Jules Sandeau

Who was Jules Sandeau?

Leonard Sylvain Julien Sandeau was a French novelist.

Sandeau was born at Aubusson, and was sent to Paris to study law, but spent much of his time in unruly behaviour with other students. He met George Sand, then Madame Dudevant, at Le Coudray in the house of a friend, and when she came to Paris in 1831 they had a relationship. The intimacy did not last long, but it produced Rose et Blanche, a novel written together under the pseudonym J. Sand, from which George Sand took her famous pseudonym.

Sandeau continued to produce novels and plays for nearly fifty years. His major works are:

Marianna, in which he draws a portrait of George Sand

Le Docteur Herbeau

Catherine

Mademoiselle de la Seiglière, a successful picture of society under Louis Philippe, dramatized in 1851

Madeleine

La Chasse au roman

Sacs et parchemins

La Maison de Penarvan

La Roche aux mouettes

The famous play, Le Gendre de M. Poirier, is one of several which he wrote in collaboration with Émile Augier—the novelist usually contributing the story and the dramatist the theatrical form. Sandeau's novels were less popular than his plays.