Women artists and musicians in George Sand
*Nina Rolland (Reading), ‘Music and Gender Roles in Le Dernier Amour (1866)’
*Amy McTurk (St Andrews) ‘Re-Writing Narratives of Female (Creative) Agency in George Sand’s La Marquise’
Moderated by Maria Scott (Exeter).
Friday 27 May 2022, 17h UK time, 18h French time, 12h US East Coast time
Abstracts:
Amy McTurk (St Andrews), ‘Re-Writing Narratives of Female (Creative) Agency in George Sand’s La Marquise’
This paper analyses the themes of theatricality and performance in the narrative framing of George Sand’s La Marquise to propose that the text re-writes the script for young female protagonists obliged to choose between love and liberty in conventional nineteenth-century “marriage plots”. Reading for the eponymous Marquise’s carefully choreographed self-staging throughout her conversation with an unnamed narrator, this paper identifies points of re-entry for an alternative story to surface within the dominant cultural narrative. Here, the Marquise re-stages herself as sacrificing neither sexuality nor autonomy during and after her intense passion for an actor, Lélio. This exploration of Sand’s innovative narrative strategy then prompts a reconsideration of the depiction of female agency and creativity in La Marquise, as no longer staged against male authority, but instead centred in the heroine herself.
Nina Rolland (Reading), ‘Music and Gender Roles in Le Dernier Amour (1866)’
Nineteenth-century fiction is replete with female musician characters, often singing or playing the piano in the domestic sphere, reflecting the bloom of bourgeois musicianship. Women of the middle and upper classes were required to learn music but were restricted to playing light tunes, while men were embodiments of the figure of the composer and creator. Authors generally rely on musical scenes conforming to nineteenth-century gender roles to portray love and marriage stories. In Le Dernier Amour, George Sand also uses music to tell a marriage story, but she breaks with gender conventions by staging not only a creative female musician but also one of the few violinists of nineteenth-century European literature. The violinist Félicie does not conform to the role of musician-wife that her husband, the male narrative frame, and patriarchal society want her to. This presentation will examine the extent to which George Sand challenges nineteenth-century gender roles through the representation of music.
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Thanks, Cathy.
