Archaeology – A Passion of George Sand
145
published in 1875, of which a necessarily brief overview will be
given.
By way of preliminary considerations, it should be noted that
these few novels featuring archaeological themes serve both as responses to and illustrations of the theories set out in two important
paratexts relating to the discipline: the foreword of the Légendes
rustiques and the preface to Laisnel de la Salle’s Croyances et
légendes du cœur de la France. The following is one of the most significant extracts from the former work:
Cependant l’esprit gaulois a légué à toutes nos traditions rustiques de grands traits et
une couleur qui se rencontrent dans toute la France, un mélange de terreur et
d’ironie, une bizarrerie d’invention extraordinaire, jointe à un symbolisme naïf qui
atteste le besoin du vrai moral au sein de la fantaisie délirante.
Le Berry, couvert d’antiques débris des âges mystérieux, de tombelles, de
dolmens, de menhirs et de mardelles (voyez pour ces mystérieux vestiges l’Histoire
du Berry, par M. Raynal), semble avoir conservé, dans ses légendes, des souvenirs
antérieurs au culte des druides: peut-être celui des dieux kabyres, que nos antiquaires
placent avant l’apparition des Kymris sur notre sol. Les sacrifices de victimes
humaines semblent planer, comme une horrible réminiscence, dans certaines visions.
Les cadavres ambulants, les fantômes mutilés, les hommes sans tête, les bras et les
jambes sans corps, peuplent nos landes et nos vieux chemins abandonnés.
25
The presence of archaeological themes in George Sand’s thought is
therefore intimately linked to rustic legend and is intended to be put to
the service of the “vrai moral”, a notion to which she would return in
the preface of Jeanne. Certain Berrichon legends could then be understood as the last remaining vestiges of Gallic culture, and the natives
of Berry the direct inheritors of this ancient people.
Yet although Sand may have played the role of apprentice archaeologist herself, she did not see fit to introduce the figure of the archaeologist into any of her works. Instead it fell to her son, Maurice
Sand, undoubtedly influenced by his mother’s rich store of archaeological experiences, to write Callirhoé, a work of what may be termed
archaeo-fiction, featuring an archaeologist in the role of hero. This
novel, published by Michel Lévy in 1864, is set in a location not far
from la Motte de Presle, at the heart of the Berry region. The nature
and the sheer originality of this work is intimately linked to the young
novelist’s evocation of madness and of the fantastical, themes largely
___________________________
25 George Sand, Légendes rustiques (Paris: A. Morel et Cie, 1858), p. vi.
145
published in 1875, of which a necessarily brief overview will be
given.
By way of preliminary considerations, it should be noted that
these few novels featuring archaeological themes serve both as responses to and illustrations of the theories set out in two important
paratexts relating to the discipline: the foreword of the Légendes
rustiques and the preface to Laisnel de la Salle’s Croyances et
légendes du cœur de la France. The following is one of the most significant extracts from the former work:
Cependant l’esprit gaulois a légué à toutes nos traditions rustiques de grands traits et
une couleur qui se rencontrent dans toute la France, un mélange de terreur et
d’ironie, une bizarrerie d’invention extraordinaire, jointe à un symbolisme naïf qui
atteste le besoin du vrai moral au sein de la fantaisie délirante.
Le Berry, couvert d’antiques débris des âges mystérieux, de tombelles, de
dolmens, de menhirs et de mardelles (voyez pour ces mystérieux vestiges l’Histoire
du Berry, par M. Raynal), semble avoir conservé, dans ses légendes, des souvenirs
antérieurs au culte des druides: peut-être celui des dieux kabyres, que nos antiquaires
placent avant l’apparition des Kymris sur notre sol. Les sacrifices de victimes
humaines semblent planer, comme une horrible réminiscence, dans certaines visions.
Les cadavres ambulants, les fantômes mutilés, les hommes sans tête, les bras et les
jambes sans corps, peuplent nos landes et nos vieux chemins abandonnés.
25
The presence of archaeological themes in George Sand’s thought is
therefore intimately linked to rustic legend and is intended to be put to
the service of the “vrai moral”, a notion to which she would return in
the preface of Jeanne. Certain Berrichon legends could then be understood as the last remaining vestiges of Gallic culture, and the natives
of Berry the direct inheritors of this ancient people.
Yet although Sand may have played the role of apprentice archaeologist herself, she did not see fit to introduce the figure of the archaeologist into any of her works. Instead it fell to her son, Maurice
Sand, undoubtedly influenced by his mother’s rich store of archaeological experiences, to write Callirhoé, a work of what may be termed
archaeo-fiction, featuring an archaeologist in the role of hero. This
novel, published by Michel Lévy in 1864, is set in a location not far
from la Motte de Presle, at the heart of the Berry region. The nature
and the sheer originality of this work is intimately linked to the young
novelist’s evocation of madness and of the fantastical, themes largely
___________________________
25 George Sand, Légendes rustiques (Paris: A. Morel et Cie, 1858), p. vi.