The Countess von Rudolstadt

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, French, Literary
Cover of the book The Countess von Rudolstadt by George Sand, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: George Sand ISBN: 9780812295528
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: January 5, 2018
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: George Sand
ISBN: 9780812295528
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: January 5, 2018
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

The first translation of The Countess von Rudolstadt in more than a century brings to contemporary readers one of George Sand's most ambitious and engaging novels, hailed by many scholars of French literature as her masterpiece. Consuelo, or the Countess von Rudolstadt, born the penniless daughter of a Spanish gypsy, is transformed into an opera star by the great maestro Porpora. Her peregrinations throughout Europe (especially Vienna, Berlin, and the Bohemian forest), become a quest undertaken on a number of levels: as a singer, as a woman, and as an unwilling subject of alienation and oppression.

Sand's heroine moves through a mid-eighteenth-century Europe where absolute rulers mingle with Enlightenment philosophers and gender-bending members of secret societies plot moral and political revolution. As the old order breaks down, she undergoes a series of grueling initiations into radically redefined notions of marriage and social organization. In a novel by equal measures philosophical and lurid, nothing is what it seems. Written some fifty years after the French Revolution, the book taps into many of the political and religious currents that contributed to that social upheaval—and aims to channel their potential for future change.

Fed by Sand's rich imagination and bold aspirations for social reform, The Countess von Rudolstadt is a sinuous novel of initiation, continuing the coming of age tale of the titular heroine of Sand's earlier Consuelo and drawing on such diverse models as Ann Radcliffe's Gothic tales and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The first translation of The Countess von Rudolstadt in more than a century brings to contemporary readers one of George Sand's most ambitious and engaging novels, hailed by many scholars of French literature as her masterpiece. Consuelo, or the Countess von Rudolstadt, born the penniless daughter of a Spanish gypsy, is transformed into an opera star by the great maestro Porpora. Her peregrinations throughout Europe (especially Vienna, Berlin, and the Bohemian forest), become a quest undertaken on a number of levels: as a singer, as a woman, and as an unwilling subject of alienation and oppression.

Sand's heroine moves through a mid-eighteenth-century Europe where absolute rulers mingle with Enlightenment philosophers and gender-bending members of secret societies plot moral and political revolution. As the old order breaks down, she undergoes a series of grueling initiations into radically redefined notions of marriage and social organization. In a novel by equal measures philosophical and lurid, nothing is what it seems. Written some fifty years after the French Revolution, the book taps into many of the political and religious currents that contributed to that social upheaval—and aims to channel their potential for future change.

Fed by Sand's rich imagination and bold aspirations for social reform, The Countess von Rudolstadt is a sinuous novel of initiation, continuing the coming of age tale of the titular heroine of Sand's earlier Consuelo and drawing on such diverse models as Ann Radcliffe's Gothic tales and Goethe's Wilhelm Meister.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Women as Unseen Characters by George Sand
Cover of the book The Philanthropic Revolution by George Sand
Cover of the book Voice in Motion by George Sand
Cover of the book Love and Honor in the Himalayas by George Sand
Cover of the book Pakistan's Enduring Challenges by George Sand
Cover of the book Deans and Truants by George Sand
Cover of the book The Traveler, the Tower, and the Worm by George Sand
Cover of the book Let Us Fight as Free Men by George Sand
Cover of the book Poetry Wars by George Sand
Cover of the book Human Rights Transformation in Practice by George Sand
Cover of the book Beyond the Resource Curse by George Sand
Cover of the book The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd by George Sand
Cover of the book Werner Scholem by George Sand
Cover of the book America at the Ballot Box by George Sand
Cover of the book Slaves and Englishmen by George Sand
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy