"George Sand, Writing for Her Life" by Isabelle Hoog Naginski. Published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick & London, 1991. First Edition.

Soft cover, 6" x 9"; 281 pages including Index, near fine condition.

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil [1804-1876), best known by her pen name George Sand, was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honore de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognized as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era, with more than 70 novels to her credit and 50 volumes of various works including novels, tales, plays and political texts.

Sand was one of many notable 19th-century women who chose to wear male attire in public. In addition to being comfortable, Sand's male attire enabled her to circulate more freely in Paris than most of her female contemporaries and gave her increased access to venues that barred women, even those of her social standing. Also scandalous was Sand's smoking tobacco in public; neither peerage nor gentry had yet sanctioned the free indulgence of women in such a habit, especially in public. Victor Hugo commented, "George Sand cannot determine whether she is male or female. I entertain a high regard for all my colleagues, but it is not my place to decide whether she is my sister or my brother."

In 1831, at the age of twenty-seven, she chose her pseudonym George Sand, a feminine of the first name Georges unknown until then, and added "Sand", a diminutive of "Sandeau", the name of Jules, her lover at the time. This decision came from a desire to sow confusion about her identity and thus increase her chances of being published in a then resolutely male publishing world.

Sand was a prolific writer of nearly 60 novels who dealt with the serious issues of her time and was identified with the Romantic literary movement. Yet serious study of her works is lacking, for Sand became known more for her eccentric lifestyle and love affairs with famous contemporaries, i.e., Alfred de Musset and Frederic Chopin, than her career as a writer. Moreover, she was unique in her approach as a woman who refused to trivialize her craft because of her gender.

The author of this critical study sets the record straight, belatedly bestowing upon Sand the academic acclaim that is long past due. Through extensive analysis of her principal works, she delineates her progression from mal du siecle pessimism to utopian optimism and from diagnosing society's ills to prescribing a cure for them. The author, professor of French, Russian, and comparative literature, Tufts University, has aptly illuminated Sand's unique narrative approach and has opened the door for further examination of her works.

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