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George Sand was born Amandine-Aurore Dupin in Paris in 1804, the daughter of a mother who was a bird seller and a father who was the great-grandson of King Augustus II of Poland. Her mother married him a month before George Sand was born. One of the earliest feminists, she lived an independent life in Paris, taking on a man’s name and dressing in men’s clothing. She justified this by saying that men’s clothes were far sturdier and less expensive than the typical dress of a noblewoman at the time. Her male dress allowed her to socialize more freely in a man’s world. She championed equality of the sexes. Married at eighteen, she had two children. She and her husband lived apart much of the time and she had other lovers, including Frederic Chopin. She averaged two books a year for more than four decades and was widely read in her day. Her novels were admired by writers like Balzac, Dostoevsky, and Henry James, and she was an important influence on the Brontes.
In the letter to her mother that follows, she defends her unconventional choices and lifestyle.
Page 324May 31, 1831 (Age 27)
My dear Maman,
You are not feeling very cheerful, are you, because you are still going to be alone. Congenial companionship is very difficult to combine with liberty. For me, my dear, liberty of thought and action is the first of blessings. If one could combine with that the little cares of bringing up a family, it would be much sweeter. I really must venture to tell you, dear Maman, that you have very little idea of what I am really like. It is a long time now since we lived together, and you often forget that I am now twenty-seven years old and that my character was bound to undergo many changes since I was quite a girl.
You seem to impute a love of pleasure and need of frivolous amusement to me that I am far from possessing. It is not society, and noise, and theaters and new dresses that I want. You are the only person to make that mistake; it is liberty that I long for. I want to be a