George Sand, La Mare au Diable

Aimée Boutin (Florida State University)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1846

Places

France (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

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Recommended Reading

George Sand’s novella

La Mare au diable

(1846) counts among her most read, most anthologized, and most enduring works. With

François le Champi

(1847) and

La Petite Fadette

(1848),

it is one of three so-called rustic or pastoral novels (

romans champêtres

) written at a time of political upheaval leading to the Revolution of 1848, but set in an indefinite time among peasants of the Berry region in central France where Sand grew up. The novella’s continued appeal among young and old, school children and scholars hinges on the range of interpretations it can elicit from political to apolitical and from progressive to conservative. Whereas some of Sand’s contemporaries, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve in particular, felt that the tales set politics aside, feminist critics today tend to…

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1081 words

Citation: Boutin, Aimée. "La Mare au Diable". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35647, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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