"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness." ̴Georges Sand ̴ (George Sand Quotes (Author of La mare au diable).
French novelist Georges Sand (nom de plume) was born in Paris on July 1, 1804, as Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin. For much of her childhood, her grandmother raises her in Nohant, (Berry), and she will use the setting in many of her novels. Stuck in an unhappy marriage, she ends by divorcing her husband. She considered herself to be neither female nor male, but a person who thinks. A free, bohemian and passionate woman, romance novelist par excellence. Socialist, a true liberal, often misunderstood, she possessed a free indomitable spirit. “The world will know and understand me someday. But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women.” ₁
In a world where women were supposed to behave and be obedient and “follow,” she never abided by the limitations the world tried (without much success I might add…) to impose on her. “You can bind my body, tie my hands, govern my actions: you are the strongest, and society adds to your power; but with my will, sir, you can do nothing.”₂
I discovered her through a couple of her novels (mandatory reading at school) La Mare au diable (1846), La Petite Fadette (1849) but became more interested in her after reading Le Péché de Monsieur Antoine (1847) in which she sympathizes with the difficult life of the farmer and the worker.
After her divorce (in which she maintains custody of her daughter while her ex-husband takes custody of their son … figures !!) she becomes the mistress of Alfred de Musset, ("How glorious it is – and also how painful – to be an exception.) a poet.
Romantic and desperate they embody the exaltation love brings forth. But that too will not last. She moves on taking as a lover de Musset’s young doctor. And yet … they reconcile, break up, separate …. Documented love letters throughout their relationship are the witness to a truly passionate love affair, one that really never ends.
In 1836, she met Fréderic Chopin whose eye she does not steal right away. Remember the woman who is not a man but dresses like a man, smokes cigars like a man, talks like a man this allows her to enter where no woman has entered before … 😉) really did not possess anything that would have ignited a spark in the aristocratic, mild-mannered, a bit sickly but highly poetic Chopin. They become friends, and it will take a while (until 1838) before they actually become lovers. (She is a passionate woman enjoying the physical pleasures where he does not …. She states at some point that living with him is living like a virgin …) ₃. After a three month disastrous stay in Mallorca, she insists on him staying at her estate in Nohant five months of the year to improve his health.
They stayed together nine years, and it is the separation –which the cause is thought to be Sand’s own daughter with whom Chopin might have fallen in love -- and Chopin’s ill health that eventually led him to his death. With continuous coughing, he only composed a few pages of music during the last two years of his life. He died two years later, on October 17, 1849, in Paris.
Sand continued to write while sharing the rest of her life with Alexandre Manceau, an engraver, for 15 years until he too, passed. Her last years were spent with her grandchildren at her estate in Nohant. She died June 8, 1876, and is buried in the family cemetery on the grounds of the château. A truly remarkable woman, way ahead of her time.
As a little girl I so looked upon this woman whom I saw as adventurous and fearless. She truly was something!! I can only hope that you enjoyed it too.
Come back for more on other interesting, different and really cool people.
In the meantime, have a happy week. Namaste.
There is so much more and some truly good websites to find out more about her and her extraordinary life. Read on @
George Sand Quotes (Author of La mare au diable). https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1464.George_Sand
https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ro-Sc/Sand-George.html#ixzz5br8fqmo0
http://www.histoire-amour.com/sand-musset.html
₁https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/author-quotes/quotes-george-sand-life-love-work/
₂https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/author-quotes/quotes-george-sand-life-love-work/
₃ https://www.wqxr.org/story/291926-frederic-chopin-and-george-sand-a-collaborative-union/
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