User:Dhalamh/sandbox

Lélia is a novel by George Sand first published in 1833 by x. The story of an independent woman unsatisfied by the roles available to her in society, it was commercially successful and controversial on its initial release. Lélia is cold and aloof in her romantic relationships, with tragic consequences. Lélia is also supportive of her sister Pulchérie's choice to become a courtesan. Some have seen various autobiographical elements in the novel, while Sand described it herself as a "metaphysical novel". Due to its thematic content, especially it's presentation of sexual desire, it has received analysis in feminist and psycho-analytic literature. (serialisation in La Revue des deux mondes in July of 1833 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/irjofs/ijfs/2001/00000001/00000001/art00006?crawler=true)

Plot summary
A series of letters are exchanged between Lélia and a young poet, Sténio. Sténio is in love with Lélia, who sends him mixed messages: sometimes she is encouraging, at other times she is cold and aloof. They begin to meet, in the company of a middle aged man, Trenmor, who Sténio initially becomes jealous of. Trenmor advises Lélia to show more affection to Sténio, something she tries and ultimately fails to do.

Lélia catches cholera, and a priest, Magnus, is called. Magnus knows Lélia, and after some hesitation confesses his love for her. Sténio and Magnus meet once, and the latter believes that Lélia has died. Lélia continues to correspond with Sténio: she discusses her pessimism and dissatisfaction with society, while he defends the idea of progress. Lélia tries to live a solitary life of reflection, but becomes lonely and comes to the town of Monteverdor to an opulent party. There she discovers that the famous courtesan Zinzolina is her sister Pulchérie. Lélia had ignored Pulchérie for years as she distained her life choices, but now listens to her with sympathy, including when she confesses feelings of desire for Lélia during their early life.

Lélia tells Pulchérie the story of how she spent years in a ruined Abbey, meditating on God and seeking a life of purity before deciding that a storm was a sign that God had rejected her. During the storm, she is about to let the ruins fall upon her but was saved by Magnus. She behaved with him similarly with how she did with Sténio, with similar effects. At Pulchérie's suggestion, she attempts a life in imitation of her sister. She does not manage to find pleasure in this either, but has a chance encounter with Sténio. Unable to give him what he wants, she sends her sister to spend the night with him, a deception he later discovers with anger. He announces that he will attempt a life of debauchery also.

Later, Trenmor arrives at the palace of Zinzolina in search of Sténio and finds him much changed. Zinzolina/Pulchérie tries to pair him with a princess Claudia, but he rejects her and is taken away by Sténio. They travel to a monastery where they encounter Magnus. Sténio accuses Magnus of not overcoming his love for Lélia, but only hiding it. Magnus later agrees that this is correct. The next day, Magnus discovers that Sténio has committed suicide by drowning in the lake. Trenmor tries to bring Lélia to Sténio, but she arrives too late. She meditates on his corpse, criticizing him while also trying to explain herself. Magnus sees Lélia and becomes consumed by desire. Lélia criticizes him for his failure as a priest, and he strangles her, before running away. Sténio and Lélia are buried opposite each other, and Trenmor observes a light passing from one of their graves to the other at night time. Finally, he wanders off alone.

Contemporary critical response
Contemporary

"MADAME, you will live, and you will be the Lord Byron of France" letter from Chateaubriand: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/03/books/the-joy-of-suffering.html

Praise in French from Revue des Deux Mondes https://www.jstor.org/stable/23532383

On narrative structure: "not the account of an adventure", Planche in Revue des Deux Mondes https://books.google.ie/books?id=MF_qx8MlrlwC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=naginski+lelia&source=bl&ots=BrlZcefqLU&sig=ACfU3U0kxb6H_67NOR5Wah7QLOruhcsQ0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFh9-k-b75AhURilwKHbAjAOQQ6AF6BAgYEAM#v=onepage&q=naginski%20lelia&f=false

Saint Beuve criticizes its lack of structure, p59

Later

"Rambling repetitious outpouring of rhetoric" who says? https://www.jstor.org/stable/23532383

"Most poetical", Naginski

https://books.google.ie/books?id=MF_qx8MlrlwC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=naginski+lelia&source=bl&ots=BrlZcefqLU&sig=ACfU3U0kxb6H_67NOR5Wah7QLOruhcsQ0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFh9-k-b75AhURilwKHbAjAOQQ6AF6BAgYEAM#v=onepage&q=naginski%20lelia&f=false

"Sand's most iconoclastic work, a narratologists nightmare", Schor, https://books.google.ie/books?id=MF_qx8MlrlwC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=naginski+lelia&source=bl&ots=BrlZcefqLU&sig=ACfU3U0kxb6H_67NOR5Wah7QLOruhcsQ0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjFh9-k-b75AhURilwKHbAjAOQQ6AF6BAgYEAM#v=onepage&q=naginski%20lelia&f=false

Analysis

Feminism

The Psyche of Feminism: Sand, Colette, Sarraute "woman's choice of an exceptional path destines her to become accursed" p51

Psychoanalysis

The Psyche of Feminism: Sand, Colette, Sarraute

Attacked marriage, questioned God, autobiographical: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2005/03/06/the-good-lady-of-nohant/7a478dd9-20bd-4cd4-96eb-9d06e8ad05b2/

Female Fetishism: The Case of George Sand https://www.freud.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Naomi-Schor-Female-Fetishism-The-Case-of-George-Sand.pdf

Death and Desire in Lélia:

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/irjofs/ijfs/2001/00000001/00000001/art00006?crawler=true

1839 version. "expunging the controversial references to Lélia's sexual impotence"

Theme: unfulfilled sexual desire as a source of psychological suffering

"Gender in the Fiction of George Sand" https://books.google.ie/books?id=p2BQq6dskAoC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=lelia+sand+church&source=bl&ots=bATx2hwhE9&sig=ACfU3U0ug7IPbEGUTBQz4p98yeHZ6ziKXA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwituc2J_r75AhU8SUEAHQBfBAEQ6AF6BAhFEAM#v=onepage&q=lelia%20sand%20church&f=false

Theme: cultural dependence of women

See also: Men of Their Words: The Poetics of Masculinity in George Sand's Fiction, which mentions Lélia multiple times