Audiobook · read by volunteers
Devil's Pool
George Sand (1804–1876)
Read by J. M. Smallheer · 8 chapters · 3 h 35
About the book
In the French countryside of Berry, a widowed farmer sets out on a short journey across the fields to find a new wife. He is not alone: a young neighbor who is looking for work, and his own small son come along, and the road carries more than they expected. George Sand writes with great affection for peasant life, its customs, its songs and its landscape, and she makes a simple excursion into a story about love, class and human dignity. Opening with a reflection on the beauty of ploughing, this short novel was one of her most loved. Eight parts and about three and a half hours, in an English translation by George Burnham Ives, read by a LibriVox volunteer. The story is short and quiet, yet it leaves a lasting impression.
Introduction
George Sand was the pen name of Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin (1804 to 1876), a French novelist who defied the conventions expected of women of her class. She wore men's clothes in Paris, supported herself by writing and had a number of well-known love affairs, among them her long relationship with the composer Frédéric Chopin. She was also a prolific author of novels set in her native Berry, where she lived for much of her life.
The Devil's Pool belongs to that group of rural novels. Instead of the dramas of the city, it offers a story set in the fields, among farmers and shepherds, in which the countryside is presented with sympathy and respect. Sand opens with an author's note about a print of a ploughman by Holbein, and she explains how she wants to show that simple people are worthy of art. The plot is slight, but the atmosphere and the characters carry the book.
This recording uses the English translation by George Burnham Ives (1856 to 1930) published in 1901. It is divided into an author's note and chapters grouped together, with a total running time of about three and a half hours. It is a gentle, atmospheric listen, perfect for readers who enjoy nineteenth-century French fiction and who like their stories rooted in the soil. The LibriVox reader gives it a warm, unhurried reading. Sand's attention to country customs, language and the rhythm of the seasons gives the book its special charm, and the translation keeps the simplicity of her style. It is an ideal first book for anyone who wants to try her work, and a pleasant short listen in its own right.
Public domain
George Sand died in 1876: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text