Vérité de la fiction et fiction de la vérité dans Histoire de ma vie

Desire for the mother as the hidden truth of the fiction; identification with the father as the fiction or mask of the truth; these are the two poles that sustained Sand's autobiographical project in Histoire de ma vie. Rooted in the mythical memory of the primal scene, the intensity of this desire demands the interposition of a veil, for which the "green screen" is an objective metaphor. The imbrication of truth and fiction crystallizes however only with the disappearance of the father which allows the child to take the place of her dead rival and to act as if she could possess the mother. But the mother, always lost to her anyhow, slips away. The writing, meant as a letter to the mother, tries to compensate for her absence, without being able to avoid the detour of mourning. Hence the importance Sand gives to her father's letters before beginning the story of her own life; far from being an hors d'œuvre, they are the keystone of her autobiographical enterprise. (In French) (YB-S)