Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. In our behind the scenes that followed
Speaker 1: our episode on missus Patrick Campbell, we read a letter
Speaker 1: she received that described her pants as wounding the letter writer.
Speaker 1: She was wearing those pants in a play where she
Speaker 1: was portraying George Sound.
Speaker 2: We have an episode on George Song that came out
Speaker 2: on February third, twenty twenty, and it's Today's Saturday Classic
Speaker 2: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, a
Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and
Speaker 1: I'm Tracy d Wilson. I will apologize right out of
Speaker 1: the gate that I have Torch Song voice.
Speaker 2: I think sometimes people wonder why we don't maybe postpone
Speaker 2: recording if one of.
Speaker 1: Us is ill.
Speaker 2: Suddenly I sound horse and I'm not even the person
Speaker 2: who has been ill. We already canceled last week completely. Yeah,
Speaker 2: like we're we're at the point of no return. We
Speaker 2: have to record an episode. The good news is, I
Speaker 2: will tell you I'm mostly better. Like I'm not suffering
Speaker 2: through this. My voice just hasn't fully recovered yet. I
Speaker 2: met like eighty five to ninety percent good. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: just sound a little Froggy. Yeah, and I'm fine. But
Speaker 2: for some reason, the moment I got on mic just now,
Speaker 2: my voice was like, you know, what I think I
Speaker 2: want to do is have sympathy for Holly.
Speaker 1: Right, you know, sympathetic frog. I understand. Uh, But we're
Speaker 1: going to carry on because that's what we do. We
Speaker 1: are going to talk about somebody that's been on my
Speaker 1: list forever, which is George Sond. And the popular image
Speaker 1: of George Sond is sort of this sexy artiste of
Speaker 1: early eighteen hundreds Paris. It's not entirely off base, but
Speaker 1: she was, above all else a writer of incredible output
Speaker 1: and was in her time incredibly famous. Her behavior and
Speaker 1: her personal style were almost as talked about as her novels,
Speaker 1: and all of these factors combined made her into a
Speaker 1: figure that was admired by many, despised by some. But
Speaker 1: it seems like fascination with her was almost universal, And
Speaker 1: we should mention George Sound was involved romantically with a
Speaker 1: lot of people. She was kind of a serial monogamist.
Speaker 1: She would kind of bounce from one paramore to another,
Speaker 1: and that was a big influence on her work, and
Speaker 1: she wrote a lot of different works. We will not
Speaker 1: list them all because, as we said, her output was astonishing.
Speaker 1: We also won't list all of her paramours or all
Speaker 1: of her writing titles. But just know we're giving you
Speaker 1: a brief version, and I still think it's a pretty
Speaker 1: full of saucy adventure and writing.
Speaker 2: Yes, So if we omit your favorite book or your
Speaker 2: favorite romance, it's not personal.
Speaker 1: There are just a lot of them. Don't worry, Chopin
Speaker 1: is in here, which is what everybody's thinking right now,
Speaker 1: right Well, they're not going to leave out Chopin.
Speaker 2: No. I think that's actually how how she wound up
Speaker 2: moving finally up to the top of your list. As
Speaker 2: we had been brainstorming for a thing about people described
Speaker 2: as muses, and there was.
Speaker 1: The yeah for a whole separate thing, and I was like, gosh,
Speaker 1: but on my list forever, although I had already started
Speaker 1: an episode on her. You know how I'll do that.
Speaker 1: I'll start an episode, write a few hundred to two one
Speaker 1: thousand words, and then be like, I'm gonna move on
Speaker 1: to something else for a little while, and then that
Speaker 1: episode sort of waits in its germination stage until I
Speaker 1: come back around on it.
Speaker 2: So, in terms of what we're actually talking about today.
Speaker 2: We'll start at the beginning, as we often do. Amnty.
Speaker 2: Lucille arrolor Dupin was born on July first of eighteen
Speaker 2: oh four in Paris, and her family and friends normally
Speaker 2: called her Aurora. Her father, Maurice Dupin, was an officer
Speaker 2: in the French Army, serving under Napoleon, and her mother
Speaker 2: was Sophie de la Borde, who was a bird seller's daughter.
Speaker 2: Bird Selling is a profession just kind of delights me
Speaker 2: a little bit here. Sophie and Maurice had been together
Speaker 2: for several years before Aurora was born, but they only
Speaker 2: got married a month before her birth. The two of
Speaker 2: them already had children, both with other people and together.
Speaker 2: Maurice refused to acknowledge his son from a prior relationship
Speaker 2: that was Ippolit Chateron, although Maurice's mother made sure that
Speaker 2: the boy and his own mother were provided for and
Speaker 2: moved them into a house and the family property. Sophie
Speaker 2: had a daughter from a previous relationship named Caroline Delabord,
Speaker 2: and the children that Sophie and Maurice had together before
Speaker 2: Aurora had all died in infancy, so there were a
Speaker 2: lot of members of this family but also in the
Speaker 2: terms of the two of them together.
Speaker 1: Aurora was the first arriving child correct and just before
Speaker 1: aur turned four, her parents had another child, this time
Speaker 1: a son named August Louis, and August Louis was born
Speaker 1: in Madrid, as Sophie had traveled to Spain to be
Speaker 1: with Maurice. That was where Napoleon had stationed him, and
Speaker 1: then they all went back to France shortly after Aurora's birthday.
Speaker 1: That was a trip that took them through rural France
Speaker 1: during brutal famine, and it was something The images of
Speaker 1: that trip really stuck with Aurora vividly for years.
Speaker 2: The baby, August Louis, died on September eighth of eighteen
Speaker 2: oh eight. That was just shy of three months old.
Speaker 2: Maurice had an accident and died eight days later after
Speaker 2: falling off a horse, and then not long after that,
Speaker 2: Sophie had to relinquish custody of Aurora to her grandmother
Speaker 2: because she just wasn't able to provide for her.
Speaker 1: Aurora then spent most of her childhood in Naant in
Speaker 1: central France, and this was her family's home and she
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time there on the family estate
Speaker 1: with her grandmother. Sophie did not leave her daughter's life though,
Speaker 1: even though she had relinquished custody, she still would spend
Speaker 1: time at Naant at the chateau each summer, and Aurora
Speaker 1: would also sometimes travel to Paris for visits with her
Speaker 1: mother as well. So Aurora spent her formative years in
Speaker 1: this idyllic rural environment of Nant, and that's believe to
Speaker 1: have informed a lot of her riding. She was tutored
Speaker 1: by a man named Jean Francois Dischardt as a child.
Speaker 1: That was the same person who had educated her father,
Speaker 1: and he was something of an eccentric, So she got
Speaker 1: a little haphazard sort of an education.
Speaker 2: It probably wouldn't qualify as a formal education in any
Speaker 2: sense of the phrase. She also had lessons alongside her
Speaker 2: half brother, although it was unclear to the children exactly
Speaker 2: what their relationship was to each other for quite some time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're reading about Jean Francois des Schalte. His involvement
Speaker 1: in her life is sometimes glossed over in this weird
Speaker 1: sort of way about what a weird education she got.
Speaker 1: I read one thing that suggested that he started dressing
Speaker 1: her in boys clothes because that just made more sense
Speaker 1: to him to have a pupil that was dressed as
Speaker 1: a boy, because he was only used to educating boys.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's any actual value in that
Speaker 1: information or fact to it, but it is pretty widely
Speaker 1: accepted that whatever education she got from him was a
Speaker 1: little bit kooky. And as she reached her early teenage
Speaker 1: years or or started, as many kids do, rebel. Her
Speaker 1: grandmother was very old fashioned and she expected ladylike behavior
Speaker 1: and that was simply not in Aurora's nature. So the
Speaker 1: child started telling her grandmother that what she wanted to
Speaker 1: do was go to Paris and live with her mother.
Speaker 1: Feel like, this is the tale as old as time, right, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're not my real mom. I'm gonna go where so
Speaker 1: I can be me not so much. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So there's some speculation that Aurora's mother, Sophie, may have
Speaker 2: supported herself with sex work when she was a teenager
Speaker 2: after her parents had both died, and it seems that
Speaker 2: grandmother chose this moment to tell Aurora about her mother's
Speaker 2: alleged profession in the midst of this rebellion, presumably as
Speaker 2: a way to try to shame or scare her into obedience.
Speaker 1: And the end result of all this conflict, because Aurora
Speaker 1: still was not going to be happy staying at home,
Speaker 1: was that at the age of thirteen, she was sent
Speaker 1: to a convent in Paris to live with the English
Speaker 1: Augustinian sisters, and shifting from country life to being immersed
Speaker 1: wholly in a relation bigeous environment in the city had
Speaker 1: a very profound effect on the teenager. She became deeply
Speaker 1: interested in mysticism during this time. But though she seemed
Speaker 1: very very happy at the convent and even considered becoming
Speaker 1: a nun herself, that was a little too far for
Speaker 1: what her grandmother had in mind, and so her grandmother
Speaker 1: brought her back to Nooh. Just a couple of years later.
Speaker 2: When she was seventeen, Aurora inherited the family estate. After
Speaker 2: her grandmother died, Sophie came back to retrieve for teenage
Speaker 2: daughter brought her back to Paris, but at that point
Speaker 2: Aurora was really not interested in answering to her mother,
Speaker 2: so she got married because she thought that was going
Speaker 2: to offer her some more independence.
Speaker 1: This is another story that I feel like comes up
Speaker 1: in all kinds of modern tales, and I'm like George
Speaker 1: Soum did this before anybody else. I'm sure there were
Speaker 1: other people that did it before her. But she got
Speaker 1: married to a man named Casimir du Duvon on September
Speaker 1: seventeenth of eighteen twenty two, and the couple were married
Speaker 1: in Paris, but they moved to Nooan to settle down,
Speaker 1: and Duduvont was nine years older than Auror. He was
Speaker 1: the son of a baron who was born out of wedlock,
Speaker 1: but he was acknowledged by his father, so in marrying him,
Speaker 1: Auror became the Baroness Duduvon. The couple had a child
Speaker 1: in June following their wedding. This is the son they
Speaker 1: named Maurice, and for the next year they traveled, eventually
Speaker 1: settling in Paris at the end of eighteen twenty four.
Speaker 1: They kept traveling a great deal though, including going back
Speaker 1: to Nauwant for extended visits, and initially it kind of
Speaker 1: seems like Auror was trying to make the best out
Speaker 1: of this marriage, but over time she grew restless and
Speaker 1: unsatisfied in her life with Duduvon, and she started to
Speaker 1: exhibit signs of what we would probably categorize as depression today.
Speaker 1: Casimir was a poor match for her for a number
Speaker 1: of reasons. Auror was a devout reader and the stories
Speaker 1: that she read made her long for more than her
Speaker 1: domestic life. Kasimir was not that he was not so
Speaker 1: much into the life of the mind, and he tended
Speaker 1: to find solace with other romantic interests that he found
Speaker 1: less complicated than his wife, including their housemaids. And this
Speaker 1: kind of seems like one of those cases where a
Speaker 1: couple with an age gap gets married because initially the
Speaker 1: older partner seems cool to the younger partner, but as
Speaker 1: the younger partner matures, it turns out that they grow
Speaker 1: beyond that older partner, because she was pretty done with
Speaker 1: him within a few years. In eighteen twenty five, they
Speaker 1: were traveling in the Pyrenees and Aurora met a young
Speaker 1: judge named Jean Pierre Aurelian de SiZ and the two
Speaker 1: of them were immediately attracted to one another, but he
Speaker 1: was engaged. He said that he found his fiance beautiful
Speaker 1: but dull, and Aurora, who was smart and insightful, was
Speaker 1: just fascinating to him. The two of them exchanged love
Speaker 1: letters over the next five years, and what's often described
Speaker 1: as a passionate but platonic love, although there is debate
Speaker 1: about whether the platonic part was really true. Yeah, uh,
Speaker 1: we don't know. This experience of having such an intense
Speaker 1: connection to someone made it a abundantly clear to Aurora
Speaker 1: that her marriage by comparison would never offer her the
Speaker 1: same kind of excitement or be very fulfilling, and she
Speaker 1: told Casimir about her affection for Dessays and that they
Speaker 1: needed to figure out some sort of way to make
Speaker 1: their household livable.
Speaker 2: In eighteen twenty six, a man named Stefan Ajasson de
Speaker 2: Grassgna re entered Aurora's life, and he had been a.
Speaker 1: Tutor of hers earlier on, but when.
Speaker 2: The two of them became re acquainted, this intense attraction
Speaker 2: between them led to a physical relationship. He was probably
Speaker 2: the father of Aurora's daughter, Solage, who was born in
Speaker 2: September of eighteen twenty eight.
Speaker 1: In the year after her daughter was born, Auror began writing.
Speaker 1: In earnest. She penned a travel memoir La Marenne That's
Speaker 1: the Godmother during this time, as well as Histois d'l revaux,
Speaker 1: which is story of a dreamer. That particular book was
Speaker 1: never finished.
Speaker 2: In the summer of eighteen thirty, Aurora met another man,
Speaker 2: this one seven years younger than she was, who would
Speaker 2: really catalyze a significant life change that the then twenty
Speaker 2: six year old Aurora had really been longing for. This
Speaker 2: was Jules Sandeaux, who was an aspiring writer, and the
Speaker 2: two of them soon became romantically involved.
Speaker 1: I feel like that phrase the two of them soon
Speaker 1: became romantically involved, can just be repeated so many times
Speaker 1: throughout this episode. This is a really significant turning point
Speaker 1: though for Auror. So we were going to pause here
Speaker 1: for a quick sponsor break before we get into how
Speaker 1: her life changed. In early eighteen thirty one, Aurora moved
Speaker 1: to Paris with Jules Sandeau, leaving behind her husband and
Speaker 1: her home. She had made an arrangement with Casimir regarding
Speaker 1: this move, though that arrangement was not arrived at in
Speaker 1: a particularly amicable fashion. The dude of all household had
Speaker 1: as Aurora became more and more restless, become a place
Speaker 1: of persistent strife. Husband and wife argued constantly and they
Speaker 1: only ever seemed to be happy in really relationships with
Speaker 1: people outside the marriage. So in eighteen thirty one, the
Speaker 1: decision was made that Aurora would spend half of each
Speaker 1: year in Paris, switching out with life at noon every
Speaker 1: three months. And during Aurora's times in Paris, the children
Speaker 1: were split up, so her toddler daughter Solange would stay
Speaker 1: in no On with Casimir and Maurice. Their son was
Speaker 1: cared for by a tutor.
Speaker 2: Aurora started to more seriously focus on writing in Paris,
Speaker 2: now writing under the pseudonym Jules sand or sometimes just
Speaker 2: J's Song. That work was published in La Figaro, which
Speaker 2: is a periodical run by Henri Latouche, who would become
Speaker 2: one of Aurora's closest friends. Latouche and you'll sometimes see
Speaker 2: his name as de la Touche, basically asked Aurora to
Speaker 2: write these satirical pieces as a freelancer, and that marked
Speaker 2: the beginning of her professional career as a writer. There's
Speaker 2: i'mgoing debate about these pieces. They are generally believed to
Speaker 2: be collaborations between Aurora and Jule Sandou, but it's unclear
Speaker 2: about exactly how much of them cantributed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how much either of them wrote of any of
Speaker 1: those pieces will probably be debated forever. And this is
Speaker 1: also the period of her life when Aurora began wearing
Speaker 1: men's wear, and she would write of this shift in
Speaker 1: her attire later quote, I had a sentry box coat
Speaker 1: made of rough gray cloth, with trousers and a waistcoat
Speaker 1: to match, with a gray hat and a huge cravat
Speaker 1: of woolen material. I looked exactly like a first year student.
Speaker 2: So this was scandalous to some people. But it's also
Speaker 2: more important to note that it was flat out illegal.
Speaker 2: Women in Paris were supposed to get a permit to
Speaker 2: wear men's clothing. That was a law that had been
Speaker 2: issued in eighteen hundred. If a woman could prove that
Speaker 2: she needed to dress in men's wear for a medical reason,
Speaker 2: she could get a permit to do it. But Aurora
Speaker 2: and a handful of other women did it without a permit.
Speaker 2: They didn't try to get a permit. They wore whatever
Speaker 2: they wanted without much in the way of real consequences.
Speaker 2: That law was actually still on the books in Paris,
Speaker 2: not really enforced though until twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you look back at articles in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: they're like, finally women can wear pants, which they're writing
Speaker 1: as a joke, because of course people had been wearing
Speaker 1: pants forever, and this was a time when it seemed
Speaker 1: that Aurar was truly defining the woman that she wanted
Speaker 1: to be, and she was establishing her unique identity. She
Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily wearing men's clothes to cause a stir. She
Speaker 1: found them more practical and more comfortable than wearing dresses,
Speaker 1: but she did also enjoy seeing the different way she
Speaker 1: was treated when she was wearing men's wear. Her figure
Speaker 1: was not especially curvy, so she was sometimes mistaken for
Speaker 1: a man, and that was something which she seemed to
Speaker 1: quite enjoy, particularly when she could reveal to the confused
Speaker 1: observer that in fact, she was a woman. She wrote a.
Speaker 2: First novel called Indiana at the end of eighteen thirty
Speaker 2: one that was published in May of eighteen thirty two
Speaker 2: under her new pen name, which was Jorge Sound. Eventually
Speaker 2: she grew tired of Jules Sando. She broke off their
Speaker 2: relationship and moved into a new apartment nearby. Her daughter,
Speaker 2: Solange moved in with her.
Speaker 1: Yeah that point, Solange was a little bit older than
Speaker 1: her her toddler age, and she would have needed more
Speaker 1: constant attention, so it worked out just fine. Indiana is
Speaker 1: not surprisingly a story about a woman dissatisfied with her marriage,
Speaker 1: she longs for passion and adoration, and in that quest
Speaker 1: she puts her faith in the wrong man. A spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: this is one of those classic tropes where the right
Speaker 1: man was in front of her the whole time, and
Speaker 1: the two do eventually end up together. And this novel
Speaker 1: was an instant success.
Speaker 2: This is when Aurora became famous and became publicly known
Speaker 2: as George Sohn, so we're gonna change over to addressing
Speaker 2: her by that name.
Speaker 1: Initially, she chose a pen.
Speaker 2: Name because she wanted people to appreciate the writing rather
Speaker 2: than marvel at the fact that a woman had written it.
Speaker 2: But soon it was really common knowledge that this was
Speaker 2: written by a woman, and she just kind of rolled
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I have to wonder if her like constant love
Speaker 1: of revealing, like in fact, I am not a student
Speaker 1: but a woman, didn't help, you know, kind of dissipate
Speaker 1: any anonymity she had been hoping for. Indiana was quickly
Speaker 1: followed by another novel of Volentine in November of that
Speaker 1: same year, and at that point George was kind of
Speaker 1: the it writer in Paris. So keep in mind that
Speaker 1: this is a time when novels were sort of equivalent
Speaker 1: to film or television today in terms of their prominence
Speaker 1: as entertainment, so she became something of an overnight celebrity
Speaker 1: following Indiana's publication.
Speaker 2: The Volentine of this novel is the story is heroin,
Speaker 2: and she's an aristocrat who falls in love with a
Speaker 2: poor farmer. In addition to the theme of true love
Speaker 2: that can never be actualized because of a class disparity,
Speaker 2: this book also serves as a feminist critique of the
Speaker 2: poor standards of education for women. Volentine is prepared only
Speaker 2: to be a wife and nothing more, and even if
Speaker 2: she were to end up with her farmer love, she
Speaker 2: would not be prepared well for the rigors of that
Speaker 2: kind of a life.
Speaker 1: In early eighteen thirty three, George Sond had a brief
Speaker 1: romantic relationship with a woman, and this was the actress
Speaker 1: Marie d'Orval. This was a heady time for Sond. Newly
Speaker 1: famous and free from the domestic life that she had fled,
Speaker 1: she really had her pick of suitors. Eighteen thirty three
Speaker 1: was also the year that George published her third novel, Lealia,
Speaker 1: and not long after she began her relationship with d'rval
Speaker 1: sond met fellow writer Alfred de Mussey, who also became
Speaker 1: her lover and with whom she had an on again,
Speaker 1: off again romance that would rival any fiction.
Speaker 2: Lealia gave readers a heroine who was a lot like
Speaker 2: Sound herself, an iconoclast who did not care about societal convention.
Speaker 2: The titular character finds happiness neither with her many love
Speaker 2: affairs nor in being celibate. When Lalia tells her courtesan
Speaker 2: sister of this whole situation, the sister suggests that Lealiah
Speaker 2: should become a Cortazan herself. This catalyzes a plot that
Speaker 2: involves a poet who's in love with Lealiah whose life
Speaker 2: falls apart after she tries to seduce him and then
Speaker 2: betrays him. I've not read this book. It sounds very
Speaker 2: complicated to me. Lalia was also panned by the press.
Speaker 1: Yeah and again. In some ways she is pulling from
Speaker 1: her own life and her various relationships, like it is
Speaker 1: not a surprise that at a time when she has
Speaker 1: met Alfred de Mussey, with whom she had a very
Speaker 1: volatile relationship, that she was also writing about these sort
Speaker 1: of complicated romantic matters. The end of eighteen thirty three
Speaker 1: in the beginning of eighteen thirty four were very chaotic
Speaker 1: and fraught. George and Mussey decided to go away to Italy,
Speaker 1: but that trip turned very sour. And this really sounds
Speaker 1: like a Telenevella plot. Things went completely awry. First when
Speaker 1: George got dysentery. Mouse then began having episodes of delirium
Speaker 1: because it turned out he had typhoid fever. Then George
Speaker 1: began an affair with the Italian doctor who came to
Speaker 1: treat Moosey. His name was Luigi Pegelle, and when mose
Speaker 1: recovered enough to return to Paris, Sond decided that she
Speaker 1: would stay behind in Venice with her new beloved doctor.
Speaker 2: Three months after Jose's return to Paris, Desors also felt
Speaker 2: as though she could go back to France, particularly to
Speaker 2: see her children, so in June of eighteen thirty four,
Speaker 2: she left Italy for Paris. She brought the doctor with her,
Speaker 2: but not long after getting there, George split up with
Speaker 2: him to return to Mousey. Although the reunion lasted less
Speaker 2: than a month.
Speaker 1: I certainly would not recommend it as a piece of
Speaker 1: historical information, but if you have ever seen or have
Speaker 1: not seen the movie Impromptu, which is about George Sond,
Speaker 1: in which the incomparable Judy Davis plays George, Mandy Patinkin
Speaker 1: plays Mouse, and he is spectacular. You get a sense
Speaker 1: of all of their levels of drama when the two
Speaker 1: of them are together on screen. Throughout all of this drama.
Speaker 1: Though in her personal life, Sond was writing and publishing.
Speaker 1: She published a series of stories in the literary magazine
Speaker 1: Revue de du Monde during her turbulent eighteen thirty four,
Speaker 1: including Leon, Leoni and Jacques, and at the beginning of
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty five, Sons and Muse reunited one last time,
Speaker 1: but their relationship was completely over by March of that year.
Speaker 1: Post Mouse, George began seeing a lawyer in Noan named
Speaker 1: Louis Michel.
Speaker 2: The next big event in George Son's life was finally
Speaker 2: legally separating herself from Casimir du Devon. This was a
Speaker 2: significant legal battle. Her lawyer, Paramore could not continue their relationship.
Speaker 2: He was married. He did not wish to disrupt his
Speaker 2: life with a long term affair, but he did manage
Speaker 2: George's legal separation before they split up, getting significant judgment
Speaker 2: wins for her. In July eighteen thirty six, the separation,
Speaker 2: although it was not a divorce, was finally settled. The
Speaker 2: two key aspects of the legal decision that her lawyer,
Speaker 2: Louis Michelle had fought for were that a George got
Speaker 2: custody of the children and b her chateau and property
Speaker 2: in noan reverted entirely back to her. Her son Maurice
Speaker 2: would have been thirteen at this point and Solange was seven.
Speaker 1: On the verge of turning eight. And once she had
Speaker 1: married Dudu Vont he had become the controller of the
Speaker 1: family finances. So she had been given an allowance out
Speaker 1: of what was rightfully her own inheritance, so that was
Speaker 1: what she was seeking to reverse at this point. Even
Speaker 1: after the separation, Soam did provide her husband with an
Speaker 1: annual income.
Speaker 2: Around this time, Son met previous podcast subject Franz List
Speaker 2: and his paramour Marie du Gout. Franz and Marie traveled
Speaker 2: to Nowant to visit Son twice in eighteen thirty seven,
Speaker 2: and it was through this friendship that George met the
Speaker 2: man she's most often associated with, who we referenced back
Speaker 2: at the top of the show, Friedrich Chopam. The friendship
Speaker 2: with Marie in particular, would disintegrate in time. It was
Speaker 2: revealed to that she had been gossiping about her and
Speaker 2: generally scheming against her. Son eventually wrote, quote, your understanding
Speaker 2: of friendship is different than mine. You just won't give
Speaker 2: up being a beautiful and witty woman who slaughters and
Speaker 2: smashes all the others.
Speaker 1: And while Palmde was instantly taken with Chopin when she
Speaker 1: met him, largely because of his musical skill, that interest
Speaker 1: was not initially reciprocated. In a letter that he wrote
Speaker 1: to family, Chopin wrote something about her repels me. But
Speaker 1: by May of eighteen thirty eight, the two were lovers.
Speaker 1: They stayed together for nine years, and both of them
Speaker 1: were incredibly productive during their romance. It's kind of considered
Speaker 1: like their golden period for both of them as creators.
Speaker 2: Their relationship was perplexing to their friends.
Speaker 1: At first.
Speaker 2: Chopin was quiet and reserved, with delicate health. He was
Speaker 2: the polar opposite of George, who lived however she wished
Speaker 2: and was unafraid of just about everything. There were whispers
Speaker 2: in their social circle that the match might take a
Speaker 2: toll on Chopin, who was perceived to be pretty fragile,
Speaker 2: and during their first winter together, she took him along
Speaker 2: with her two children to New Yorca to stay in
Speaker 2: a monastery. The weather and the meager accommodations there were
Speaker 2: really rough on the composer. He coughed up blood throughout
Speaker 2: this whole stay. After that debacle, they returned to Nowant,
Speaker 2: where George fond over Frederick and nursed him back to health.
Speaker 1: In addition to Chopin, Song's friendship with Liszt and Dagou
Speaker 1: connected her to many of Europe's most popular writers and artists.
Speaker 1: Many of those people spent time with her at the
Speaker 1: Chateau in Noan, including Honore de Balzac and Eugene de
Speaker 1: la Croix, who employed her son Maurice as an apprentice
Speaker 1: for a time.
Speaker 2: In April of eighteen forty, George San tried her hand
Speaker 2: at a different kind of writing, which was theater, and
Speaker 2: this did not go so well. Her play Gozima, which
Speaker 2: was also titled La Han da Lamour Hate in Love,
Speaker 2: was a flop.
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty one, Saw found herself in a battle
Speaker 1: with the leadership of the Review de du Monde over
Speaker 1: her new novel Horus. The periodical's editor had no wish
Speaker 1: to publish this work, and this led to George Song
Speaker 1: developing her own literary periodical, Revue and Dependent, in which
Speaker 1: Pierre LaRue and Louis Viardeau were her partners. This offered
Speaker 1: her a vehicle to publish her own work whenever she
Speaker 1: wanted and as she saw fit.
Speaker 2: She had an increasing interest in political matters at this point,
Speaker 2: and so George Sound was inspired in eighteen forty four
Speaker 2: to start another periodical. While Law Review into Pendent was
Speaker 2: an outlet for her romantic literary work, her second paper,
Speaker 2: La Claire, which is The Scout, gave her a place
Speaker 2: to print her increasingly political and particularly socialist writing.
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty seven, after nine years together, a permanent
Speaker 1: rift formed between Son and Chopin. In February of that year,
Speaker 1: Sond and her daughter Solange sat for sculptor Auguste Clesigner,
Speaker 1: and Solange and the sculptor fell madly in love of
Speaker 1: This was a little bit complicated because Solange was engaged
Speaker 1: to someone else, but she broke off that relationship to
Speaker 1: Mary Clesignier three months after meeting him.
Speaker 2: Two months after the wedding, which George had not really
Speaker 2: supported the writer got into a huge fight over money
Speaker 2: with her daughter and her new son in law, Klasagnier
Speaker 2: pulled a gun and threatened sound in the midst of
Speaker 2: this high tenent family conflict. It was Solange and not
Speaker 2: George that Chopin ultimately sided with. He broke up with
Speaker 2: son by letter, and that's Son's version. At least, Chopin
Speaker 2: had come to think of Solange as his own daughter,
Speaker 2: and he was not willing to cut her out of
Speaker 2: his life. When the composer and the writer did see
Speaker 2: each other again the year after their breakup, that's kind
Speaker 2: of written about as though they kind of ran into
Speaker 2: each other accidentally. Chopin gave George the news that Solane
Speaker 2: had given birth to a daughter. That was to be
Speaker 2: the last time that Sond and Chopin saw each other.
Speaker 2: Chopin died on October seventeenth, eighteen forty nine, of tuberculosis.
Speaker 2: Cleisinger actually cast his death mask. When George Son did
Speaker 2: not attend Chopin's funeral, many people actually blamed her for
Speaker 2: his death, even though his health improved considerably during his
Speaker 2: time at Nauan after that first slightly disastrous winter. Som did, however,
Speaker 2: later reconcile with her daughter. Next, we'll talk about George
Speaker 2: Son's life after Chopin, But first we're going to pause
Speaker 2: for a word from one of our sponsors, because we
Speaker 2: could not do this show without them. The wave of
Speaker 2: revolutions that began in France in February eighteen forty eight
Speaker 2: led to the overthrow of King Louis Philippe and the
Speaker 2: rise of the Second Republic. The Second Republic, which Sohm
Speaker 2: believed would be closely aligned with her own personal ideals,
Speaker 2: drew her back to Paris, and she started another new
Speaker 2: periodical there, La Carse du Peubre, The Cause of the People.
Speaker 2: She also wrote for a number of other socialist papers
Speaker 2: during that time. But in the months after the overthrow
Speaker 2: of the monarchy, it became clear that the new government
Speaker 2: of France was a lot more conservative than Son had
Speaker 2: hoped it would be. She was completely disillusioned by this
Speaker 2: turn of events, and she went back to Noat, where
Speaker 2: she spent most of her time for the rest of
Speaker 2: her life.
Speaker 1: The rustic short novel Francois le Champi was published in
Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight. It is the story of a champill
Speaker 1: that is a nickname that translates literally to little mushroom,
Speaker 1: but in this context it refers to a country orphan.
Speaker 1: This book was very popular, and in eighteen forty nine
Speaker 1: it was staged as a play at the Odeon Theater
Speaker 1: in Paris, and, unlike her earlier foray into theater, Sahn
Speaker 1: met with great success with Francois on the stage.
Speaker 2: For Christmas in eighteen forty nine, Son's son Maurice invited
Speaker 2: his friend Alexandra Monceaux to Nowant. Monceaux, who was an engraver,
Speaker 2: moved into the chateau permanently as George's companion, and for
Speaker 2: the next two years they agree did an assortment of
Speaker 2: visitors in Naant. They put on shows in the Parlor
Speaker 2: theater there.
Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty two, after Napoleon the Third came to power,
Speaker 1: George used her considerable influence to broke her pardons from
Speaker 1: the new emperor for many of his political opponents. She
Speaker 1: continued to advocate politically with the Buonaparte family on behalf
Speaker 1: of peasants and the working class, and as a consequence,
Speaker 1: she actually became pretty good friends with Prince Jerome Napoleon,
Speaker 1: the cousin of Napoleon the.
Speaker 2: Third, In eighteen fifty four, George's autobiography Istoi de m Ville,
Speaker 2: began publishing an installments in the journal La Presse. The
Speaker 2: story of her life spooled out over the course of
Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty eight installments, and then it was
Speaker 2: published in its entirety in book form over the course
Speaker 2: of twenty volumes, which gives you a sense of why
Speaker 2: we're not mentioning all of the individual details.
Speaker 1: As she approached her fifties, George wanted to ensure that
Speaker 1: her family would be taken care of long term after
Speaker 1: her death, and she began to work on selling the
Speaker 1: rights to future publication royalties for her work in an
Speaker 1: effort to secure financial stability for the family. Family life
Speaker 1: itself remained complex. In eighteen fifty three, Solange had entrusted
Speaker 1: George with the care of her second daughter, June, who
Speaker 1: went by Nini, and as the marriage between Solange and
Speaker 1: her sculptor husband broke down, Clesingay showed up at Noel
Speaker 1: to take the child from Sond, catalyzing a custody battle
Speaker 1: over the five year old, and though Sond was able
Speaker 1: to get custody of Nini after a month's long legal fight,
Speaker 1: the child contracted scarlet fever soon after and died in.
Speaker 2: Eighteen fifty five. Sonde, who had continued to write prolifically
Speaker 2: throughout all of these personal dramas, signed a ten book
Speaker 2: deal with Haschet three years later. She also made up
Speaker 2: with Francois Bouleaus, who was the editor at Revue des
Speaker 2: deu Mont that she had fallen out with years earlier.
Speaker 2: The literary magazine once again started publishing her work, starting
Speaker 2: with Lome de la Neige or the Snowman in a
Speaker 2: teen fifty eight.
Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty nine, Songs set off a minor literary
Speaker 1: war when she published El e Louis That's Her and
Speaker 1: Him in Installments, and this was a fictionalized version of
Speaker 1: her romance with Alfred de Mussey years earlier. Moose had
Speaker 1: died two years prior to Song's story coming out. Keep
Speaker 1: in mind this whole thing was more than twenty years
Speaker 1: after their relationship, and Mousey had had his say when
Speaker 1: he published his version of their story in eighteen thirty six.
Speaker 1: But just the same Saul's story earned the ire of
Speaker 1: Mousey's brother, who wrote his own book titled Louis Eel
Speaker 1: and once again represented his brother's side of the story.
Speaker 2: Despite the skirmish over her past romance in eighteen fifty nine,
Speaker 2: Song remained a celebrity and a success. At the end
Speaker 2: of that year, one of the first celebrity licensed luxury
Speaker 2: sense was created. That was Ou de George sound for
Speaker 2: the body and for the hanky.
Speaker 1: Yet another illustrious writer was still to step into George's life,
Speaker 1: and that was Good Style Flaubert. The two met in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty while Song was visiting Paris. Later became friends
Speaker 1: and went on to exchange letters for years. This is
Speaker 1: perhaps a surprising friendship since Flaubert's work Madame Beauverie, which
Speaker 1: came out in eighteen fifty six, seemed to mock the
Speaker 1: very sort of woman George Sond writes about in her books,
Speaker 1: and indeed presented herself as Song, like her heroines, was
Speaker 1: obsessed with romance, with emotions, with this search for passion.
Speaker 1: And if you have read Madame Beauverie, you know that
Speaker 1: Emma Bovverie is ultimately consumed by those very behaviors, and
Speaker 1: it is not always terribly flattering of her. We should
Speaker 1: note that the interpretation of Flaubert's intent had been argued
Speaker 1: since the book's publication, and that quote the i all
Speaker 1: offense he attributed to him Madame Beauvrie semoi, might indicate
Speaker 1: that he was perhaps less condescending about romanticism than it
Speaker 1: might appear at first glance.
Speaker 2: Regardless, the writers seemed to adore each other, despite the
Speaker 2: obviously different points of view that were presented in their correspondence.
Speaker 2: Flaubert refers to Song as dear master. At one point,
Speaker 2: as they debated politics, he wrote quote, Ah, dear good master,
Speaker 2: if you can only hate, that is what you lack hate.
Speaker 2: In spite of your great sphinx eyes, you have seen
Speaker 2: the world through a golden color.
Speaker 1: Their letters, which you can read online, are absolutely darling,
Speaker 1: some of them are. It's a very playful and sweet correspondence.
Speaker 1: It kind of reminds me of the text that you
Speaker 1: might send to your best friend. And back and forth.
Speaker 1: The two of them tease and chastise each other, and
Speaker 1: at one point in eighteen sixty six, Flaubert suggests that
Speaker 1: if they stop joking in their letters, Song will become
Speaker 1: instantly bored with him, and they often just seem to
Speaker 1: be trying to figure out times when their schedules intersect
Speaker 1: so that they can have dinner together. But it's all
Speaker 1: peppered throughout discussions of the human soul and the afterlife
Speaker 1: and the nature of art. And as I said, it's
Speaker 1: a very charming read. In eighteen sixty one, Yours and
Speaker 1: Solage had another falling out. This time George accused Solange
Speaker 1: of basically allowing a man to pay to keep her.
Speaker 1: The two women had continued to butt heads over money,
Speaker 1: and Solange had confided her financial problems to her mother.
Speaker 1: She got a less than cordial reply by letter that read,
Speaker 1: in part quote, you should live simply or learned to
Speaker 1: work to anything anyone ever says to you. You reply
Speaker 1: that it's impossible. My only advice is this, both privation
Speaker 1: and work require a strong will. And when you say
Speaker 1: how boring, I've got nothing more to say. As a
Speaker 1: result of these disagreements, the two women did not speak
Speaker 1: for four years. Yeah, they a classic mother and daughter
Speaker 1: conflict relationship. George's son Maurice also had some sort of
Speaker 1: falling out with alexandle Monceaux, that is, his friend who
Speaker 1: had become George Soon's companion and lover, and he asked
Speaker 1: that his former friend leave Noah and It is unclear
Speaker 1: why this ultimatum was given. It is possible that Maurice,
Speaker 1: who had married in eighteen sixty two, suddenly saw Manceaux
Speaker 1: as a freeloader in his mother's world. But we have
Speaker 1: to give Monceaux his due. He was absolutely devoted to Georgsand.
Speaker 1: Many men had fallen in love with her during her life,
Speaker 1: but Manceaux supported her in ways that few people ever
Speaker 1: experience in a partner.
Speaker 2: Sound was a constant and prolific writer. She turned out
Speaker 2: twenty pages a day every day. Because the chateau had
Speaker 2: constant guests that had needs and cost money, and because
Speaker 2: she paid allowances to her children and rented places in Paris,
Speaker 2: she just needed a constant stream of income, so she
Speaker 2: wrote even when a party went on at the chateau
Speaker 2: until the wee hours. She would then write and write
Speaker 2: until sunrise, and when she would sit down for a
Speaker 2: long session, Monceaux would bring her everything she might need,
Speaker 2: her paper and her ink, her cigarette, papers and tobacco,
Speaker 2: any refreshments she might need. He actually purchased a small
Speaker 2: cottage near by for them to escape to when the
Speaker 2: chateau got too crowded with guests for her to.
Speaker 1: Be able to write.
Speaker 2: In short, he enabled her to continue her career uninterrupted
Speaker 2: in the years that they were together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was so supportive Lake and Sik. What everybody
Speaker 1: dreams of in a partner that supports in and keeps
Speaker 1: him going and unconditionally loves them. He was there for
Speaker 1: all of that. So when Maurice insisted that Manceaux had
Speaker 1: to leave Noon, that is exactly what happened, and George
Speaker 1: soAnd left with him, And after they traveled for a bit,
Speaker 1: the pair landed in Palisseau, just outside of Paris. Manceau
Speaker 1: died of tuberculosis a year later, but it would be
Speaker 1: two war years before George Sound would return to Noon.
Speaker 2: The last ten years of her life were a mix
Speaker 2: of the life that she loved so much at Naant
Speaker 2: and travel and politics. She criticized both the radical Paris
Speaker 2: Commune government which ruled for several months in eighteen seventy one,
Speaker 2: and the toppling of that government because of the violent
Speaker 2: and bloody conflict that took place. She and her family
Speaker 2: fled no Want briefly due to a smallpox scare, and
Speaker 2: she entertained loads of visitors at the chateau. As always,
Speaker 2: she still wrote constantly along with all of that. At
Speaker 2: sixty nine, she wrote Conte dun Grammer Tales of a Grandmother.
Speaker 1: In late eighteen seventy five, Sond organized all of her
Speaker 1: works so it could be published as a complete collection,
Speaker 1: and she wrote a preface for it. Soon thereafter, she
Speaker 1: started work on a new novel, Albinfiori.
Speaker 2: She died on June eighth, eighteen seventy six, just a
Speaker 2: few weeks shy of her seventy second birthday.
Speaker 1: In her lifetime, Sound wrote more than fifty novels, more
Speaker 1: than a dozen play her extensive autobiography, and innumerable pamphlets, essays,
Speaker 1: and letters.
Speaker 2: In eighteen forty four, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a poem
Speaker 2: titled Tou George Sond, a recognition in celebration of the
Speaker 2: controversial writer's ability to carve out her own exceptional life
Speaker 2: that defied gender norms. Here's how that poem reads. Large
Speaker 2: brained woman and large hearted man, self called George Sond,
Speaker 2: whose soul amid the lions of thy tumultuous senses, moans
Speaker 2: defiance and answers roar for roar, as spirits can I
Speaker 2: would some mild miraculous thunder ran above the applauded circus
Speaker 2: and appliance of thine own nobler nature's strength and science,
Speaker 2: drawing to pinions white as wings of swan from thy
Speaker 2: strong shoulders to amaze the place with holier light that
Speaker 2: thou to woman's claim and man's might join, besides the
Speaker 2: angel's grace of a pure genius, sanctified from blame, till
Speaker 2: child and maiden pressed to thine embrace, to kiss upon
Speaker 2: thy lips a stainless fame.
Speaker 1: Oh youorg song, I love you so much. Good her.
Speaker 1: Uh It's funny because I don't super love her novels. Sure,
Speaker 1: this is not my jam, but I love her as
Speaker 1: a person and her biography. I think she's kind of
Speaker 1: fabulous in the way that you know, a saucy woman
Speaker 1: who sets out to make her own life very much
Speaker 1: outside of the norms of societal mores. This is pretty fun.
Speaker 1: And uh, yeah, I can't say I would I would
Speaker 1: want her romantic life. That sounds exhausting, but you know,
Speaker 1: she's still very fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2: There are moments where I'm like, that sounds like a
Speaker 2: lot of fun, and other moments are I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm tired now right, I just.
Speaker 1: Want to lie down. I mean, I love the idea, like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's another good time travel thing. I would love the
Speaker 1: chance to visit Noah and like hang out at some
Speaker 1: of her epic like perpetual parties that seem to be
Speaker 1: going on there with lots of interesting, fun, smart people. Right.
Speaker 1: Can I just hang out at Noah with De la
Speaker 1: Croix for a while. That sounds great?
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. Since
Speaker 2: this episode is out of the archive, at an email
Speaker 2: address or a Facebook RL or something similar over the
Speaker 2: course of the show that could be obsolete now. Our
Speaker 2: current email address is History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com.
Speaker 2: Our old house Stuffworks email address no longer works. You
Speaker 2: can find us all over social media at missed Inhistory,
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