'I cannot read six pages of hers without feeling that it is given to her to delineate human passion and its results. 'The great improvisatrice of French literature' -Henry James on Sand (Dickenson 126) yet she has a grasp of mind which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect: she is sagacious and profound Miss Austin is only shrewd and observant.' -Charlotte Brontë, in letter to her publisher (Thompson p.63) 'Though I never saw any of her works which I admired throughout. “With her good and evil together, I regard her with infinitely more admiration than all other woman of genius who are or have been.”-Elizabeth Barrett, in letter to her then-fiancé Robert Browning (Dickenson 3) translated from the French, from jacket of La Mare au Diable (see 'selected fiction').

“you will live Madame, and you will be Lord Byron of France”(Chateaubriand) “A gross beast… a latrine” (Baudelaire) “The Britanny cow of literature” (Renard) “The greatest writer of the century” (Renan) “She will stand as an emblem of France” (Flaubert).

This pathfinder is intended for undergraduate students or other adults interested in learning about Sand’s life. Her life is a subject of enduring interest because it was such an influence on other female writers (in particular George Eliot) and because so many other exceptional French artists sought out her company. At the same time she became a well-respected as a writer in the eyes of contempory writers (see comments) she became legendary for scandalizing Paris by wearing pants and for the speculation about her relationship with the actress Marie Dorval.

She was also the intimate friend and correspondent of the novelists Flaubert and Balzac. Over her life she had significant relationships with the poets Jules Sandeau (the inspiration for her pen name), Alfred Musset, and most famously the composer Frederick Chopin. After marrying at nineteen and leaving her her abusive husband, Sand moved to Paris and turned to writing to support herself. Today she is barely known as a writer but rather for life which was scandalous for the time. Until recently her 'pastoral novels' were standard reading in French schools. Over the course of her career George Sand wrote over one hundred volumes, was a tremendous popular success, was admired by writers such as Flaubert, Hugo, and Balzac, and inspiration of George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte.

The Castle Of Pictures by George Sand