Madame Dudevant.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 664, 23 September 1876, Page 5 (Supplement)

Madame Dudevant.

do -g'*"* W' Wor n» was a daughter furore's father, a army of tWo Empire, was accident, and the girl was % oy the gradnmother a lady whose reliderived from the writand who was less sound judgment than for spirit. was raughl to ride and shoot and she had naturally a Iftorature, which w.is gratified borne .if the Countess de Horn, with books scarcely suitable mrl's reading. Undoubtloose morality of the first of Qpoiges Sand was due in her early education, or lack of and the effect of an unrescourse of reading upon her i m igination. Bwfn Auroro had attained her ■■aftpth year, hoy, 6 ver, a sensible friend |ff hht ?rnndnj, ofl,er 0 fl,er sn^ested to that JBjwjitiJp ! _,^ v the advisability ofteaching f^ 1 w a-d lompfhing nf religion other p.&n tha 1 : embodied m Rousseau's Work 1 ", .iti (l tlio young woman was accordingly placed in the Convent of "Oamcs Anglaises, in Paris. Aurorr was charmed with the poetry of the Woman Catholic faith, and be?anip i devout pupil of the nuns ; and upon tho death of her guardians (two xen - ailcrwards) was only deterred • »Y. "i f.tumgthp veil by the authority •> of '• n i,nmlv, who arranged for her rin.iitijiir' 1 with the Baron Casimir I)u l>\ai,', a. retired soldier of mature ynai* 1 n Enron Dudevant, the little f»r' unc vliiVh Aurore brought was v«>i v at'ceptable, for it enabled li ■ to improve his farm; he bought lMuinov, improved the quality of his fi i'it tree*, and left his young wife to Jr^wn p«rsuits. Two children were born to this ill-n-nort-nl pair, and with her infants so. , 0 y rarfj afterward, Madam Dude|f.raTit, went by orderof her physician, to £ -Bordeaux. Here for the first time 1 sinco her marriage, she received the '' homage of brilliant society • her mind rev olted against the sombre home in Naliant, and her dull, unimaginative hu-^and. When she returned, it was to throw open her house to the world of nrt and literature. Among her giM'^ts was Jules Sandeau, a young law student, whose attention to M.idame Dcdevant excited the jealousy of <!io Maron. Sum afterward the husband and vvili; wore separated, and Aurore, resigning all her fortune, went to Paris and be^an with Bandeau a struggle agsimtppjierty. Ma4»me Pudeyant' ir^e3TSthis time in a , little garret in 1 In- (^uai St. Michel, and while Sandeau V> in it air-castles, (it is not on record th.it he ever did much else,) .aurore ptirnpd a few nous daily by decorating ui.iieh-boves and the like, for a toy • ei'dei. It has been said that these erratic young persons werp advised to give the >r atte n tion to literature by Latouche, the editor of the Figaro, and although U scarcely seems possible that so experienced a journalist' could have of] 'i'pcl two untried persons to do anvthin^ of the sort, yet they did give their attention to literature, and together they wrote a series of articles for Latouehe's Journal, and afterwards contributed to the same periodical a novel called « Hose et Blanche.' under the pen-namo of ' Jules Sand.' ' ose et Blanche' was followed by ' Indiana, which wa3 written entirely by Madame J)udevant, and upon its title-page appeared for the first time the norn de plumeof 'Georges Sand.' Sandeau was to have written a part of this novel, but he had neglected his work, and \\ as too honorable to share the glory, 6o a new signature had to be chosen, and as the discussion occured on St. (Jcorge's day, Madame Dudevant udopted that name as a prefix. The popularity of Georges Sand was soon established ; but Julus Sandeau, the companion of her poverty, disappeared altogether. ' .tier nexttwonovels were ' Valentine' and ' Lelia,' the latter being published in 1833, in the Bevue dea DeuxMondes. She traveled through Italy in 183 i, in company with Alfred de Musset, and she afterwards wrote ' Les Lettres dun Voyageur,' in which she recorded a great many of her early impressions, as nejl as an account of her journey. 'Jacques,' ' Andre' and ' Le Secretaire Jntime,' three novleg of considerable power, followed ' Les Lettres' in rapid succession ; and, after adding to her ]i*t of acquaintances Auch men as Michalo de Bourgei, the gifted advocate; Pierre Leroux, the socialist, and the Abbe Laminnais, she showed tho influence of their arguments upon her mind in her succeeding novels, ' Simon,' ' Spiridon/ * Conwielo l , 1 which is by many critic* regarded as her masterpiece, and, its less eutertaining sequel, ' La Comtesse de Hudolstadt.' In the winter of 1838, after winning a suit against the baron Dudevant, for the recovery of ber children, Maurice and Solaßge, she made her homo upon the beautiful Spanish MandofMA^^ Mcditorattean Sea, amL^^fe|^^H| found there material j^^^^^^^^^M r Un Hirer a Aliorm^^^^^^^^^^B

ability an( j in t^ e j ater years her life she spent much of her time at the pianoforte, improvising melodies, for sfce could express her thoughts with tones aa well as words. In 18 15 she began to write pastoral novels, such as ' Francois le Champi' (which she dramatized in 1849), and ' La Grillon,' which was dramatized for the German stage by Charlotte Birch Pfeiffer, and is known upon the American stage as ' Fanchon, the Cricket.' ' la Mare au Diablo' was also written at this time. In 1848 Georges Sand wrote political papers for the press, as she had done 10 years before for lamennais's journal' Le Monxfe, and a number of ' leaders which appeared in various newspapers upholding the measures of LeoruBollin, who was then a member of the provisional Government, were attributed to her pen. In 1854 she contributed to La Presse a ' Histoire de ma Vie/ which was, however, not so much a record of the events of her life as an exhibition of her opinions and principles. She wrote altogether about sixty novels and twenty plays, some of the latter being adaptations of her stories. Her plays, as a general thing were not so popular at her novels ; but a few of them, notably ' ' Le Mariaga de Victorine/ were' highly Successful. These dramas were usually first acted before the author and her intimate friends in a small theatre adjoining her house, so that faults could be discovered and improvements accomplished before the pieces were given to the public. Very recently Georges Sand has written the 'Journal dun Voyageur pendant la Guerie,' a series of papers contributed to the Revue dcs Deux Monies, during the French and German war, and 'Impressions et Souvenirs,' which was published in 1873. She had lived for many years amid the pleasant surroundings in the house where she passed her childhood, the Chateau de $H ahant, near Berri. Her yearly income was, twenty years ago, estimated at six thousand dollars, and it probably has since increased with the increase of values. Her son Maurice was the host in Nahant, where there were always many guests, and Madame Dudevant passed her later years quietly and happily. This is njt the time to fix the literary position of Georges Sand Many, if not most of her works will pass out of remembrance. The rapidity of her work made it impossible that all her efforts should be of equal merit, but she was one of the most remarkable writers of the French romantic school, both as a dramatist and as a novelist, and she was also one of the m6Bt remarkable women of the nineteenth century.