Amantine Lucille Aurore Dupin Dudevant, a French novelist, celebrated under the assumed-name of George Sand, born in Paris in July, 1804. Her father, Maurice Dupin, died when she was scarcely four years old, leaving her to the care of her grandmother, the countess de Horn, who was the illegitimate daughter of Marshal Saxe, the illegitimate son of Augustus II., king of Poland, and of the countess Aurora de Konigsmark. She received her first education at the family country seat of Nohant, near La Chatre, where she led a somewhat eccentric life. After spending about two years at a boarding school in Paris, she returned to No-hant in 1820, and on the death of her grandmother a few months later lived with friends in the vicinity of Melun. Here she became acquainted with Casimir Dudevant, whom she married in September, 1822. The young couple took up their abode at Nohant, but found that their tempers, habits, and tastes could not harmonize, and the estrangement was embittered by pecuniary embarrassments. In 1831 Mme. Dudevant, desirous of trying her fortune as a writer, obtained permission of her husband to pass three months out of every six in Paris. She contributed a few articles to Figaro, but not possessing the extemporaneous facility requisite for a journalist, she found herself dependent upon the allowance of 1,500 francs paid by her husband.

In order to reduce her expenses, and to visit unnoticed the public galleries, libraries, and theatres, she assumed male attire. Meanwhile she wrote a novel in conjunction with her friend Jules Sandeau, entitled Rose et Blanche, and bearing the name of Jules Sand, which was received favorably enough to encourage the publisher to take another from the same hands. Sandeau had nothing ready, but his associate had just completed Indiana, which appeared in May, 1832, under the name of George Sand, and had a brilliant success. A rumor that the author was a woman added to the interest created by Indiana. This was soon followed by Valentine, a more perfect production, which was also eagerly received. "George Sand" became then a favorite novel writer for the Revue des Deux Mondes. In 1833 she produced Lelia, which caused a profound sensation by seeming to advocate principles of infidelity and social disorder; and from this time the author was looked upon with suspicion by many of her former admirers. To recruit her health, she now started for Italy in company with Alfred de Musset, the poet; but they separated in Venice, he returning to France and she remaining and writing Jacques, Andre, and les let-tres d'un voyageur.

On her return to France in the beginning of 1835, she met the eloquent lawyer, Michel de Bourges, who drew Her into politics, Lamennais, with whom she debated questions of religion, and Pierre Leroux, who initiated her into the doctrines of socialism. Their influence was perceptible in several of her works, such as Simon, Spiridion, and Con-suelo, and the continuation of the last named work under the title of La comtesse de Rudol-stadt. The difficulties with her husband had increased, and she obtained a decree by which she was separated from him and restored to the management of her own fortune and the guardianship of her children; after which she made Nohant a resort for her friends, and attended to her children's education. In 1838 she spent a winter in Majorca, where she was accompanied by the pianist Chopin, her relations with whom continued till 1847. In 1845 she began to write pastoral novels, including Francois le Champi (first produced as a play in 1849), La petite Fadette, and La mare au diable. The revolution of February, 1848, brought her again into the political arena, and she is said to have upheld with her pen many of the measures of Ledru-Rollin, then a member of the provisional government; but a few months afterward she returned to her country seat and her wonted occupations.

In 1854 she published in the Presse newspaper an autobiography, entitled Histoire de ma vie, which contains few incidents of her life, but is a history of her mind and heart. She has published, either in book form or in journals, about 60 novels, more than 20 plays, some of which are adaptations from her novels, and many minor works. Her plays have met with less favor than her novels; but Francois le Champi, Le mariage de Victorine (1849), Les beaux messieurs de Bois-Dore (1862), and especially Le marquis de Villemer (1864), have been very successful. Many of her novels have been translated and published in the United States. Among her latest publications are Journal d'un voyageur pendant la guerre (1871), a highly interesting diary, first contributed in parts to the Revue des Deux Mondes during the late war, and Impressions et souvenirs (1873).