A journey of discovery and artistic creation

At the heart of Consuelo, La Comtesse de Rudolstadt and Voyage en Orient lies a founding myth, that of Hiram, a Masonic reference known to George Sand and Gérard de Nerval. The latter appropriated the story to produce initiatory texts in which mysterious intrigue and romance intertwine, with the aim of enabling their characters, through numerous journeys and a quest for identity, to achieve artistic creation. From then on, the stories took on an initiatory tone, with Freemasonry serving as a model for renewal. It even shapes the form of the novels, providing the heroes with existential objectives. George Sand and Gérard de Nerval take their readers on a tour of Europe and the Orient. Consuelo and Gérard present a dual quest: that of love and that of creation. However, these two notions prove incompatible, and the characters must sacrifice one of them.