Grandes Horizontales The Lives and Legends of Four Nineteenth-Century Courtesans

by Rounding, Virginia

• ISBN13: 9781582342603
• ISBN10: 1582342601
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-07
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

A fascinating portrayal of the lives of the great nineteenth-century courtesans. Marie Duplessis, Cora Pearl, La Paiuml;va and La Preacute;sidente, the four women whose lives and legends are examined in this fascinating book, were all representatives of the golden age of the French courtesan. In the reign of Emperor Napoleon III the opulent and pampered demimonde became almost indistinguishable from the haut-monde, with mythical reputations growing up around its most glittering and favored celebrities. Marie Duplessis became the prototype of the virtuous courtesan when Alexandre Dumas Fils portrayed her as Marguerite Gautier inLa dame aux Cameacute;lias. Apollonie Sabatier, known as La Preacute;sidente, put men of letters and other arts at ease amidst the gracious manners and bawdy talk of her salon and was immortalized by sculptor August Cleacute;singer and poet Charles Baudelaire. To prejudiced eyes, the Russian Jew La Paiuml;va appeared intent on exploiting the rich young men of Paris. Covetous onlookers resented her ability to amass and display great wealth, most notably in the design and building of her opulent hotel in the Avenue of the Champs Elyseacute;es. The English beauty who called herself Cora Pearl was another "foreign threat", with her athletic physique, sixty horses and ability "to make bored men laugh", including Prince Napoleon. Virginia Rounding disentangles myth from reality in her lively, thought-provoking study. Nineteenth-century Paris comes to life and so do its most distinguished and deacute;classeacute; inhabitants.

Author Biography

Virginia Rounding is a translator and writer living in London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction The Demi-monde	1	(8)
Chapter One Prostitutes and Prostitution in Nineteenth-century Paris	9	(22)
Chapter Two The Life of Marie Duplessis	31	(24)
Chapter Three La Dame aux camélias	55	(20)
Chapter Four The Creation of La Païva	75	(22)
Chapter Five La Femme piquée par un serpent	97	(12)
Chapter Six Salons	109	(24)
Chapter Seven Les Fleurs du mal	133	(22)
Chapter Eight Rebuilding	155	(20)
Chapter Nine The Hôtel Païva	175	(20)
Chapter Ten The English Beauty of the French Empire	195	(34)
Chapter Eleven Putting on a Show	229	(24)
Chapter Twelve The Collapse of Empire	253	(16)
Chapter Thirteen La Femme de Claude	269	(16)
Chapter Fourteen Last Years	285	(22)
Conclusion Seen and Unseen	307	(10)
Select Bibliography	317	(12)
Index	329