'L’esprit, le cœur et les bras”: Rethinking art as labour in George Sand

Mathias, M. (2016) 'L’esprit, le cœur et les bras”: Rethinking art as labour in George Sand. Modern Language Review, 111(1), pp. 104-120. (doi: 10.5699/modelangrevi.111.1.0104)

Abstract

This article examines George Sand's approach to labour both in her commercial negotiations and in her own texts. It argues that the increasingly fraught relationship within the literary market between work, art, and money is played out and reworked in Sand's novels. Whereas in her correspondence Sand oscillates between the practical and the aesthetic, in her narratives she creates utopian, ternary models of labour which resolve this binary. The article thus shows how Sand uses her writing as a tool to question the opposition between art and commerce, offering a vision of artistic work as both product and noble pursuit.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Labour, George Sand, literary marketplace.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mathias, Dr Manon
• Authors: Mathias, M.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Modern Languages and Cultures > French
• Journal Name: Modern Language Review
• Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
• ISSN: 0026-7937