International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science — Volume 1, No. 3, July 15, 1850Various
Science
International Weekly Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science — Volume 1, No. 3, July 15, 1850
Various
Art -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY MISCELLANY
Of Literature, Art, and Science.
* * * * *
Vol. I. NEW YORK, JULY 15, 1850. No. 3.
* * * * *
GEORGE SAND, IN THE MEMOIRS OF CHATEAUBRIAND.
George Sand is about to publish a book called "Memoirs of my Life,"
which is looked for with great expectations by both the admirers of
her genius and the lovers of scandalous gossip. It is certain that if
she makes a clean breast of her adventures and experiences, the world
will have reason both for admiration and disgust over the confessions:
admiration for the generosity of her character--for she never did
a mean thing, and probably never had a mean thought--disgust at the
recklessness with which she has cast off the delicacy and modesty of
woman, and undermined the morality on which the holiest institutions
of society depend. The interest with which the French public look
forward to the book may be understood from the enormous price she
has received for it between $30,000 and $40,000. The _Credit_, a most
respectable daily journal of Paris, has purchased of the publisher,
for $12,000, the right of issuing the first six volumes in its
_feuilleton_, in advance of the regular publication, and will soon
commence them.
Chateaubriand, in one of the latest chapters of his Posthumous
Memoirs, speaks at some length of George Sand. The verdict of the most
illustrious French literary man of the age which has just closed,
upon this most remarkable writer of the age now passing, is every
way interesting, and we translate it for the _International_ from the
columns of _La Presse_, as follows:
Madame Sand possesses talents of the first order. Her descriptions are
true as those of Rousseau in his Reveries, and those of Bernardin
St. Pierre in his Studies. Her free style is stained by none of the
current faults of the day. Lelia, a book painful to read, and offering
only here and there one of the delicious scenes which may be found in
Indiana and Valentine, is nevertheless a master-work of its kind. Of
the nature of a debauch, it is yet without passion, though it produces
the disturbance of passion. The soul is wanting, but still it weighs
upon the heart. Depravity of maxims, insult to rectitude of life,
could not go farther; but over the abyss descends the talent of the
author. In the valley of Gomorrah the dew falls nightly upon the Dead
Sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account