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BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE SAND |
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Her real name is Amandine Lucie Aurore baroness Dudevant. She was born in Paris on July 1st 1804.Her father, Maurice Dupin, officer of Napoleon, died near Nohant from a horse accident when she was four years old. Her mother’s name is Sophie Victoire Delaborde .George Sand was brought up by her grandmother Aurore de Saxe, daughter of the Marechal de Saxe, who taught her maths, botany and latin. When she was a child George Sand was very independant. At the age of thirteen,she went to the convent of the English Augustines, Rue des Fossés Ste Victoire in Paris.She stayed three years there and learnt the good manners. She also used to take her friends in exploration in the subterranean passages, and started to feel attached to a nun, Miss Alicia, who replaced her mother in her heart. In1820 she went out of convent to visit her grandmother who was seriously ill. She died the day after Christmas 1821.Young Aurore inherited her fortune . At the age of eighteen,she married Casimir baron Dudevant. She had two children : Maurice was born on june 30th.1923, and Solange on September 13th 1827 in Nohant. In 1831 she left her home with her two children and went to Paris were she led a boheme life. She carried on several jobs :journalist, teacher and nurse. She met Jules Sandeau who guided her in the job of writer. She never stopped writing from then on. In 1831, they wrote a book together: Rose et Blanche.Then Aurore took the pen name of " George Sand " in order to publish, in 1832, the two first books she had written by herself : Indiana and Valentine, followed by Lelia in 1833.She signed a contract with the director of the Revue des Deux Mondes. Her lifestyle was very free for the time, almost a man’s life : she used to smoke the pipe and cigarettes and to wear trousers . She betrayed Jules Sandeau with Alfred de Musset in 1838-1834.Their story ended in Venice. In 1836 her husband and her separated but she went on writing numerous books , for exemple Les Lettres d’un Voyageur and Mauprat in 1837 . Her meeting with Michel de Bourges pushed her to get more involved in politics. She founded La Revue Independante with Pierre Leroux in 1841,and La Revue Sociale in 1845. During this time she lived with Frédéric Chopin .Their liaison lasted nine years, until july 1847. |
