222 - SAND, George (known as Aurore Dupin, Baroness Dudevant) [Paris, 1804 – Nohant, 1876], French novelist.

SAND, George (known as Aurore Dupin, Baroness Dudevant) [Paris, 1804 – Nohant, 1876], French novelist. Autograph letter signed “ (George Sand) Aur. Dudevant,” addressed to Louis-Joseph Vincent. October 8, 1837, 23 1/4 pages in quarto. A long letter recounting the actions of her husband, Casir Dudevant, in the midst of divorce proceedings, 1837–1838—a case that caused quite a stir at the time due to its many twists and turns involving their children. She asks Mr. Vincent, “Since you are kind enough to take a special interest in my domestic situation and my family affairs […] I will take advantage of your patience and goodwill to tell you everything that is on my mind and troubling me at this moment.” She begins by recounting the abduction of Solange by her father: “First, regarding the abduction of my poor little girl Solange. Do not expect me to give you a satisfactory explanation of the motives that led Mr. Dudevant to come into my own home, resort to violence, and cruelly snatch her—at the risk of breaking her limbs, despite my tears and screams—from her governess’s arms. All in the name of paternal love, according to him. This behavior is as absurd as it is odious.” She describes the harshness of her husband’s words toward their daughter and explains his reaction to the investigations requested by Georges Sand: “He is outraged by the findings of the investigation I initiated last year to obtain my separation, from which you can see that Mr. Dudevant had never shown much affection for his daughter and that, in his fits of bad temper, he would hurl the crudest and filthiest [epithets] at her, to the point that the child—undoubtedly more frightened by the tone in which he spoke them than by their obscene meaning—would burst into tears in front of everyone.” She also states that she had drawn up an initial private agreement prior to the separation regarding their son Maurice, then 13 years old, which her husband violated “In an initial agreement […] that I had entered into with Mr. Dudevant before the separation judgment—which he violated by filing an appeal—it had been decided that my son would complete his education at the boarding school and that his vacations and days off would be divided equally between his father and me. As for our daughter, Mr. Dudevant left her entirely in my care and made no reservations whatsoever—not even the right to see her.” She also provides an update on Maurice, who was having a hard time coping with this period of the trial and the arguments: “He was extraordinarily childlike for his age. He suddenly became a man. We had thought him weak-willed and even carefree. I sometimes reproached him for being a bit selfish. Overnight, he displayed visible resolve and, unfortunately, excessive sensitivity.” She explains that he fell ill and she had to take him out of school to bring him to Nohan for treatment: “Without waiting for Mr. Dudevant’s permission, I immediately took my son home […] and wrote to his father explaining what had happened and what the doctor had told me.” She refuses to hand over her weak and sick child to a violent, drunken man. The law must protect children. She concludes: “No, no, it is impossible that there is no legal way to ensure my child’s rest. Shall I flee with him? Shall I evade this law, this justice that I invoke? No, that would be to doubt it, and my children must not enter life hating the laws of their country. I do not ask to humiliate Mr. Dudevant, who has already been humiliated a hundred times through his own fault. I do not want to break a promise. I do not wish to inflict the humiliation, in the eyes of his son, of stripping him of all semblance of authority. But I ask only that an order—any legal provision—temporarily guarantee me, for two years, for one year, or for a period that the doctors themselves will determine based on Maurice’s needs, the right to care for my child and to devote myself to him at all times, without some act of fury destroying in a single day the effect of a lifetime of care and love.” Attached is a handwritten note (1/2 page in-4°) regarding her relationship with Casimir Dudevant in the summer of 1833; Dudevant, having promised her a pension of 6,000 francs and failing to keep his promise, replied: “I don’t give a damn about my conscience—or about you.”