The One and the Many: George Sand and Her Biographers

As a hybrid genre at the crossroads of history and literature, biography has become the focus of intense scholarly analysis only in recent decades. Like its literary and historical components, biography reflects both diachronic trends and synchronic diversity. Furthermore, biographies of women reflect problems and issues that are gender specific. George Sand is an excellent example of the problematic of famous women subjects. Traditionally, she has been portrayed primarily as a pathological case study. Within the last twenty years, Sand has begun to emerge as a vibrant and complex individual. Even so, a comparison of six Sand biographies illustrates that there is no consensus about the "meaning" of Sand's life. (ABM)