Indiana (Les Romans de George Sand, #32)

by George Sand

Sylvia Raphael (Translator) and Naomi Schor (Editor)

Indiana (1831) is an absorbing and vivid romantic novel, set partly in provincial France, partly in Paris, and partly on a tropical island. It tells the story of a beautiful and innocent young woman, married at sixteen to a much older man. She falls passionately in love with a handsome, frivolous neighbour but discovers too late that his idea of love is quite different from her own. It is only after a series of painful experiences that she comes to appreciate the silent devotion of her loyal and protective cousin.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

• ISBN10: 0199540489
• ISBN13: 9780199540488
• Publish Date: 12 June 2008 (first published 1 December 1975)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Oxford University Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[brokentune]

‘You’ve been unbelievably imprudent!’ said Raymon, carefully closing the door behind him. ‘And my servants know you’re here! They’ve just told me.’
‘I made no secret of my presence,’ she replied coldly, ‘and, as for the word you use, I think it ill-chosen.’
‘I said imprudent; I ought to have said insane.’
‘I would have said courageous. But it doesn’t matter.'

No, no, it does matter, and I would like to get back to using the word insane. This novel was insane. Seriously, there was nothing sane amidst the high drama in this story. There was no sane person among the characters in this story. All of whom deserved to be slapped repeatedly by the way.

At some point when reading this I asked whether Sand wrote this as satire, but apparently she did not. This was, apparently, an earnest attempt at a story and at characters.

I am really torn about this book, because I can't decide whether I liked it: plot, characters, and style, were all over the place. There were inconceivable and weird turns, there were high dramatics, there were tantrums, there was a lot of sentimentality.

And, yet, at no point did I want to set the book aside. At no point did I want to DNF this.

I guess this is because the plot was so incredibly packed with moments that astonished me, that I just had to watch this train wreck of a novel until the end.

And what an end this was!

So, we get two of the characters on the way to fulfil a suicide pact.
They jump.
And yet they survive?
How did they miss the cliff?
Was this simply meant to be metaphorical?
WTF?


I guess I should have written about how Indiana is Sand making a stand for women's rights, and the emancipation of women as individuals who are equal under law, and the general struggle of individuals of both sexes against the social constrictions of her time, but, oh boy, that would mean that I would have to take Indiana serious as a novel.
And that I just cannot do.

For all the courage, sass, and modernism that Sand stands for, I have to separate the author from this particular book.
This particular book was insane!