Aurore de Saxe, Madame Dupin de Francueil, and mother after her father died.
Aurora spent much of her childhood by her grandmother's estate, Nohant, in the French province of Berry. She later used the setting in many of her novels.
Seeking to escape conflict with her grandmother and mother, Aurora entered the Convent of the Dames Augustines Anglaises, Paris, at 14, spending two years there before re-joining her grandmother in Nohant.
CAREER
Aurora Dupin was less than 5ft tall and dark haired. She was notorious for wearing trousers, smoking cigars and taking a man's name. Her refusal to act like a "real woman" made her popular among the artists and intelligentsia of her time and helped ignite the woman's revolution.
Aurora Dupin never wrote in the daytime. She did all her writing between 10.00pm and 5.00am.
A liaison with the writer and then-lover Jules Sandeau heralded Dupin's literary debut. They began writing some articles under the name "J. Sand" then published together the novel Rose et Blanche (1831) under the same pseudonym,
Dupin consequently adopted, for her first independent novel, Indiana (1832), the pen name that made her famous – George Sand. The story of an unhappy wife who struggles to free herself from the imprisonment of marriage, it made her an overnight celebrity.
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| George Sand by Charles Louis Gratia (c. 1835) |
As well as her novels, Sand authored literary criticism and political texts, in which she sided with the poor and working class as well as women's rights.
Sand was passionate in her endorsement of radical socialism and an ardent republican. When the 1848 Revolution began, Sand started her own newspaper, which was published in a workers' co-operative.
RELATIONSHIPS AND BEHAVIOR
On December 10, 1822, at age 19, George Sand married François Casimir Dudevant (1795 – 1871), the illegitimate son of Baron Jean-François Dudevant, a French military officer, and his mistress, Augustine Soulé.
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| Casimir Dudevant, Sand's husband, in the 1860s |
George Sand and Dudevant had two children: Maurice (1823–1889) and Solange (1828–1899). The latter married the artist Auguste Clésinger in 1847.
In early 1831 Sand left her husband and entered upon a four- or five-year period of "romantic rebellion." In 1835 she was legally separated from Dudevant.
Sand's reputation came into question when she began sporting men's clothing in public. She adopted the full works: shirt, trousers, jacket, tie, top hat. Sand justified this by claiming the male apparel was far sturdier, more comfortable and less expensive than the typical dress of a noblewoman at the time. Probably the only reason she got away with it was because she was such a famous writer.
Also scandalous to many of her upper class contemporaries was Sand's smoking tobacco in public and her rowdy sense of humor.
In 1837 George Sand was introduced by Franz Liszt to Frédéric Chopin, who was six years younger than her. They embarked on a relationship, which lasted a decade.
Un hiver à Majorque (A Winter in Majorca) is an autobiographical travel novel that describes the period that Sand and Chopin spent on that island in 1838-9.
Their relationship continued for a decade but they separated in 1847 for various reasons. When Chopin died of tuberculosis two years later, George Sand, was notable by her absence from his funeral.
PERSONAL LIFE
A cordon-bleu cook, Sand was particularly partial to chavignol, (a soft goats' milk cheese). She was also fond of the sheep's trotters served at Magny's in Paris.
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| Sand sewing, from Portrait of Frédéric Chopin and George Sand (1838), Delacroix |
George Sand ate her breakfast from the same bowl as her cat Minou.
In the middle and late part of the 19th century, there was a fashion for literary puppet theater in France. George Sand opened a puppet theater in Nohant in 1847, showing plays written by her son, Maurice.
DEATH
George Sand died at Nohant, near Châteauroux, in France's Indre département on June 8, 1876, at the age of 71 and was buried in the private graveyard behind the chapel at Nohant-Vic.
Source Food For Thought by Ed Pearce
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