The Romances of George Sand: An Anti-Romantic Novel: Seeking Funding on KickStarter for Publication with Anaphora Literary Press

Tucson, AZ, February 19, 2014 --(PR.com)-- Funding is needed to release a detailed historical novel that argues that George Sand only found happiness when she became asexual in the last third of her life, while all of her romances were tragic and hurtful. A $25 contribution pays for copy of the book upon its release. George Sand was actively involved in rebellious plots that culminated in the 1848 Revolution, and her life’s story is covered with characters like Emperor Napoleon, Alexander Dumas, Frederic Chopin and Alfred de Musset. News story on this project will help to supply pre-orders that will put this book in the best shape for a great release.

This book is a fictional novel, and not an autobiography, but it is based on a close study of Sand’s autobiography, and of a relatively recent biography of Sand’s life. The only major female novelist in the French Romantic Movement, George Sand, or Aurora Dupin, was disillusioned with love, and only attained freedom and happiness after she gave up on love later in life, and focused on loving herself. Here is one quote from her autobiography that reflects this sentiment, “I believe, that one must love with one’s being, or live in complete chastity no matter what the consequences.” (George Sand, Story of My Life 1012) As a child, Sand wanted to become a nun, and soon after her marriage she regretted not joining the Sisterhood so much that she spent some time at the convent when she first started having marital problems. So Sand flew to other men, who were also cold in the end, and this flight in an attempt to find affection ended in nympholepsy, or the yearning for the unattainable ideal that she was writing about in her novels. (Sand, “Critical Introduction”) It all started when she married an abusive husband, Casimir, at seventeen, and had to fight for a decade through a romantic rebellion and relationships with other hurtful men before finally gaining a divorce and only recovering less than half of the Nohant estate that she brought into the marriage with the help of a notorious and revolutionary lawyer. As part of the trial, Michel de Bourges brought up a letter where Casimir confessed, “I am going to Paris; I will not stay with you, because I do not wish to inconvenience you any more than I wish to be further inconvenienced by you.” (Sand 1070) One of the more frank accounts of an intimate encounter with Sand is one where Sand tells Merimee in response to his advances, “Very well, I am disposed. Let it be as you wish, since it gives you such pleasure. But for my part I must tell you that I am sure it will give me none whatsoever.” (Curtis Cate, George Sand: A Biography 244) After saying this, Sand allowed Merimee to accompany to her apartment, undressed with the help of her maid out of her boy’s costume, and non-ceremoniously got into bed, and was so still and irresponsible that Merimee failed to rise to the occasion. All of this clearly shows that Sand was asexual in her core, and worked against her nature for the same of her art and finances.

This novel is of interest to modern women who are fighting similar pressures between work, marriage, children, lovers, and their own needs and desires. It is a novel full of revolutions both political and personal, as well as back-stabbing social intrigue, social climbers, social downfalls, and a string of outrageous romances, which while they all turned out badly clearly had some great pleasures to them that kept Sand hooked on love well into her fifties. As you can probably tell, an anti-romance is unlikely to find a traditional publisher, but with the current divorce rates, asexuality movement, and the general state of affairs in realistic “loving” relationships, there are many readers that can benefit from this inverse perspective on self-less love for others, and the selfish love for one’s self.

Dr. Anna Faktorovich is the Director and Owner of the Anaphora Literary Press, and was worked as a professor for a number of different colleges. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature. Her Rebellion as Genre critical book has been published with McFarland in February, 2013. Her new book, The Formulas of Popular Fiction, is completed and will be released with McFarland in June, 2014. Her latest critical book is under review by Columbia University Press, which has expressed an initial interest, Gender Bias in Mystery and Romance Novel Publishing. She is now working on, Wendell Berry’s New Agrarian Economics and Beyond, funded with the Kentucky Historical Society fellowship, to be released with the University Press of Kentucky.

Here is the link to fund the project via KickStarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/820461906/the-romances-of-george-sand-a-literary-novel