Preceptorado y justicia social en La Confession d'une jeune fille de George Sand

Abstract

In her novel Confession d’une jeune fille (1865), George Sand (pseudonym of Aurore Dupin, 1804-1876) fights two prejudices of her time: social segregation and gender discrimination. Through her heroine Lucienne de Valangis, the author demonstrates that the reconciliation of the people with the aristocracy is possible thanks to a preceptoril education, both of women and men, according to the criteria
of the 19th century. Frumence Costei, the humble preceptor of Lucienne, makes of her an educated person and a free thinker. She becomes a subject capable of sacrificing her fortune, her class privileges and her peerage in order to identify herself with the people. According to Sand, equality is possible with the development of personal value. The ideal the author outlines in this fiction is based on a reflection of a possible social balance that does not fall in the trap of inversion of gender or class roles.