Biography of George Sand | Page 3

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George Sand Some Aspects of Her Life and Writings
by Rene Doumic Translated by Alys Hallard

First published in 1910. This volume is dedicated to Madame L.
Landouzy with gratitude and affection
This book is not intended as a study of George Sand. It is merely a
series of chapters touching on various aspects of her life and writings.
My work will not be lost if the perusal of these pages should inspire
one of the historians of our literature with the idea of devoting to the
great novelist, to her genius and her influence, a work of this kind.
CONTENTS

I AURORE DUPIN II BARONNE DUDEVANT III A FEMINIST OF
1832 IV THE ROMANTIC ESCAPADE V THE FRIEND OF
MICHEL (DE BOURGES) VI A CASE OF MATERNAL
AFFECTION IN LOVE VII THE HUMANITARIAN DREAM VIII
1848 IX THE `BONNE DAME' OF NOHANT X THE GENIUS OF
THE WRITER
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GEORGE SAND (From a photogravure by N. Desmardyl, after a
Painting by A. Charpentier) GEORGE SAND (From an engraving by L.
Calamatia) JULES SANDEAU (From an etching by M. Desboutins)
ALFRED DE MUSSET (From a lithograph) FACSIMILE OF AN
AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF GEORGE SAND (Written from Venice
to Hipp. Chatiron) GEORGE SAND (From a lithograph) F. CHOPIN
(From a photograph) PIERRE LEROUX (From a lithograph by A.
Collette) GEORGE SAND (From a lithograph)

GEORGE SAND
I
AURORE DUPIN
PSYCHOLOGY OF A DAUGHTER OF ROUSSEAU
In the whole of French literary history, there is, perhaps, no subject of
such inexhaustible and modern interest as that of George Sand. Of what
use is literary history? It is not only a kind of museum, in which a few
masterpieces are preserved for the pleasure of beholders. It is this
certainly, but it is still more than this. Fine books are, before anything
else, living works. They not only have lived, but they continue to live.
They live within us, underneath those ideas which form our conscience
and those sentiments which inspire our actions. There is nothing of
greater importance for any society than to make an inventory of the
ideas and the sentiments which are composing its moral atmosphere
every instant that it exists. For every individual this work is the very

condition of his dignity. The question is, should we have these ideas
and these sentiments, if, in the times before us, there had not been some
exceptional individuals who seized them, as it were, in the air and made
them viable and durable? These exceptional individuals were capable
of thinking more vigorously, of feeling more deeply, and of expressing
themselves more forcibly than we are. They bequeathed these ideas and
sentiments to us. Literary history is, then, above and beyond all things,
the perpetual examination of the conscience of humanity.
There is no need for me to repeat what every one knows, the fact that
our epoch is extremely complex, agitated and disturbed. In the midst of
this labyrinth in which we are feeling our way with such difficulty, who
does not look back regretfully to the days when life was more simple,
when it was possible to walk towards a goal, mysterious and unknown
though it might be, by straight paths and royal routes?
George Sand wrote for nearly half a century. For fifty times three
hundred and sixty-five days, she never let a day pass by without
covering more pages than other writers in a month. Her first books
shocked people, her early opinions were greeted with storms. From that
time forth she rushed head-long into everything new, she welcomed
every chimera and passed it on to us with more force and passion in it.