the dream lover b o ok club salon kit
Use this salon kit, complete with commentary from Elizabeth, to plan your own French book club meeting!
“Elizabeth Berg is both tender and unflinching as she explores the heart of the enigmatic writer George Sand. Her lyrical prose caused me to pause and savor the words. With an eloquence of the heart worthy of her subject, Elizabeth Berg gives us a very human portrait of a nineteenth-century legend who dared to live and speak freely.”
—nancy horan New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Berg has written a lush historical novel based on the sensuous Parisian life of the nineteenth-century writer George Sand. Brilliantly written in luminous prose, and with remarkable insights into the heart and mind of a literary force, The Dream Lover tells the unforgettable story of a courageous, irresistible woman. Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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B E F ORE THE MEET I N G Explore the author-recommended links below to enrich your visualizations of what George Sand’s life was like in France. You can see on her grave where it says “Marie Dorval, died from grief.” One of the reasons we read—and write—historical fiction is to have people from another time and place become as real to us as our contemporaries are. But there is nothing like seeing a grave to drive home the point that this person was real: she lived, she died, and there she is. When I look at this grave, I think of all Marie Dorval and George Sand had, and missed having. George Sand was the inspiration behind this poem by Alfred de Musset I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't be flattered knowing they inspired a poem. I like to think about Musset's feelings as he wrote this, and George Sand's reaction when she read it. Portraits of George Sand and Alfred de Musset I am always grateful to see what a historical figure I'm interested in looked like. I stare and stare at images: at the clothing, at the hair, and especially at the eyes, which I really do believe are the windows to the soul. But the task—and the joy— of being a writer is to imbue those images with life, to look into those eyes and try to imagine what lay behind them. What were the thoughts? What were their feelings? If the people you are regarding in a portrait were suddenly to rise up and move about, how would they look doing it? What would their voice sound like, the cadence of their speech? What would their manner be? It goes on and on, the imagining. More images of George Sand Photos of Nohant A decision I made early on in the writing of The Dream Lover was not to go to Nohant until I had finished the book. I wanted to see images of it and dream. I felt that actually being there—the crowds of tourists, the changes that have been made to the place, the sound and sight of cars and buses and blue jeans and t-shirts—all that would take away a kind of authority and license of the imagination. But after I've finished my book tour, I'm going there! French fashion of the time When I looked at images of clothes worn in the time of George Sand, I practically needed to wear a bib. The elegance of design! The meticulous detail! The richness of fabrics! No wonder the father of haute couture, Charles Worth, had to leave London and go to Paris to become his best self! Even today, I think we would almost all agree that no one has style like the French.
Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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Read the following Flaubert-Sand correspondence: Often times, you can come to know someone better on paper than in person. Gustave Flaubert and George Sand corresponded frequently and came to be intimate friends in letters before they saw each other much in person. As brilliant writers both, their letters are wonderful to read. But the letters are more than that: they are testimony to how differently writers view their craft and their finished products. For the most part, Sand wrote effortlessly, joyfully; and she was wildly prolific. Flaubert was a nervous wreck, an excruciatingly slow writer who was responsible for the often quoted,"I spent the morning putting in a comma, and the afternoon taking it out." George Sand to Gustave Flaubert: I have heard you say, “I write for ten or twelve people only.” One says in conversation many things which are the result of the impression of the moment; but you are not alone in saying that. It was the thesis of that day. I protested inwardly. The twelve persons for whom you write, who appreciate you, are as good as you are or even surpass you. You never had any need of reading the eleven others to be yourself. But one writes for the world, for all who need to be initiated; when one is not understood, one is resigned and recommences. When one is understood, one rejoices and continues. There lies the whole secret of our persevering labors and our love of art. What is art without the hearts and minds on which one pours it? A sun which would not project rays and would give life to no one. After reflecting on it, isn’t that your opinion? If you are convinced of that, you will never know disgust and lassitude, and if the present is sterile and ungrateful, if one loses all influence, all hold on the public, even if serving it to the best of one’s ability, there yet remains recourse to the future, which supports courage and effaces all the wounds of pride. A hundred times in life, the good that one does seems not to serve any immediate use; but it keeps up just the same the tradition of wishing well and doing well, without which all would perish.
Gustave Flaubert to George Sand: I am entirely undone since your departure; it seems to me as if I had not seen you for ten years. My one subject of conversation with my mother is you, everyone here loves you. Under what star were you born, pray, to unite in your person such diverse qualities, so numerous and so rare? I don’t know what sort of feeling I have for you, but I have a particular tenderness for you, and one I have never felt for anyone, up to now. We understood each other, didn’t we, that was good. A newspaper in Rouen…told of your visit to Rouen, so that Saturday after leaving you I met several bourgeois indignant at me for not exhibiting you. The best thing was said to me by a former sub-prefect: “Ah, if we had known that she was here…we would have… we would have…” he hunted five minutes for the word; “we would have smiled for her.”
Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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S ET THE MOOD music A lot of writers play music as they work. Not me. I'm too much given over to music, lost in it, especially when it's as achingly beautiful as Chopin's music is. If I were in a book club and we were reading The Dream Lover, I'd ask everyone to close their eyes for at least five minutes, and to listen to Chopin before talking about his and Sand's relationship. Then I would want to talk about the various things the music suggested to the members of the club. What kind of story did the music tell? What kind of feelings did it evoke? You can create a playlist for your salon featuring not only music of the time, but music from composers who appear in the book! Here are a few suggestions:
Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1 Chopin Complete Nocturnes Chopin 24 Preludes Op 28 Learn more about Chopin here. Food I host a reading series where I live, and food is a big part of it. It seems that with almost any book you read, there's some way food can fit in. With THIS book, well…Break out the French wine, perhaps the champagne, and serve whatever you make on the most beautiful dishes you can find. Don't forget the roses! Send a rose home with every participant. If the French do anything well, it’s food! Depending on how ambitious you are feeling, you have many options for a French-themed menu. A cheese and fruit platter is always nice, especially with those creamy french cheeses! Meat platters, mini eclairs, and cornichons are also excellent finger foods. To truly impress your friends, try your hand at one of these classic French recipes from Flavour Cooking School. (You can buy the cookbook on FlavourCookingSchool.com!)
three cheese soufflé (makes one 9" soufflé)
ingredients 2½ tbsp. unsalted butter 3 tbsp. flour 1 cup warm milk 3 egg yolks (reserve whites) ½–¾ cups grated gruyere/asiago/ cheddar cheese
5 egg whites ¼ tsp. dried dill ½ tsp. dried oregano fine sea salt (to taste) black pepper, freshly ground (to taste)
Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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three cheese soufflé (continued)
technique • Preheat oven to 400° • Butter a 9" soufflé or casserole dish • Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat • Whisk flour into butter (roux) • Cook, whisking constantly, over med flame—2 min. • Reduce heat to low • Slowly add milk into roux, whisking constantly Whisk til mixture thickens—1–2 min • • Whisk hot yolks into bechamel (roux + milk) • Add cheese & spices to béchamel
• • • • • • • •
•
Whisk til smooth Pour into large bowl and set aside Put egg whites into clean, dry bowl Whisk to medium peaks (use hand or stand mixer) Fold by thirds into warm base Pour mixture into prepared dish Lower oven heat to 375° Put into oven and bake until risen & golden—25 min (note top will feel firm, but still wobble slightly) Do NOT open door during first 10 min. of baking (and don’t open often, thereafter)
Serve immediately chef notes Any firm, tasty cheese will taste great in this—adjust salt accordingly
cheddar & scallion gougères (makes 3 dozen)
ingredients ½ cup whole milk ½ cup water ½ tsp. sea salt 8 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup flour 5 eggs 8 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese (2 cups) 2 scallions, minced
technique • Preheat oven to 400º • Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper Combine milk, water, salt, and butter • in medium saucepan • Heat over medium-high flame and bring to a boil Boil until butter melts • • Add flour all at once • Stir with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a paste Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds •
• Remove from heat • Start a hand mixer on medium speed in the dough Add eggs one at a time • • Mix well after each addition • Add cheese and scallions • Mix well to combine • Scoop, spoon or pipe batter onto baking sheets into 1½" rounds spaced 2" apart • Bake until golden and crispy, and inside is almost dry—30-35 min. Let cool (eat warm or room temp) •
Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. George Sand felt abandoned by her mother. Did the circumstance of having been left with her grandmother at an early age make her stronger or weaker? How do you think life would have been different for Sand if her father had lived? 2. Sand behaved boldly, but was at heart very shy. What other paradoxes did you notice in her character and in her life? 3. Two very different environments were important to Sand’s life and work: the city of Paris and her country home at Nohant. Which do you think was more important to her? What did each offer her? 4. How do you think Sand’s marriage affected her art? What do you think contributes more strongly into the making of an artist: genetics, or life circumstances? 5. Sand demonstrated a fluidity in assuming the roles of both man and woman. She often referred to herself as a man, yet Alfred de Musset referred to her as the most feminine woman he had ever known. What was your perception of Sand? 6. The mother-daughter relationships in The Dream Lover are particularly complex. Did you think Sophie was a “bad” mother? What about Sand herself? 7. What do you think Sand needed most from a relationship? How is that different from what she believed she needed? 8. Sand described herself this way: “…very impressionable, carried away by my love of beauty, hungry for truth, faulty in judgment, often absurd, and always sincere.” Do you agree? 9. In her quest to live truthfully, Sand left her husband altogether and her children much of the time. How do you feel about that? Was it necessity or selfishness? 10. Sand quickly became maternal with her male lovers. She said at one point that it was so they would become dependent on her and not leave her. What do you think of this? 11. One of the great sorrows in Sand’s life was her contentious relationship with her daughter. What do you think might have improved her relationship with Solange? 12. The Dream Lover suggests that Marie Dorval was the great love of Sand’s life. How did you feel about Marie’s assertion that one seeks not the object of one’s desire, but desire itself? Could Sand ever have accepted anything but continuous passion in a relationship? 13. Nature and spirituality were important constants in Sand’s life. What were the sources for these affinities? How did they play out in her work and in her life? How did they affect her world view? If she had been allowed to become a nun, do you think she would have stayed one? 14. Some people say that the idea of what could have been is the hardest sorrow to bear. Do you agree? 15. Did you learn any surprising things about Sand’s famous friends (Chopin, Flaubert, Balzac, Liszt)? 16. At the end of the novel, there is a quote from Sand from a letter she wrote to Delacroix, saying that nothing dies, nothing is lost, and nothing ends. What sentiments or experiences do you think fueled such a remark? How do you interpret it? Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (continued)
17. Do you think that after having lived over 150 years ago, Sand and the things she wrote about are still relevant? 18. The Dream Lover invites us into the life of salons. Do you think that book clubs help to bring back some semblance of that kind of regular, enriching and stimulating encounter? Why do we need book clubs? What do they offer our spirits and psyches that reading alone does not? How can they be expanded to provide an even deeper experience?
Random House | Elizabeth-Berg.net
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