George Sand comique éd. par Olivier Bara et François Kerlouégan

Abstract

Reviewed by: George Sand comique éd. par Olivier Bara et François Kerlouégan Maria G. Traub Bara, Olivier, et François Kerlouégan, éd. George Sand comique. UGA, 2020. ISBN 978-2-37747-182-9. Pp. 384. A longstanding notion that George Sand's writing is "spleenétique," and that the comic is generally absent from it, is challenged in this work, a study divided into four broad sections covering comedic form and register, those who laugh, getting laughs, and the political and ethical in comedy. Twenty-one essays spread beneath these rubrics focus upon diverse aspects of comedy, beginning with the intellectual and cultural formation of Sand. As a child she read the works of eighteenth-century philosophers, notably Diderot and Sterne, found in the library at Nohant. Sand, a nineteenth-century woman writer who loved life, never abandoned her quest for a joie de vivre. Specific examples are drawn from her correspondence in personal and business matters, from her autobiography and from theatrical works. The excerpts provided cover a spectrum of emotions from affectionate to seductive, jovial to satirical, polemical to inspirational. From her autobiography, one learns the influence of family. Anecdotes, such as one from a letter of Sand's father, describe his participation in a farcical theatrical entertainment among soldiers. For the most part, Sand gathered a genteel acculturation from her aristocratic father's side, while from her mother she received exposure to the spicy, spontaneous talk of common people. Such language was not lost on her. She used it to advantage when animating peasant characters in her writing. Sand's education—literary, artistic, and experiential—enabled her to create distance and objectivity in relationships. She learned not to take herself so seriously. In correspondence with close friends, she used generous doses of self-mockery. The comic in portraits of her contemporaries is expressed affectionately when describing Balzac, a writer who exuded enormous self-satisfaction, never tiring of discussing his work. As for Stendhal, whom she encountered while traveling, she was quite satirical. Stendhal offended her by seeking to uncover weaknesses in people, then mercilessly criticizing them. Her portraiture was not only verbal. Fanciful sketches appeared at the bottom of manuscripts, i.e., Spiridion, and letters to her editor Buloz. Sand shifted easily to the sublime when describing those friends whom she considered artistically gifted, such as Delacroix and Marie Dorval. The imagination and stimulus gleaned from association with musicians and singers motivated Sand to write in an entirely new genre, "opéra-comique littéraire," as found in Teverino. The commedia dell'arte and the works of Ruzante also exerted influence on Sand. From these she captured an innocent buffoonery, incorporating it into both plays and novels. Comedy was also used to support equality issues. In her novels, she put comedy to use in battles to favor women. Well-placed humor became a weapon of social combat. Within her novels, the characters who opposed values she defended were targeted for satire. While not exclusively a "comic" writer, the comic infiltrated myriad topics for Sand, whose expression conveyed reconciliation with self and others. This work provides a useful research tool. It offers insight into her use of laughter and invites us to share in it. [End Page 228] [End Page 229] Maria G. Traub Neumann University (PA) Copyright © 2021 American Association of Teachers of French