813 George Sand (with Fiona Sampson) | My Last Book with Kathleen Antonioli

Upon her death, French novelist George Sand (1804-1876) was widely recognized as one of the most popular and acclaimed writers in Europe. And yet, even then, the legend of the cigar-smoking, cross-dressing, promiscuous writer threatened to overshadow her literary accomplishments. Fast forward to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the English-speaking world has all but forgotten Sand the novelist, instead recalling her as a side character in a suit, a wannabe artist who hitched her wagon to greater geniuses like Chopin and Flaubert. In this episode, Jacke talks to award-winning poet and biographer Fiona Sampson about her book Becoming George, which examines Sand's iconoclasm and rehabilitates her as an intellectual and artistic giant. PLUS Kathleen Antonioli (Colette: A Critical Life) stops by to tell Jacke about her choice for the last book she will ever read.

On Sale Now! For more information and to order ⁠Great Detective! An Adventure for Two People [2-Book Boxed Set]⁠ by Jacke Wilson, visit ⁠press.historyofliterature.com⁠.

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