An Eastern Paradise, a Western Paradise: a Reading of George Sand’s Garden (Laura, or a Journey into the Crystal) Cover Image

Paradis oriental, paradis occidental: une lecture du jardin sandien (Laura, ou Voyage dans le cristal)
An Eastern Paradise, a Western Paradise: a Reading of George Sand’s Garden (Laura, or a Journey into the Crystal)

Author(s): Agnieszka Kocik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: George Sand; garden; imagination; hypotext; orientalism; symbolism

Summary/Abstract: The paper proposes a reading of the depiction of a garden in Laura, or a Journey into the Crystal in the contexts of The Tales of One Hundred and One Nights, of the hypotexts of the Bible as well as of the Epic of Gilgamesh, of the Persian miniature and of Bachelard’s concept of material imagination. The symbolic dimension of mineral paradise in Sand’s vision is the focus of reflection. The vision stems partly from the romantic anti-materialistic concepts, and partly seems to be the expression of the preoccupations with the material and the oriental both of the epoch and of the author of Laura... herself.

  • Issue Year: 12/2012
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 202-209
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: French