Title : Lélia - George Sand - Book
Summary :
This novel (1833) is inspired less by the life than by the person of George Sand. The heroine is a woman of action, but consumed by the demon of analysis, and whose charm works on many men: the poet Sténio (one thinks of Musset), the former converted adventurer Trenmor, the hermit Magnus. Lélia seeks peace by becoming the abbess of a convent. Sténio finds her there and it is a tragedy. George Sand herself distinguished in her book a psychological question, a social question (women in society), the poetry of the characters, the style which translates this poetry. Lélia, she added, signifies disappointment, suffering, the defiant and dried-up heart, despair. - Sténio signifies hope, confidence in the future, love. The author brings a philosophy, that of lucid despair, to the service of a great book.