Symboles et spectacles de l'eau marine dans Le Drac

This article proposes to analyze the symbolic function of marine water―destructive and maternal in a Bachelardian sense of the word―in both versions of George Sand’s theater play Le Drac (1861, 1863). First created for her home theater at Nohant, it is relevant to examine the spectacular proportions that the ocean assumes in the second version of the play destined to be staged at the Vaudeville Theater. Inspired by the observations and impressions culled from a three-month stay in Provence (1861) and in part by the Abstracts 336 reading of Jules Michelet’s La Mer, Le Drac is a “drama of the sea” in which the function of the sea is not limited to background decor or social context. It constitutes rather the true symbolic and dramatic substance of the play. Through the use of the Drac, a water spirit that represents an intermediary character between the marine dominion and the terrestrial world, Sand contrasts the opacity and heaviness of the earth, inhabited by mortals, with the transparence and unfathomable vitality of the sea, populated with marvelous creatures and spirits. The second part of the article discusses the consequences of the importance given to the sea in the creation process and the adaptation of the play for larger Parisian theaters.