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

by Browner, Jesse

• ISBN13: 9781582344430
• ISBN10: 1582344434
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-10
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

Partisan, witty, and laced with astonishing historical detail, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down is dedicated to a new understanding of the art of hospitality. Jesse Browner leads the way back through Western civilization, from a present-day poker game where Browner's devastatingly delicious sandwiches leave the best players penniless, to the ancient Greeks, whose gods punished or exalted the mortals according to their excellence as hosts. On the way, we visit Hitler at his summer home, Gertrude Stein in Paris and Lady Ottoline Morrell in England, Audubon in nineteeth-century America, Louis XIV at Versailles, and the Roman emperors, for whom classic dinner-table entertainment was a good poisoning. As delightful and edifying as an evening in favored company, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down is a must-read for anyone who's ever accepted an invitation-or wonders why they keep sending them out.

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.