Fleurs et jardins dans l'œuvre de George Sand (review)

For those scholars (including myself) whose research does not extend to the study of outdoor spaces, the volume title may appear to have little of interest to offer. However, this book richly repays perusal. It contains an extraordinary wealth of ideas on the issue of Sand and her relationship with the natural world as it is confined and revealed in a garden. The variety of perspectives and the breadth of topics explored are at once fascinating and impressive; furthermore, this book reminds us of the importance of the study of botany, horticulture and garden design in a century enamoured of these evolving fields. Given Sand's intense engagement with the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it is hardly surprising that the theme of the garden provides a rich seam of reflection on her writing. The garden is a particularly provocative space in Sand's fiction as it is at once natural and artificial; an open space which comes into existence only in its enclosure. Such themes are discussed in articles by Gérard Chalaye, Pierre Laforgue and Mary Rice-Defosse, who view the garden as a political space. Chalaye focuses on the gesture of the marquis de Boisguilbert (Le Péché de Monsieur Antoine) who declares the transformation of his garden from private aristocratic domain to collective space. Through the winding pathways of the gardens of Nohant, les Charmettes, the Parisian park, the Bois de Boulogne, of Boisguilbert, of Sainte-Sévère and of the many other gardens described in Sand's fiction, this volume leads us through the multiple functions of the garden in the author's work. The garden —and particularly the wild garden —becomes a space for private reflection and an inspiration for writing (Michèle Hecquet), an initiatory space where the sentimental education of the novel's hero can take place (Emmanuel Flory), a space for the reinvention of the self and the production of fiction (Damien Zanone). This book, part of the series 'Révolutions et romantismes', provides an excellent companion to another volume from the series entitled Ville, campagne et nature dans l'œuvre de George Sand. Between them, they become a necessary reference point for the study of the natural world in Sand's oeuvre, and may persuade those who have not previously worked in this area towards some new directions in research.