George Sand, 1804-1876

Amantine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin, the female French writer known as George Sand, produced more than eighty novels, and two dozen plays, as well as short stories and political tracts. Sand’s works frequently extolled the contributions of women to society and defended women's right to happiness. Her attacks on the status quo of nineteenth-century French society–from marriage to the archaic hierarchy of the class system–caused great scandal and provoked scathing criticism of her work.

But Sand’s sexual freedom (she often sported male student garb) and public persona inspired and emboldened many women writers, providing them with a rare model of female success in a profession dominated by men.

Histoire de Ma Vie, par George Sand... Paris: M. Lévy, 1856.

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