Vision In The Novels Of George Sand

The author offers the first study of vision in the works of George Sand. He argues that, rather than rejecting reality in favour of the ideal, he integrates physical observation with internal forms of seeing such as the imagination and visionary insights.

A thematic study of some forty novels by George Sand. Well-suited for the scholar and undergraduate reader. "...a solid study. ...this work has its place in an extensive collection on an author who has captured much scholarly attention over the past 20 years." --Choice.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY USA TODAY • Elizabeth Berg has written a lush historical novel based on the sensuous Parisian life of the nineteenth-century writer George Sand—which is perfect for readers of Nancy Horan and Elizabeth Gilbert. At the beginning of this powerful novel, we meet Aurore Dupin as she is leaving her estranged husband, a loveless marriage, and her family’s estate in the French countryside to start a new life in Paris. There, she gives herself a new name—George Sand—and pursues her dream of becoming a writer, embracing an unconventional and even scandalous lifestyle. Paris in the nineteenth century comes vividly alive, illuminated by the story of the loves, passions, and fierce struggles of a woman who defied the confines of society. Sand’s many lovers and friends include Frédéric Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Marie Dorval, and Alfred de Musset. As Sand welcomes fame and friendship, she fights to overcome heartbreak and prejudice, failure and loss. Though considered the most gifted genius of her time, she works to reconcile the pain of her childhood, of disturbing relationships with her mother and daughter, and of her intimacies with women and men. Will the life she longs for always be just out of reach—a dream? Brilliantly written in luminous prose, and with remarkable insights into the heart and mind of a literary force, The Dream Lover tells the unforgettable story of a courageous, irresistible woman. Praise for The Dream Lover “Exquisitely captivating . . . Sand’s story is so timely and modern in an era when gender and sexual roles are upended daily.”—USA Today “Fantastic . . . a provocative and dazzling portrait . . . Berg tells a terrific story, while simultaneously exploring sexuality, art, and the difficult personal choices women artists in particular made—then and now—in order to succeed. . . . The book, imagistic and perfectly paced, full of dialogue that clips along, is a reader’s dream.”—The Boston Globe “Absorbing . . . an armchair traveler’s delight . . . Berg rolls out the wonders of nineteenth-century Paris in cinematic bursts that capture its light, its street life, its people and sounds. . . . The result is an illuminating portrait of a magnificent woman whose story is enriched by the delicate brush strokes of Berg’s colorful imagination.”—Chicago Tribune “There is authority and confidence in the storytelling that makes the pages fly.”—The New York Times “Berg weaves an enchanting novel about the real life of George Sand.”—Us Weekly “Lavishly described . . . Berg uses her own skill as a writer to graphically present the reader with a clear picture of a brilliant, yet flawed woman.”—Fredericksburg Free Lance–Star “[A] beautiful, imaginative re-creation . . . Berg’s years-long immersion in the writings of and about Sand has resulted in a remarkable channeling of Sand’s voice.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Berg offers vivid, sensual detail and a sensitive portrayal of the yearning and vulnerability behind Sand’s bold persona.”—Publishers Weekly “A thoroughly pleasant escape . . . [Sand is] intoxicating, beautiful, gifted, desirous, unconventional and heartbroken.”—Kirkus Reviews

In Gender in the Fiction of George Sand, Françoise Massardier-Kenney argues that the major nineteenth-century French writer George Sand articulates in her novels a complex and extremely modern conception of gender, questioning prevalent patriarchal modes of discourse and redefining masculinity and femininity. Through the analysis of a representative sample of Sand's works (Indiana, Jacques, La dernière Aldini, Jeanne, Horace, Valv'dre, Melle la Quintinie, Gabriel, Lucrezia Floriana, and Nanon), Massardier-Kenney uncovers the themes and strategies used by Sand to challenge essentializing and negative representations of women. Gender in the Fiction of George Sand demonstrates the centrality of Sand's pioneering exploration of the construction of gender. This original study will be of interest to scholars of nineteenth-century French literature and culture, women's literature, and gender studies.

This collection of essays highlights the importance of water imagery in the work of the renowned nineteenth-century French female author George Sand. It provides a complex picture of the polyvalent presence of water in Sand’s work that encompasses life and death imagery, ecocriticism, fluid kinship, homosocial ties, and artistic creativity. Drawing on Gaston Bachelard’s premise that the substance of water carries deep meaning, the articles in this volume explore the element of water and its symbolism in a selection of George Sand’s writings and art work, from her most famous novels (Indiana, Lélia, and Consuelo) to her later works, short stories, plays, and autobiographical writing (Teverino, Jean de la Roche, Les Maîtres sonneurs, La Reine Coax, L’Homme de neige, Le Drac, Un Hiver à Majorque, Marianne), and dendrite paintings.

The Encyclopedia of the Novel is the first reference book that focuses on the development of the novel throughout the world. Entries on individual writers assess the place of that writer within the development of the novel form, explaining why and in exactly what ways that writer is importnant. Similarly, an entry on an individual novel discusses the importance of that novel not only form, analyzing the particular innovations that novel has introduced and the ways in which it has influenced the subsequent course of the genre. A wide range of topic entries explore the history, criticism, theory, production, dissemination and reception of the novel. A very important component of the Encyclopedia of the Novel is its long surveys of development of the novel in various regions of the world.

Explores the experience and impact of the 1848 French Revolution through the writings of nine European intellectuals, including Marx and Flaubert.

Sandian heroines swirl around men in their sororal and sartorial disguises like moths around candle flames. However, as Disguise in George Sand's Novels illustrates, the disguise is not an instrument to seduce men but rather to assert the heroines' true selves. The portrayal of female and androgynous protagonists in Rose et Blanche (1831), Indiana (1832), Lélia (1833/39), Gabriel (1839), Consuelo (1842), and La Comtesse de Rudolstadt (1844) is a metaphor to demonstrate the continuity of identities before and after the disguise as George Sand stipulates in her theory of the ménechme. Disguise in George Sand's Novels explores the maturation process of Romantic and artistically inclined heroines and highlights the spiritual meaning of the disguise as a rite of passage for the birth of a new type of protagonist: spiritual, self-assertive, and dedicated to erasing gender inequality and helping the poor.