LA POSTE FRANCE on 22 March 2004 issued a first day cover stamp of 19th century French author George Sand. The stamp depicts Sand in her youth and at the home she inherited from her grandmother. The method of printing is Taille-douce.
Aurore Dupin (George Sand), was the daughter of an officer of the imperial army who died in 1808. She was born 1 July 1 1804, and was taken in by her grandmother, in Nokant, in Berry, France.
A Parisian convent enabled her to complete her education. She returned to Nokant in order to marry Baron Dudevant at the age of eighteen. From this union were born Maurice and Solange. Very quickly, Aurore, regaining her independence, discovered her way thanks to Jules Sandeau with whom she wrote Rose et Blanche. It was then that she adopted the pseudonym of George Sand as a sign of gratitude.
In the 1830s the romantic works, Indiana, Valentine, Lélia and Mauprat, were written. George's work eventually turned towards social inspiration with Le Meunier d'Angibault. A keen interest in the peasant cause made her write novels like La Mare au Diable, La Petite Fadette, or François le Champi.
The year 1848 saw her pen political writings. With Les Maîtres Sonneurs, in 1853, she inaugurated a new genre: the regionalist novel. After having hit the headlines with tumultuous loves, "the honorable lady of Nohant" put her humanitarian ideals into practice with the very people who gave her this sweet nickname. Charity, beneficence, generous impulses, did not hinder her intense intellectual activity until her death.
This great lady who rubbed shoulders with Dumas, Sainte-Beuve, Taine or Gautier, Flaubert, Tourgueniev, Victor Hugo and Chopin, knew how to reach the hearts of men, understand them and paint them with infinite respect. Of writing, she said: "We believe that the mission of art is a mission of feeling and love."
A Parisian convent enabled her to complete her education. She returned to Nokant in order to marry Baron Dudevant at the age of eighteen. From this union were born Maurice and Solange. Very quickly, Aurore, regaining her independence, discovered her way thanks to Jules Sandeau with whom she wrote Rose et Blanche. It was then that she adopted the pseudonym of George Sand as a sign of gratitude.
In the 1830s the romantic works, Indiana, Valentine, Lélia and Mauprat, were written. George's work eventually turned towards social inspiration with Le Meunier d'Angibault. A keen interest in the peasant cause made her write novels like La Mare au Diable, La Petite Fadette, or François le Champi.
The year 1848 saw her pen political writings. With Les Maîtres Sonneurs, in 1853, she inaugurated a new genre: the regionalist novel. After having hit the headlines with tumultuous loves, "the honorable lady of Nohant" put her humanitarian ideals into practice with the very people who gave her this sweet nickname. Charity, beneficence, generous impulses, did not hinder her intense intellectual activity until her death.
This great lady who rubbed shoulders with Dumas, Sainte-Beuve, Taine or Gautier, Flaubert, Tourgueniev, Victor Hugo and Chopin, knew how to reach the hearts of men, understand them and paint them with infinite respect. Of writing, she said: "We believe that the mission of art is a mission of feeling and love."
George Sand died in 1876, at age 71.
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