Les Nouvelles de George Sand: fictions de l'étrangère

George Sand's five very distinct novellas, La Marquise (1832), Lavinia (1833), Métella (1833), Mattéa (1832) and Pauline (1841), share one important aspect. The main character in each text is a female who appears either as a foreigner and/or stranger in her world. This study examines the notion of the foreigner in Lavinia, Mattéa, Metella, and the stranger in Pauline and La Marquise. The characters' search for a space and identity of their own, outside the social norms, parallels the author's own quest. Sand sought not only a new position for women in society but a new fictional voice and space in a literary world dominated by men. (In French) (SCW)