Books: Tale of Sand’s life mesmerizes

Armandine Aurore Lucile Dupin was born in Paris in 1804. She was raised by her grandmother at the family’s country estate, and she eventually married Baron Casimir Dudevant. Following the birth of a son and daughter, she abruptly abandoned her family and relocated to Paris.

Working with a lover, Jules Sandeau, she co-authored her first novel in 1831. It was quickly followed by a second novel, “Indiana,” which she wrote under her new pen name, George Sand. After reading “Indiana,” Alfred de Musset, the great poet, was so smitten that he sent Sand an admiring letter. They soon became lovers.

Sand surrounded herself with some of the most intriguing people of her day, including Chopin, Flaubert, Turgenev and Franz Listz. She never allowed herself to be labeled or categorized, and that is why she is such a fascinating character even today.

Benita Eisler, author of several best-selling biographies, has pieced together this complex woman’s colorful life in a highly readable, crisply written narrative. Eisler places her in the context of her time and builds a convincing case that Sand is just as relevant today as she was during her lifetime.

Sand is important because her life impacted our culture to such a degree that no conversation about gender, sex or artistic temperament can occur without her name becoming somehow intertwined. She often sparked controversy and was publicly accused of lesbianism and nymphomania, no doubt because of the countless affairs she triggered with well-known celebrities.

Sand wrote shortly before her death in 1876, “The world will know and understand me someday.” She added somewhat wistfully that if that day never arrives, it doesn’t matter, “since I have opened the way for other women.”

Indeed.