SOURCE: Fuchs, Jeanne. “George Sand and Alfred de Musset: Absolution through Art in La Confession d'un enfant du siècle.” In The World of George Sand, edited by Natalie Datlof, Jeanne Fuchs, and David A. Powell, pp. 207-16. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Fuchs appraises Musset's novel La Confession d'un enfant du siècle, illuminating its religious qualities as confessional literature.

The love affair between George Sand and Alfred de Musset is probably the best-documented liaison in nineteenth-century letters. Musset was the first to publish an account of their romance in his novel, La Confession d'un enfant du siècle, which appeared in February, 1836—one year after the lovers' final separation. Actually, parts of the novel had been published as early as September 1835 in La Revue des deux mondes.¹

Before turning to the specific analysis of this novel, it would be helpful to recapitulate briefly...