Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant (July 1, 1804 – June 8, 1876) was a French novelist and early feminist (prior to the invention of the word), writing under the pen name of George Sand.

She was born in Paris. In 1822, she married Baron Casimir Dudevant, and they had two children, Maurice (b. 1823) and Solange (b. 1828). In 1835, taking the children with her, she left the house of their father.

Her first novel, "Rose Et Blanche" (1831) was written in collaboration with Jules Sandeau, from whom she took her pen-name.

After parting from her husband she made less and less a secret of preferring men's clothes to women's. She continued to dress as a woman for social occasions, but steadily left that behind. This was exceptional for the 19th century, where social codes—especially in the upper class—were of the highest importance. As a consequence she lost a good deal of the privileges attached to being a Baroness (while it was also a part of the mores of these days that women of higher classes could live physically separated from their husbands without losing any privilege, if not showing any blatant irregularity to the outer world).

George Sand, portrayed by Eugène Delacroix

She was linked romantically with Alfred de Musset (summer 1833 - March 1834), Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) whom she had met in Paris in 1831.

At Mallorca one can still visit the (then abandoned) Carthusian monastery of Valldemossa, where she spent the winter of 1838–39 with Frédéric Chopin and her children. [1] This trip to Mallorca was desribed by her in Un hiver à Majorque ("A winter in Mallorca"), published in 1855.

She left Chopin shortly before he died from tuberculosis.

Her successful novels: "Indiana" (1832), "Lélia" (1833), "Mauprat" (1837), "Le Compagnon du Tour de France" (1840), "Consuelo" (1842–1843), "Le Meunier d'Angibault" (1845).

Drawing from her childhood experiences of the countryside, she wrote the rural novels "La Mare du Diable" (1846), "François le Champi" (1847–1848), "La Petite Fadette" (1849), "Les Beaux Messieurs Bois-Dore".

Further theatre pieces and autobiographical pieces: "Histoire de ma vie" (1855), "Elle et Lui" (1859) (about her affair with Musset), "Journal Intime" (posth. 1926), "Correspondance".

She was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, France.

George Sand died at Nohant, near Chateauroux, in the Indre département of France on June 8, 1876 at the age of 72 and was buried in the grounds of her home at Nohant. In 2004, controversial plans were suggested to move her remains to the Pantheon in Paris.

See also

• Gustave Flaubert, with whom she was befriended, leading to an intimate correspondence.

References

"Correspondance" (letters) by George Sand and her contemporaries (see "Writings by George Sand" link below - some of these letters are available in English translation); Autobiographic writings as mentioned above (several of these also available from Gutenberg website).

In addition to these writings:

• In French:
  • Free eBook of Caro, Elme - George Sand at Project Gutenberg
  • Free eBook of Roy, Albert le - George Sand et ses amis at Project Gutenberg
  • "3ième édition du Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de la Langue Française".

External links

• Writings by George Sand author record at Project Gutenberg