George Sand's love life was colorful, and she was always surrounded by a group of suitors. Her affair with the great writer Musset and her more than ten years of cohabitation with the music master Chopin have become one of the most beautiful stories in France in the 19th century, and she left behind a series of excellent love letters that reveal the secrets of her inner emotional world.
Chopin once composed music for George Sand: Waltz No. 6 in D flat major "Puppy" Op. 64-1. The Puppy Waltz is a song that describes George Sand's puppy chasing its tail. The piece is also called "Minute" because the piece is very short.
George Sand was a democrat. From a certain perspective, she could be called a pioneer of women's liberation. Especially in the relationship between the sexes, she advocated women's dominant position and believed that women should not be the object of men's lust. Women also have their own emotions and desires, which should be actively satisfied.
George Sand is recognized by her contemporaries as one of the greatest writers. Hugo once said: "She has a unique status in our time. In particular, other great people are men, but she is a woman."
During the Second Empire, she had close contacts with the royal family and was very important to her. The Paris Commune revolution was incomprehensible, but he opposed the brutal suppression of Communard members. George Sand died on June 8, 1876. George Sand was one of the first European writers to reflect the lives of workers and farmers. Her works are delicate in description, clear and fluent in text, euphemistic and friendly in style, and have strong appeal.
In early 1831, she took her two children, a son and a daughter, to settle in Paris. She soon became a celebrity in the Parisian cultural circle, often surrounded by many followers. She began to defy tradition and advocate freedom. new life. Smoking cigars, drinking spirits, riding horses, wearing trousers, and dressed as a man, she circulates among many followers all day long. Even the masculine pseudonym George Sand came from one of her young lovers.
When someone criticized this short (1.54 meters tall), slutty woman that she should not have four lovers at the same time, this woman who was not bound by secular conventions actually replied that a woman with such rich emotions like her , having four lovers at the same time is not too much. She once publicly declared through her works: "Sooner or later, marriage will be abolished. A more humane relationship will replace the marriage relationship to reproduce offspring. A man and a woman can have children without restricting each other's freedom." ”
When men in the far East still had three wives and four concubines, hugging each other, on the beautiful land of France, a little woman with a height of 1.54 actually made a voice that she wanted to implement polyandry. ! Polyandry? ! Not to mention that time, even today, such a woman is still a strange woman.
You must know that the background of her remarks was in France in the 1920s and 1930s, when "feminism" had not yet become a well-known term. At that time, people generally believed that a free, uninhibited, and energetic man had a great life; while a woman with such a life was a dirty woman. What's more, people's subconscious concept is that women should be men's accessories!
In his manor in the town of Noan, hundreds of kilometers away from Paris, this romantic writer with outstanding literary talents and versatile talents received a large number of famous figures in the history of literature and art: the poet Musset, the composer and... Pianists Chopin and Liszt, writers Flaubert, Mérimée, Turgenev, Dumas and Balzac, painter Delacroix... and so on. Even Napoleon's younger brother, Prince Jerome Bonaparte. Many of them became part of her vast army of lovers. The "artist's home" of George Sand Manor in Noan Town, which is full of guests and friends all day long, is truly a place where "there are great scholars who talk and laugh, and there are no idle people who come and go".
George Sand, this beautiful woman with a superior life, pursuit of pleasure and rich emotions, failed to find love, tenderness and satisfaction in marriage, but she used rich and passionate love to make her life known. , and left beautiful words for future generations. At the same time, she also used her pen and actions to be deeply involved in the politics of the time and actively participated in solving social problems.
Of course, this is something that many male cultural celebrities of the same era failed to achieve.
George Sand is full of contradictions. For example, by observing her daily life of "I love, therefore I am", it seems impossible to understand her enthusiasm and investment in politics and to believe that she already has quite strong socialist ideas. It is said that George Sand was a very reserved person who never spoke in public and was only good at expressing through pen. This seemed incompatible with her colorful and open private life legend.
She pursues a comfortable life. In her former residence in Noan Town, a device that could supply hot water 24 hours a day was installed. In order to allow the servants to quickly reach her room, she installed five bells representing different positions in the kitchen where the servants worked. She even had a private theater, a stage with more than 150 pieces of scenery with chutes. Corresponding to these luxuries, the decoration of her apartment was simple and monotonous, lacking the luxury and pomp that was prevalent among wealthy families at that time.
Also, she seems to have already achieved great popularity. However, it was only when she was named "George Sonnen" by the French government in 2004 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of this great female writer. Through an organized series of workshops, performances and readings, people suddenly discovered her full value. Before that, she was just a small star in the starry sky of French literary history. Between the time she started "writing for survival" and later "wrote to express herself", her writing showed amazing consistency and continuity. Why is this? How should people in the 21st century correctly understand this 19th century female writer in a correct, rather than isolated or one-sided way?
In today's French cultural world, there are two other women who also remind people of George Sand. They are the sexy actress Brigitte Bardot and the novelist Fran?ois in the 1950s and 1960s. Vaz Sagan. These two women, who are almost the same age, were once symbols of sexual liberation in French society and women's pursuit of a new social status.
In order to survive in Paris, she began to write diligently and wrote a series of romantic novels with beautiful writing, rich content and charming plots, thus establishing her position in the history of French literature. . From her early works, we can see the complex influence of Rousseau, Chateaubriand and Byron on her.
In 1832, she published two novels for the first time under the male pen name "George Sand", namely "Andiana" and "Valentine". Especially shortly after the July Revolution, she published her first novel "Antiana" (1832), which made her famous in one fell swoop. Both novels tell the stories of women frustrated in love. This was the period when she had the most creative energy in her life. From 1833 to 1836, she successively published "Lelia", "Jacques" and "Mopra".
While living in Paris, George Sand was keen on disguising himself as a man and attending various public events, especially attending rallies where women were prohibited from attending. This was a shocking move in France in the 19th century, especially one that was not tolerated by the upper class. It is precisely because of this that George Sand never married a count or duke again. These unusual actions soon made George Sand a famous figure in French literary circles.
After 1836, George Sand got acquainted with some bourgeois liberals and utopian socialists, began to pay attention to social injustice and wrote "social problem novels". His most accomplished novels, poems and literary works, "Consu Ailuo" (1843) and "The Grinder of Anji Castle" were created during this period.
In 1848, Louis Philippe stepped down and established the Provisional Communist Party and the Government. George Sand actively participated in political activities, wrote "Letter to the People", and even served as the official secretary of the Provisional Government. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Interior prepare communiqués. In June, when workers rioted, George Sand was frightened by the momentum of the workers' riots and returned to Nohant. From then on, he stopped writing novels about "social issues" and stopped getting involved in politics. He began to write on pastoral themes full of tranquility and innocence. , discover the noble and beautiful side of people's hearts.
In fact, as early as 1846, George Sand had already begun to be interested in pastoral life. This year she published the famous pastoral novel "The Magic Marsh". The whole book does not have complicated plots and lengthy theoretical explanations, but is full of poetry from beginning to end. This novel, poetry and literary work set the tone for the writer's late creation.
In his later years, George Sand's creations were influenced by the French Enlightenment thinker Rousseau, and he pursued a return to simplicity and nature. Her representative works of fiction, poetry and literature during this period include the novels "The Outcast Fran?ois" (1848), "Little Fadette" (1849) and "My Life" (1855). Both novels describe love full of romantic sentiment, and the shadow of Rousseau's "New Heloise" can be seen in them.
George Sand's late creations also have a notable feature, which is the description of peasant life. This has no precedent in the history of French literature, which is deeply rooted in the aristocratic tradition. Although the life of farmers is idealized by female writers in the pastoral rural background, it still has epoch-making significance. George Sand used plain French mixed with patois in some of his novels, giving him a strong local flavor.
During this period, George Sand also published "He and She" (1859), recalling his early love affair with Musset.