History of foreign literature XIX - early XX centuries. Aurora Dupin (Georges Sand): biography and work of a French writer Departure from romantic egocentrism

In one of winter evenings we gathered for the city. Dinner, at first cheerful, like any feast that unites true friends, was overshadowed at the end by the story of one doctor, who in the morning ascertained a violent death. One of the local farmers, whom we all considered an honest and sane person, killed his wife in a fit of jealousy. After the impatient questions that always arise in tragic incidents, after explanations and interpretations, as usual, discussions began on the details of the case, and I was surprised to hear how it aroused disputes between people who in many other cases agreed in views, feelings and principles.

One said that the killer acted in full consciousness, being sure that he was right; another argued that a mild-tempered person could only be dealt with in this way under the influence of a momentary insanity. The third shrugged his shoulders, finding it base to kill a woman, no matter how guilty she was, while his interlocutor considered it low to leave her alive after an obvious infidelity. I will not pass on to you all the contradictory theories that arose and were discussed about the eternally insoluble question: the moral right of a husband to a criminal wife from the point of view of law, society, religion and philosophy. All this was discussed with fervour, and, not seeing eye to eye, began the argument again. Someone remarked, laughing, that honor would not prevent him from killing even such a wife, about whom he did not care at all, and made the following original remark:

Make a law, he said, that would oblige a deceived husband to cut off in public the head of his criminal wife, and I bet that every one of you, who now speaks of himself implacable, will rebel against such a law.

One of us did not take part in the dispute. It was Mr. Sylvester, a very poor old man, kind, courteous, with a sensitive heart, an optimist, a modest neighbor, at whom we laughed a little, but whom we all loved for his good-natured character. This old man was married and had a beautiful daughter. His wife died, having squandered a huge fortune; daughter did even worse. Trying in vain to wrest her from her depravity, Monsieur Sylvester, being fifty years old, provided her with his surviving last means to deprive her of a pretext for vile speculation, but she neglected this sacrifice, which he considered necessary to make her for his own honor. He went to Switzerland, where he lived under the name of Sylvester for ten years, completely forgotten by those who knew him in France. He was later found near Paris, in a country house, where he lived remarkably modestly, spending three hundred francs of his annual income, the fruits of his labor and savings abroad. Finally, he was persuaded to spend the winter with Mr. and Mrs. ***, who especially loved and respected him, but he became so passionately attached to solitude that he returned to it as soon as the buds appeared on the trees. He was an ardent hermit and was known as an atheist, but in fact he was a very religious person who created a religion for himself of his own accord and adhered to the philosophy that is spread a little everywhere. In a word, despite the attention that his family showed him, the old man was not distinguished by a particularly high and brilliant mind, but he was noble and sympathetic, with serious, sensible and firm views. He was compelled to express his own opinion, after having refused for a long time under the pretext of incompetence in this matter, he admitted that he had been married twice and both times unhappy in family life. He did not say anything more about himself, but, wanting to get rid of the curious, he said the following:

Of course, adultery is a crime because it breaks an oath. I find this crime equally serious for both sexes, but both for one and for the other in some case, which I will not tell you, there is no way to avoid it. Let me be a casuist about strict morality and call adultery only adultery, not caused by the one who is its victim, and premeditated by the one who commits it. In this case, the unfaithful spouse deserves punishment, but what punishment will you apply when the one who believes it, unfortunately, is himself a responsible person. There must be a different solution for both one and the other side.

Which? shouted from all sides. - You are very inventive if you found it!

Maybe I haven't found it yet, - Mr. Sylvester replied modestly, - but I have been looking for it for a long time.

Tell me what do you think is the best?

I always wished and tried to find the punishment that would act on morality.

What is this separation?

Contempt?

Even less.

Hatred?

Everyone looked at each other; some laughed, others were perplexed.

I seem mad or stupid to you,” Mr. Sylvester remarked calmly. “Well, friendship used as a punishment can affect the morals of those who can repent… It's too long to explain: it's already ten o'clock, and I don't want to disturb my masters. I ask permission to leave.

He did as he said, and there was no way to keep him. No one paid much attention to his words. We thought that he got out of difficulties by saying a paradox, or, like an ancient sphinx, wanting to disguise his impotence, asked us a riddle that he himself did not understand. I understood Sylvester's riddle later. It is very simple, and I will even say that it is extremely simple and possible, but meanwhile, in order to explain it, he had to go into details that seemed instructive and interesting to me. A month later, I wrote down what he told me in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. ***. I do not know how I earned his trust and got the opportunity to be among his closest listeners. Perhaps I became especially sympathetic to him as a result of my desire, without a preconceived goal, to know his opinion. Perhaps he felt the need to pour out his soul and hand over into some faithful hands those seeds of experience and charity that he had acquired through the hardships of his life. But be that as it may, and whatever in itself this confession may be, that is all that I could recall from the narration heard over the course of long hours. This is not a novel, but rather a report of analyzed events, presented patiently and conscientiously. From a literary point of view, it is uninteresting, not poetic, and affects only the moral and philosophical side of the reader. I ask his forgiveness for not treating him this time to a more scientific and refined meal. The narrator, whose goal is not to show his talent, but to express his thought, is like a botanist who brings not rare plants from a winter walk, but grass that he was lucky to find. This blade of grass delights neither the eye, nor the smell, nor the taste, but meanwhile, one who loves nature appreciates it and will find material for study in it. M. Sylvester's story may seem dull and devoid of embellishment, but nevertheless his listeners liked it for its frankness and simplicity; I even know that sometimes he seemed dramatic and beautiful to me. Listening to him, I always remembered the wonderful definition of Renan, who said that the word is "a simple garment of thought and all its elegance lies in complete harmony with the idea that can be expressed." In the case of art, "everything should serve beauty, but what is deliberately used for decoration is bad."

I think that Mr. Sylvester was filled with this truth, because he managed to capture our attention during his simple story. Unfortunately, I am not a stenographer and I convey his words as best I can, trying to carefully follow the thoughts and actions, and therefore I irretrievably lose their peculiarity and originality.

He began in a rather casual tone, almost lively, for, despite the blows of fate, his character remained cheerful. Perhaps he did not expect to tell us his story in detail and thought to bypass those facts that he considered unnecessary for proof. As his story progressed, he began to think differently, or else, carried away by truthfulness and recollection, he decided not to cross out or soften anything.

George Sand

George Sand made a great contribution to the development of French literature. She led the women's emancipation movement.

The real name of the writer is Amandine Aurora Lyon Dupin. She was born in the family of the famous Marshal Moritz of Saxony. Aurora lost her father early and remained dependent on her eccentric mother and grandmother. The atmosphere in the family was far from romantic: the grandmother often made scandals, reproached Aurora's mother for being of low birth and behaving rather obscenely before marriage. The girl invariably took the side of her mother, tried to support her in everything.

Aurora's family life began when she was 18 years old. Her husband was a young artillery lieutenant Casimir Dudevan, the illegitimate son of a baron, deprived of his fortune since childhood. Nevertheless, the groom's father still allocated a certain amount for the wedding. Aurora had an estate that she inherited from her grandmother.

The discrepancy between the financial situation of the spouses quickly led to their complete break. From this marriage, Aurora had two children: a son, who was named Moritz in honor of the eminent marshal, and a daughter, Solange. Aurora made every effort to make family life more enjoyable, despite financial difficulties: she sewed clothes for children, cooked and took care of the household herself. Unfortunately, this was not enough, then she began to translate, and a little later she began to write a novel. As a result of dissatisfaction with her work, Aurora threw the first creation into the fire.

In the end, the young woman was forced to move to Paris with her young daughter. Here she settled in an old house in the attic.

In order to reduce spending on women's outfits, Aurora began to wear men's suits, the convenience of which also consisted in the fact that they could be worn in any weather. The young woman put on a long gray coat, a round felt hat, high boots and set off to wander around the city, absolutely happy and content with her freedom. Sometimes her husband came to visit her, then they went to the theater or dined at some expensive restaurant. In the summer, Aurora and her daughter took vacations and lived for several months in Nohant. These months were filled with excruciating pain in Aurora's heart, because it was here that her beloved son lived.

Meetings with her mother-in-law did not bring much joy to Aurora. A wayward and demanding woman has always been against literary creativity daughter-in-law, moreover, she forbade the writer to publish her books under the name Dudevant, and Aurora took the pseudonym George Sand. Already in the spring of 1832, her first novel, Indiana, was published, which was enthusiastically received not only by readers, but also by critics.

Among her contemporaries, George Sand was known as an immoral person, she was considered a lesbian, at least bisexual, and it was repeatedly noted that the writer did not fully realize her maternal instinct, which was expressed in the search for men much younger than her. George Sand had a sharp manner. Her extraordinary intellect and passionate thirst for life invariably attracted men.

It is generally accepted that George Sand's first love was the young writer Jules Sando. Nevertheless, according to the writer herself, she was in love long before meeting Sando. George Sand had pure platonic feelings for this man and used to sit up long after midnight over fiery messages to her lover. This mysterious man, whose name George Sand never revealed, did not want to be content with the Platonic "marriage of souls", so in the end the romantically inclined Aurora was forced to agree that he seek happiness with another woman.

George Sand never had sex unless she was sure she was in love with her partner. According to some lovers, she was frigid, but in reality she belonged to those women who become passionate only under the influence of feelings. Sand could also be passionate and sensual. For example, as the writer herself admitted, she adored the married, ugly Michel de Bourget, who made her "tremble with desire."

Aurora's third lover was Alfred de Musset, whom she dreamed of meeting for a long time. When Musset was at the height of his fame, George Sand had already released four novels that were very popular. Along with universal recognition, money also came to the writer.

From the first minute of meeting Alfred, George Sand was forced to admit that he looks great. He was 6 years younger than her, with a slim build and wavy blond hair. Musset could skillfully carry on small talk, decorating it with elegant turns.

Regarding the appearance of George Sand herself, her contemporaries do not have an unequivocal opinion. Some considered it disgusting, others - nondescript. However, Musset described George Sand in a completely different way: “When I saw her for the first time, she was in a woman's dress, and not in an elegant man's suit, with which she so often disfigured herself. And she also behaved with a truly feminine grace, inherited from her noble grandmother. Traces of youth still refreshed her cheeks, her magnificent eyes shone brightly, and this brilliance under the shadow of thick dark hair made a truly enchanting impression, striking me to the very heart. On the forehead lay the seal of infinity thoughts. She spoke little, but firmly.

After meeting George Sand, Musset often said that love for this woman turned his whole being upside down. Before meeting her, he had never experienced such an enthusiastic state, that euphoria that you feel in your youth.

Alfred de Musset did not immediately conquer Aurora. During the first date, she liked his graceful manner, his attitude towards her as a high society lady, despite the fact that Aurora eked out an almost beggarly existence at that time. George Sand was also flattered that famous poet asks her to evaluate his works.

The difference in characters did not appear immediately, and the lovers were happy at first. However, soon all the shortcomings of Musset came out. George Sand could not stand his constant hallucinations when he allegedly communicated with spirits. During quarrels, he accused his mistress of coldness and said that she should live in a monastery. Such reproaches especially hurt George Sand, who always believed in noble and sublime love.

A joint trip to Venice showed all the internal contradictions of their relationship. Musset abandoned creativity, and in order to provide the sophisticated lover with the comfort he needed, George Sand actively began to write. According to her confessions, Musset continued his dissolute life, as a result of which his health was greatly shaken. Doctors suspected he had brain inflammation or typhus. George Sand selflessly looked after her lover, ate almost nothing and spent sleepless nights near the patient. At this time, the young doctor Pagello appeared in her life. After the crisis had passed, the doctor did not leave the patient for a long time. One evening he received an envelope from the hands of George Sand. When asked who it was intended for, she wrote "stupid Pagello."

The contents of the envelope stunned the doctor. It contained a sheet with a whole list of questions: “Do you only want me or do you love me? Do you know what a spiritual desire is, which no caress can lull? etc. As Pagello later said, it was a witch's spell.

After recovering, Musset demanded an explanation, to which George Sand replied that from now on she could consider herself free, since before the illness he behaved in an obscene manner and himself spoke of a break. After that, George Sand and Pagello moved to Paris. The doctor felt like a stranger in this city, so he soon returned to his native Venice. Musset went to Baden, and George Sand went to heal her wounds at her estate.

The poet sent her passionate messages with the following content: “Oh, it’s scary to die, it’s scary to love like that. What a desire, my Georges, what a desire for you! I'm dying. Goodbye!". Nevertheless, the worst did not happen, and the poet who threatened to go to the forefathers returned to Paris, where the former lovers reunited again. And immediately followed by a series of mutual accusations and injections of jealousy. In the end, George Sand decided that it was time to stop the senseless war, and the lovers parted forever. Now they could completely free themselves from the heavy burden of memories by transferring them to a sheet of paper.

It is impossible not to mention the name of the great composer Chopin, who occupied a central place in the life of George Sand for 10 years. At first, the writer avoided his courtship in every possible way, since she believed that the brilliant composer was created only for music and passion and would soon get bored in the arms of such a frank lady as she was, but she was mistaken: George Sand was no longer able to extinguish the fire of desire that had arisen.

And that's how they met. One evening Chopin found himself at a reception with a certain Countess K. By the end of the reception, when most of the guests had already left, Chopin sat down at the piano and began to improvise. Soon he felt a look on him that seemed to be trying to penetrate into his soul. The composer raised his eyes and saw a simply dressed lady, from whom the scent of violets wafted. As he was getting ready to go home, a woman approached him and began to lavish praise on his brilliant performance. Chopin was pleased to hear the praises of such a famous writer, but he remained calm in his heart: outwardly he did not like her.

However, it would not have been George Sand if she had not managed to captivate him. It should be said that the writer never stood on ceremony with numerous lovers and was perfectly able to manage them. No one could resist her, not even her ill-wishers. There is no better proof of this than Chopin's love. His pure soul reached out to a woman who wore men's suits, smoked cigars and spoke freely.

The lovers settled in Mallorca, but history repeated itself: during the heyday of the novel, Musset fell ill, the same happened with Chopin. For the freedom-loving George Sand, who despised any weakness, life became unbearable, and she began to think about breaking up. However, it was quite difficult to do this, and even George Sand, experienced in such matters, began to doubt herself. Then she wrote a novel in which she is easily guessed, exalted to the status of a queen, and Chopin, endowed with all possible weaknesses. The end was inevitable, but the composer still hoped for a miracle.

About a year after the breakup, the former lovers met again. The repentant George Sand approached Chopin and held out her hand to him. Turning pale and without saying a word, he left the room. On this, of course, the list of novels of the writer did not end. Sand's lovers included the engraver Alexandre Damien Manso and the painter Charles Marshal.

Until now, the statement that the writer had intercourse with women seems doubtful. Letters to actress Marie Dorval have survived to this day, which clearly have an erotic connotation, but it should be borne in mind that at that time such an appeal to a friend was considered quite normal. In general, we can say that George Sand is an extraordinary, multifaceted personality, and no matter how many lovers she had, the main thing is that she left behind a wonderful literary heritage.

SAND GEORGES

Real name - Amandine Lucy Aurora Dupin

(born in 1804 - died in 1876)

The reputation of George Sand was scandalous. She wore men's clothing, smoked cigars, and spoke in a low male voice. Her pseudonym itself was male. It is believed that this is how she fought for the freedom of women. She was not beautiful and considered herself a freak, proving that she did not have that grace which, as is well known, sometimes replaces beauty. Contemporaries described her as a woman of short stature, dense build, with a gloomy expression, large eyes, absent-minded gaze, yellow skin, premature wrinkles on the neck. Only hands they recognized as unconditionally beautiful.

V. Efroimson, who devoted many years to the search for the biological prerequisites for giftedness, noted the paradoxical fact that prominent women often have a clearly defined male characterology. These are Elizabeth I Tudor, Christina of Sweden, and the writer George Sand. The researcher puts forward as a possible explanation for giftedness the presence of a hormonal imbalance of the adrenal cortex and increased secretion of androgens (and not only in women themselves, but also in their mothers).

V. Efroimson notes that if the excess of androgens in the mother falls on the critical phases of intrauterine development nervous system, and above all the brain, then there is a "reorientation" of the psyche in the male direction. Such prenatal hormonal exposure leads to the fact that girls grow up to be "tomboys", pugnacious, preferring boyish games to dolls.

Finally, he hypothesizes that George Sand's masculine behavior and tendencies - like those of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor - were the result of Morris syndrome, a type of pseudo-hermaphroditism. This anomaly is very rare - about 1:65,000 among women. Pseudo-hermaphroditism, writes V. Efroimson, “... could give rise to severe mental trauma, but the emotional stability of such patients, their love of life, diverse activity, energy, physical and mental, are simply amazing. For example, in terms of physical strength, speed, dexterity, they are so much superior to physiologically normal girls and women that girls and women with Morris syndrome are subject to exclusion from women's sports. With the rarity of the syndrome, it is found in almost 1% of outstanding athletes, that is, 600 times more often than one would expect if it did not stimulate exceptional physical and mental development. An analysis of many facts allowed V. Efroimson to suggest that the talented and brilliant George Sand was a representative of this rare type of woman.

George Sand was a contemporary and friend of both Dumas, Franz Liszt, Gustave Flaubert and Honore de Balzac. Her favor was sought by Alfred de Musset, Prosper Merimee, Frederic Chopin. They all highly appreciated her talent and what can be called charm. She was a child of her age, which became a century of trials for her native France.

Amandine Lucy Aurora Dupin was born in Paris on July 1, 1804. She was the great-granddaughter of the illustrious Marshal Moritz of Saxony. After the death of his beloved, he became friends with an actress, from whom he had a girl, who received the name Aurora. Subsequently, Aurora of Saxony (grandmother of George Sand), a young, beautiful and innocent girl, married the rich and depraved Earl of Hawthorne, who, fortunately for the young woman, was soon killed in a duel.

Then chance brought her to Dupin, an official from the Treasury. He was an amiable, elderly and somewhat old-fashioned gentleman, prone to clumsy gallantry. Despite his sixty years, he managed to win over a thirty-year-old beauty and enter into a marriage with her, which turned out to be very happy.

From this marriage, the son Moritz was born. During the turbulent days of the reign of Napoleon I, he fell in love with a woman of dubious behavior and secretly married her. Moritz, being an officer and receiving a meager salary, could not feed his wife and daughter, since he himself was dependent on his mother. Therefore, his daughter Aurora spent her childhood and youth on the estate of her grandmother Aurora-Marie Dupin in Nohant.

After the death of her father, she often had to witness scandals between her grandmother and mother. Aurora-Maria reproached the mother of the future writer with a low origin (she was either a dressmaker or a peasant woman), a frivolous relationship with the young Dupin before marriage. The girl took the side of her mother, and at night they often shed bitter tears together.

From the age of five, Aurora Dupin was taught French grammar, Latin, arithmetic, geography, history and botany. Madame Dupin vigilantly followed the mental and physical development of her granddaughter in the spirit of Rousseau's pedagogical ideas. The girl received further education in a monastery, as was customary in many aristocratic families.

Aurora spent about three years in the monastery. In January 1821, she lost her closest friend - Madame Dupin died, making her granddaughter the sole heiress of the Noan estate. A year later, Aurora met a young artillery lieutenant, Baron Casimir Dudevant, and agreed to become his wife. The marriage was doomed to fail.

The first years of marriage seemed happy. Aurora gave birth to a son Moritz and a daughter Solange, she wanted to devote herself completely to their upbringing. She sewed dresses for them, although she did not know how well, took care of the household and tried with all her might to make life in Nohant pleasant for her husband. Alas, she could not make ends meet, and this served as a source of constant reproaches and quarrels. Madame Dudevant took up translations, began to write a novel, which, due to many shortcomings, was thrown into the fireplace.

All this, of course, could not contribute to family happiness. Quarrels continued, and one fine day in 1831, the husband allowed his thirty-year-old wife to leave for Paris with Solange, where she settled in a room in the attic. To support herself and her child, she took up porcelain painting and sold her fragile work with varying degrees of success.

To get rid of the cost of expensive women's outfits, Aurora began to wear a men's suit, which was convenient for her because it made it possible to walk around the city in any weather. Wearing a long gray coat (fashionable at the time), a round felt hat and strong boots, she wandered the streets of Paris, happy with her freedom, which rewarded her for all hardships. She dined for one franc, washed and ironed the linen herself, took the girl for a walk.

When a husband came to Paris, he would certainly visit his wife and take her to the theater or some expensive restaurant. In the summer she returned to Nohant, chiefly to see her beloved son.

Her husband's stepmother also occasionally met her in Paris. Once she learned that Aurora intended to publish books, she was furious and demanded that Dudevant's name never appear on any cover. Aurora with a smile promised to fulfill her demand.

In Paris, Aurora Dudevant met Jules Sandeau. He was seven years younger than Aurora. He was a frail, fair-haired man of aristocratic appearance. Together with him, Aurora wrote her first novel, Rose and Blanche, and several short stories. But these were only the first steps on the difficult path of a writer; big life in French literature was still ahead and she had to pass it without Sando.

The triumphant entry into French literature was the novel "Indiana", published under the pseudonym George Sand (originally it was Jules Sand - a direct reference to the name of the former lover Jules Sando). The action of the novel begins in 1827 and ends at the end of 1831, when the July Revolution took place. The Bourbon dynasty, in the person of its last king, Charles X, has left the historical stage. The throne of France was occupied by Louis Philippe of Orleans, who during his eighteen-year reign did everything possible to protect the interests of the financial and industrial bourgeoisie. In "Indiana" the change of cabinets, the uprising in Paris and the flight of the king are mentioned, which gave the story a modern touch. At the same time, the plot is permeated with anti-monarchist motives, the author condemns the intervention of the French troops of Spain. This was new, as many Romantic writers in the 1830s were fascinated by the Middle Ages and did not address the topic of modernity at all.

The novel "Indiana" was greeted with approval and interest by both readers and critics. But, despite the recognition and growing popularity, contemporaries treated George Sand with hostility. They considered her frivolous (even easily accessible), fickle and heartless, they called her a lesbian or, at best, a bisexual, they pointed out that a deeply hidden maternal instinct was hidden in her, because Sand always chose men younger than herself.

In November 1832, George Sand published her new novel"Valentina". In it, the writer demonstrates remarkable skill, painting nature, and looks like a soulful psychologist who knows how to recreate the images of people of various classes.

It would seem that everything was going well: financial security, reader success, recognition of criticism. But it was at this time, in 1832, that George Sand was going through a deep depression (the first of many that followed), almost ending in suicide.

The emotional unrest and despair that gripped the writer arose due to government repression, which struck the imagination of everyone who was not immersed only in personal experiences. In The Story of My Life, George Sand acknowledged that her pessimism, her gloomy mood were generated by the absence of the slightest prospects: “My horizon expanded when all sorrows, all needs, all despair, all the vices of a great social environment appeared before me, when focus on my own destiny, but turned to the whole world, in which I was only an atom - then my personal longing spread to everything that exists, and the fatal law of fate appeared to me so terrible that my mind was shaken. In general, it was a time of general disappointment and decline. The republic that was dreamed of in July brought about an atoning sacrifice at the convent of Saint-Merry. Cholera mowed down the people. Saint-Simonism, which carried away the imagination with a swift stream, was struck down by persecution and ingloriously perished. It was then, seized with deep despondency, that I wrote Lelia.

The basis of the plot of the novel is the story of a young woman, Lelia, who, after several years of marriage, breaks with a man unworthy of her and, withdrawing in her grief, rejects social life. In love with her, Stenio, the young poet, like Lelia, is seized by the spirit of doubt, filled with indignation at the horrifying conditions of existence.

With the advent of Lelia, an image of a strong-willed woman appeared in French literature, rejecting love as a means of fleeting pleasure, a woman who overcomes many hardships before getting rid of the ailment of individualism, finding solace in useful activity. Lelia condemns the hypocrisy of high society, the dogmas of Catholicism.

According to George Sand, love, marriage, family can unite people, contribute to their true happiness; as long as the moral laws of society are in harmony with the natural inclinations of man. Controversy and noise arose around Lelia, readers saw this as a scandalous autobiography of the writer.

After reading Lelia, Alfred de Musset stated that he learned a lot about the author, although in essence he learned almost nothing about her. They met in the summer of 1833 at a reception hosted by the owner of the Revue des Deux Mondes magazine. At the table they were side by side, and this accidental proximity played a role not only in their fate, but also in French and world literature.

Musset was known as a Don Juan, a frivolous egoist, not devoid of sentimentality, an Epicurean. The aristocrat de Musset earned a reputation as the only man of the world among French romantics. The affair with Musset became one of the brightest pages in the life of the writer.

George Sand was six years older than Alfred. He was an insufferable prankster, drawing cartoons and writing funny rhymes in her scrapbook. They loved to play pranks. Once they gave a dinner, at which Musset was dressed in the costume of an eighteenth-century marquis, and George Sand in a dress of the same era, in tankins and flies. On another occasion, Musset dressed in the clothes of a Norman peasant woman and waited at the table. Nobody recognized him, and George Sand was delighted. Soon the lovers left for Italy.

According to her, Musset continued to lead the dissolute life in Venice that he had become accustomed to in Paris. However, his health deteriorated, doctors suspected inflammation of the brain or typhus. She fussed around the patient day and night, without undressing and hardly touching her food. And then a third character appeared on the scene - the twenty-six-year-old doctor Pietro Pagello.

The joint struggle for the life of the poet brought them so close that they guessed each other's thoughts. The disease was defeated, but for some reason the doctor did not leave the patient. Musset realized that he had become superfluous and left. Upon George Sand's return to France, they finally separated, but under the influence of Musset's former lover, he wrote the novel Confessions of a Son of the Century.

During her stay in Italy in 1834, being in another depression after the departure of Alfred de Musset, Sand wrote psychological novel"Jacques". It embodies the writer's dream of moral ideals, that love is a healing force that elevates a person, the creator of his happiness. But often love can be associated with betrayal and deceit. She thought about suicide again.

Evidence of this are the lines written in a letter to Pietro Pagello: “Since the day I fell in love with Alfred, every moment I play with death. In my desperation, I went as far as possible for human soul. But as soon as I feel the strength to desire happiness and love, I will also have the strength to rise.

And in her diary an entry appears: “I can no longer suffer from all this. And all this in vain! I am thirty years old, I am still beautiful, at least I will be beautiful in fifteen days, if I can force myself to stop crying. There are men around me who are worth more than me, but who, nevertheless, accept me for who I am, without lies and coquetry, who generously forgive me my mistakes and give me their support. Oh, if only I could force myself to love one of them! My God, give me back my strength, my energy, as it was in Venice. Give me back that fierce love of life, which has always been for me an outlet in a moment of the most terrible despair. Make me fall in love again! Oh, does it really amuse you to kill me, does it really give you pleasure to drink my tears! I... I don't want to die! I want to love! I want to be young again. I want to live!"

George Sand also wrote several wonderful short stories and novellas. Like many French novelists of the 19th century, she relied on the rich traditions of national literature, taking into account the experience of her predecessors and contemporaries. And contemporaries are Balzac, to whom she gave the plot for the novel "Beatrice, or Forced Love", Stendhal, Hugo and Nodier, Merimee and Musset.

In one of early stories"Melchior" (1832) writer, outlining life philosophy a young sailor, described the hardships of life, the absurd prejudices of society. It embodies Sand's typical theme of an unhappy marriage with tragic consequences. French critics compared the story "Marquis" with the best short stories by Stendhal and Merimee, found in it a special gift of a writer who managed to create a brief psychological study on the theme of fate, life and art. There is no complex intrigue in the story. The story is told from the perspective of the old marquise. The world of her memories revives the former feeling of platonic love for the actor Lelio, who played the main roles in the classic tragedies of Corneille and Racine.

The famous novel "????" (1838) adjoins the cycle of Venetian stories by George Sand - "Mattea", "The Last Aldini", the novels "Leone Leoni" and "Uskok", created during the writer's stay in Italy. The main motives of this fantastic story are based on real facts. The Venetian Republic, captured by the troops of General Bonaparte, was transferred to Austria in 1797, which began to mercilessly suppress the rights of the Venetians. The story tells about the ongoing struggle of patriots in Venice for the national revival of Italy. George Sand constantly showed deep respect for the courageous people of Italy, who aspired to create a single state. In later years, she devoted the novel Daniella to this topic.

In the thirties, George Sand met many prominent poets, scientists, and artists. She was greatly influenced by the ideas of the utopian socialist Pierre Leroux and the doctrine of Christian socialism by Abbé Lamennet. At that time, the theme of the French Revolution of the 18th century, which the writer embodied in her work, was widely reflected in literature. In the novel Maupra (1837), the action takes place in the pre-revolutionary period. The narrative is based on a psychological and moral moment, due to the author's belief in the ability to change, improve the natural features of human nature. The historical views of the author of the novel "Maupra" are very close to the views of Victor Hugo. The French Revolution of 1789-1794 was perceived by the Romantics as a natural embodiment of the idea of ​​development human society as its inexorable movement towards the future, illuminated by the light of political freedom and moral ideal. George Sand was of the same opinion.

The writer seriously studied the history of the French Revolution of 1789-1794, and read a number of studies about this era. Judgments about the positive role of the revolution in the progressive movement of mankind, the improvement of morals are organically included in the novel "Mopra" and subsequent ones - "Spiridion", "Countess Rudolyptadt". In a letter to L. Desage, she speaks positively of Robespierre and sharply condemns his Girondin opponents: “The people in the revolution were represented by the Jacobins. Robespierre - greatest man of the modern era: calm, incorruptible, prudent, inexorable in the struggle for the triumph of justice, virtuous ... Robespierre, the only representative of the people, the only friend of truth, the implacable enemy of tyranny, sincerely sought to ensure that the poor would cease to be poor, and the rich would cease to be rich.

In 1837, George Sand became close to Frederic Chopin. Gentle, fragile, feminine, imbued with reverence for everything pure, ideal, sublime, he unexpectedly fell in love with a woman who smoked tobacco, wore a man's suit and openly carried on frivolous conversations. When she became close to Chopin, Mallorca became their place of residence.

The scene is different, but the situation is the same, and even the roles turned out to be the same and the same sad ending. In Venice, Musset, lulled by the closeness of George Sand, skillfully rhymed beautiful words; in Majorca, Frederic created his ballads and preludes. Thanks to the dog George Sand, the famous "Dog Waltz" was born. Everything was fine, but when the composer had the first signs of consumption, George Sand began to be weary of him. Beauty, freshness, health - yes, but how to love a sick, frail, capricious and irritable person? George Sand thought so. She herself admitted this, trying, of course, to soften the reason for her cruelty, referring to other motives.

Chopin became too attached to her and did not want a break. A famous woman, experienced in love affairs, tried all means, but in vain. Then she wrote a novel in which, under fictitious names, she portrayed herself and her lover, and endowed the hero (Chopin) with all conceivable and inconceivable weaknesses, and naturally portrayed herself as an ideal woman. It seemed that the end was inevitable, but Frederick hesitated. He still thought that he could return love. In 1847, ten years after their first meeting, the lovers parted.

A year after the separation, Frederic Chopin and George Sand met in the house mutual friend. Full of remorse, she approached former lover and held out her hands to him. The composer's handsome face turned pale. He recoiled from Sand and silently left the room.

In 1839, George Sand lived in Paris on the Rue Pigalle. Her cozy apartment became a literary salon where Chopin and Delacroix, Heinrich Heine and Pierre Leroux, Pauline Viardot met. Adam Mickiewicz read his poems here.

In 1841, George Sand, together with Pierre Leroux and Louis Viardot, undertook the publication of the journal Independent Review. The magazine dedicated one of its articles to young German philosophers who lived in Paris - Karl Marx and Arnold Ruge. It is known that Karl Marx completed his work "The Poverty of Philosophy" with the words of George Sand from the essay "Jan Zizka" and, as a sign of respect, presented his essay to the author of "Consuelo".

The Independent Review introduced French readers to the literature of other peoples. Articles in this journal were devoted to Koltsov, Herzen, Belinsky, Granovsky. On the pages of the Independent Review in 1841-1842, Sand's well-known novel Horas was published.

In "Oras" characters belong to different strata of the population: workers, students, intellectuals, aristocrats. Their destinies are not any exception, they are generated by new trends, and these trends are reflected in the novel of the writer. George Sand, touching social problems, speaks of the norms of family life, draws the types of new people, active, hardworking, sympathetic, alien to everything petty, insignificant, self-serving. Such, for example, are Laravinier and Barbès. The first is the fruit of the author's creative imagination; he died fighting on the barricades. The second is a historical person, the famous revolutionary Armand Barbès (at one time he was sentenced to death, but at the request of Victor Hugo the execution was replaced by eternal hard labor), who continued the work of Laravignère during the revolution of the forty-eighth year.

Over the next two years, George Sand energetically worked on the dilogy "Consuelo" and "Countess Rudolstadt", published in 1843-1844. She sought in this extensive narrative to give an answer to the important social, philosophical, and religious questions posed by modernity.

In the forties, the authority of George Sand increased so much that a number of magazines were ready to provide her with pages for articles. At that time, Karl Marx and Arnold Ruge undertook the publication of the German-French Yearbook. Together with publishers, F. Engels, G. Heine, M. Bakunin collaborated in it. The editors of the journal asked the author of Consuelo, in the name of the democratic interests of France and Germany, to agree to cooperate in their journal. In February 1844, a double issue of the German-French Yearbook was published, at which point the publication ceased, and, naturally, George Sand's articles were not published.

In the same period, a new novel by George Sand, The Miller from Anzhibo (1845), was published. It depicts provincial customs, the foundations of the French countryside, as they developed in the forties, at a time when noble estates were disappearing.

George Sand's next novel, Monsieur Antoine's Sin (1846), was a success not only in France, but also in Russia. The severity of conflicts, a number of realistic images, the fascination of the plot - all this attracted the attention of readers. At the same time, the novel provided abundant food for critics who ironically perceived " socialist utopias» author.

After the victory on February 24, 1848, the people demanded the establishment of a republic in France; The Second Republic was soon proclaimed. In March, the Ministry of the Interior began to issue Bulletins of the Provisional Government. George Sand was appointed executive editor of this official organ of the government.

With special passion and literary skill, she writes various kinds of proclamations and appeals to the people, collaborates in the leading organs of the democratic press, and establishes the weekly newspaper Delo Naroda. Victor Hugo and Lamartine, Alexandre Dumas and Eugene Xu also took an active part in the social movement.

The defeat of the June uprising in 1848, George Sand took it very painfully: "I no longer believe in the existence of a republic that begins with the murder of its proletarians." In the extremely difficult situation that developed in France in the second half of 1848, the writer defended her democratic convictions. Then she typed open letter, where she strongly protested against the election of Louis Bonaparte as President of the Republic. But soon his election took place. In December 1851, Louis Bonaparte carried out a coup d'etat, and a year later he proclaimed himself emperor under the name of Napoleon III.

George Sand's friendship with Dumas son began in 1851, when he found Sand's letters to Chopin on the Polish border, bought them and returned them to her. Perhaps, and most likely it is, Sand would like their relationship to develop into something more than friendship. But Dumas, the son, was carried away by the Russian princess Naryshkina, his future wife, and Sand was satisfied with the role of mother, friend and adviser.

This forced role sometimes drove her crazy, causing depression and suicidal thoughts. Who knows what could have happened (perhaps even suicide), if not for the truly friendly disposition on the part of Dumas the son. He helped her turn the novel "Marquis de Vilmer" into a comedy - he inherited the gift of editing from his father.

After the December coup, George Sand finally withdrew into herself, settled in Nohant and only occasionally came to Paris. She still worked fruitfully, wrote several novels, essays, "The Story of My Life." To the number latest works Sand include Good Gentlemen of Bois Doré, Daniella, The Snowman (1859), Black City (1861), Nanon (1871).

In 1872 I. S. Turgenev visited Nohant. George Sand, wanting to express her admiration for the talent of the great writer, published an essay from peasant life, Pierre Bonin, which she dedicated to the author of The Hunter's Notes.

Deadly illness caught George Sand at work. She worked on the last novel "Albina", which was not destined to be completed. She died on June 8, 1876 and was buried in the family cemetery in Nohant Park.

Whether Morris syndrome contributed to the disclosure of George Sand's talent, whether it was a matter of physiology, but a talented and brilliant writer, a great lover of great people, a great worker lived her life, overcoming herself and circumstances, and left a bright mark in the history of France and world literature.