The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down An Informal History of Hospitality

by Browner, Jesse

• ISBN13: 9781582342979
• ISBN10: 1582342970
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

"The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down is dedicated to a new understanding of the traditions and history of hospitality. Jesse Browner leads the way back through Western Civilization, from a present-day poker game, where a cunning chef disarms his rivals with perfect sandwiches, to the ancient Greeks, whose gods punished or exalted the mortals according to their excellence as hosts. Along the way, we visit the summer home of Adolf Hitler, a staunch vegetarian who liked to lecture his guests on the horrors of the slaughterhouse. We meet Lady Ottoline Morrell, the hapless heiress who opened her home to Britain's greatest writers, only to be publicly lampooned in their novels. We catch John James Audubon in the act of playing a cruel prank on a defenseless guest. We explore the gilded cage of Louis XIV's Versailles, where an ambitious duchess preferred to destroy all her social prospects than sit on a folding stool. And we try to survive supper with the Roman emperors, for whom classic dinner-table entertainment was a good poisoning."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Jesse Browner was born and lives in New York City. He is the author of two novels, Conglomeros and Turnaway, and has translated works by Cocteau, Rilke, Eluard, and others.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
How to Put Your Guests at Ease	p. 9
Teddy Bears' Picnic	p. 28
Odd Fish	p. 49
The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down	p. 64
The Cockentrice	p. 94
Germans!	p. 110
Gaius, Titus, Lucius	p. 130
Friendly to Strangers	p. 155
Thanksgiving, New York City, 2001	p. 176
Acknowledgments	p. 191
Bibliography	p. 192
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.