"I was only too delighted, and Mamma went to fetch a parcel of books of which I could not distinguish, through the paper in which they were wrapped, any more than their short, wide format but which, even at this first glimpse, brief and obscure as it was, bade fair to eclipse already the paintbox of New Year's Day and the silkworms of the year before. The books were La Mare au Diable, Francois le Champi, La Petite Fadette and Les Maitres Sonneurs." (pp.52)
"La Mare au Diable", "Francois le Champi", "La Petite Fadette" and "Les Maitres Sonneurs" are all works of George Sand.
George Sand was the pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (1804-1876) lived and wrote during the 1848 revolution that ultimately brought about the third republic. She started life in a pretty standard way for time period, married and had two children, then left her husband in 1831. From there she diverged from the customary; She wore mens clothing, she openly smoked tobacco, and she lived an independent life prolific in writing and love affairs. She was a contemporary and lover of Chopin and Musset, among others, and a close friend of Flaubert. I have not read any of her works, but understand from their synopses that she wrote often about romantic affairs and used her novels to paint a picture of French customs and class and gender discrepancies while paving the way for stronger female literary characters. Again, since I haven't read them this is speculation based on summaries I've read here and there.
Two Sand factoids interest me most with regard to Proust. First, that some of her works may have challenged traditional gender roles, the word lesbianism having been thrown around some. We'll see that in "Search" as well. Second, that she wrote strong female characters into her novels, including one, in "The Country Waif", that ends up having a love affair with, and marrying, her adopted son. The word incest comes to mind, and so does Proust's very strong attachment to his own mother. That The Country Waif is the exact novel his mother reads to him on the night she spends with him in his room should not be skipped over. Beginning on pg.16, in his book "Proust, Beckett, and Narration", James H. Reid discusses the narrator's mother and her reading on that night.
Stage 4, incest and silence... from "Proust and the Sense of Time", by Julia Kristeva
p. 16 of "Proust, Becket, and Narration", by James H. Reid,
George Sand on Wikipedia
George Sand on AMSAW
Just read The Country Waif because it seems to play an important role in A la recherche. It comes up again and again.
ReplyDeleteIt's a quick read, and though the story rests on a suppressed sexual relationship between the two main characters, it reads often like a somewhat sophisticated children's story. The two main characters are so completely good and really perfect in almost every way.
In A la recherche Proust mentions that his mother would skip over the naughty parts. But what is equally interesting is the forward, which is a dialog between the narrator and a friend on how to tell a story in the vernacular of the country but can still hold the attention of the sophisticated Parisian. There's no question she succeeds. The story has it's twists and turns and it's easy to imagine a fertile mind like Proust internalizing these plot twists for his later use. It's a ultimately a spiritual even religious story of two humble people falling in love, despite their age differences and their former relationship.