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

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Summary: Extracts from reviews of "Grandes Horizontales"
Review: Christopher Hirst in The Independent: `Impeccably researched, this is a flirt of a book, enjoyable and sexy. Rounding explores four "poules de luxe" in the unbuttoned era of Napoleon III. Marie Duplessis plucked Alexandre Dumas fils as one of her daisy chain and was beatified in "La Dame aux camélias". Apollonie Sabatier cut a swathe through haut Bohème, inspiring an orgasmic statue and adolescent verse by Gautier. The Russian La Païva accumulated palaces like other courtesans gathered jewellery. The English femme fatale Cora Pearl was a force of nature, despite "common manners and the tone of a stable boy". Great gals.

Frances Wilson in The Guardian: `Rounding is strong on the role and etiquette of the courtesan's salon and on the details of her appearance and toilette, but she is as interested in the legends generated by the grandes horizontales as she is in their lives, and she deftly analyses the ways in which fact and fiction bleed into one another in the making of a reputation. While none of her four women knew the others, they knew of each other, and Rounding shapes her narrative so that each life weaves into the next, as lovers are shared and others' legends are consumed. This is a rich, timely, engrossing book that puts its forerunners to shame.'

The Library Journal: `This highly readable collective biography should be welcomed by general readers interested in French culture and history... The book recaptures the glory of Second Empire Paris at its height, as the author skillfully reconstructs the lives of these women against the backdrop of the era's cultural, literary, and architectural history.'

Jennifer Davis McDaid in the Richmond Times Despatch: `Ms Rounding skillfully describes the rise and fall of second-empire Paris, combining historical accuracy with a thoughtful analysis of the dangers of the demi-mondaine, where money was exchanged for sex and a woman's reputation. She artfully brings these women to life, exploring their lives and the legends that grew up around them - some true, some not, and some of their own making. Courtesans paid for their independence with isolation, and faced the dangers of disease, pregnancy, and fading beauty alone. Evocative, lively and ultimately heart-breaking, "Grandes Horizontales" makes for good reading.'

Daphne Merkin in The New York Times: `..."Grandes Horizontales" is fascinating on several counts, not least because of Rounding's description of the French and British efforts throughout the 19th century to make a systematic study of prostitution, beginning with the basic question as to whether prostitutes were born or made... The book also reveals that the secrets of the harem, predicated on massaging egos as well as flesh, have changed little over the centuries... In eschewing the ordained ending of the marriage plot and living outside the ordinary bourgeois confines, these four women suggest that the conventions that govern relations between the sexes are less binding and more arbitrary than we of more stringent - or conformist - morals have been taught to believe.'

Rating:
Summary: Engaging topic, shallow execution
Review: Grand Horizontales is a very readable but careless non-fiction account of the lives of four famous courtesans of 19-th century Paris. Author Virginia Rounding has relied almost exclusively on secondary sources (in other words, she has read books by other people but has not read the letters, newspapers, financial records, etc. that these books are based on). What's more, these secondary sources, she admits, are not reliable. So the reader doesn't know what, if anything, to believe.

There is a lot of bizarre speculation on the author's part: the courtesan La Paiva, born to a Jewish family in Russia, may or may not have been baptized at age seven. Rounding doubts the baptism because the book she read it in is not a very accurate one. Nevertheless, she continues on, speculating about the REASON for this possible event, but offers no hard evidence for her speculation. Apollonie Sabatier may or may not have slept with Baudelaire; Rounding speculates on why the "possible" affair ended. At this I threw up my hands: the book is full of such idle speculations about the reasons behind events that only possibly occured.

To me, the real fascination behind these women was "why these women and not others;" what was the magnetic attraction that held men spellbound? Rounding has made a very readable book, but we are still waiting for a more energetic scholar to write one that really answers this question.

Rating:
Summary: I am so spoiled!
Review: Not only did I pre-order this book, but I get to be the first to review it! Virginia, whom-ever you are, thank you for writing this book. I am fascinated by the lives of courtesans and other beautiful early European women who made their living off their bodies. Without knowing French, only so much information was available to me, and now I am thoroughly gobbling up this book, and all its specilized information on the "demi-mondaines," "grisettes," "lorettes," and other classes of women who shared a career, but in very different ways --and all of whom I knew nothing about before.
Anyone interested in reading about modern call-girls will be stunned to see the parallels the old routines make with the new. With elaborate chapters on several famous courtesans, including the most enchanting --Marie Du Plessis, this book is a plethra of otherwise unavailable information for me. I can't think of a better summer treat!

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Summary: Vertical Challengers...or...The Business Of Doing Pleasure
Review: This is the first book written by Virginia Rounding, and it is a very impressive debut. She tells the story of four 19th century Parisian courtesans, but also manages to work in a fair bit of French history, covering roughly 1830-1871. She manages to weave together a seamless blend of the cultural and political, and also the comic and the serious. (As an example of the comic, Ms. Rounding mentions that 19th century prostitutes were fond of wearing very large hats in public. Doctors came up with a special reclining chair, to replace the traditional table, so that when the ladies of easy virtue came in for their regular examinations they would be able to keep their hats on throughout the process.) The author selected the four courtesans that she did so that she could demonstrate all the possibilities of living that life. Some of the women were abused when young, some weren't. Some were native born, some were foreigners. Some, when they lost their looks, lost their money. Others remained well-off even after their "prime earning years" were over. The book provides a fascinating look at a world that is certainly strange to the modern (and non-European) reader. The courtesan and her "protector" had a symbiotic relationship. The wealthy man provided money so that the courtesan could live an ostentatious lifestyle- with a beautiful home, expensive clothes and jewelry, servants, etc. Indeed, she was expected to "live it up" to show everyone what a generous lover she had. In return, the man could show the world how "special" he was- after all, he had not only vast amounts of money but he must also be pretty special to win the favors of such a desirable and selective woman. The courtesan was certainly predatory. A man could become totally infatuated and could lose all of his money supporting such a woman. Once the money ran dry, she would move on to greener pastures. On the other hand, the courtesan was totally dependent on the protector. If the man tired of the relationship and found someone new, the courtesan would very quickly have to find a new "sugar daddy" to maintain her extravagant lifestyle. Besides learning about the four courtesans selected for the book, we also learn about some of the men- such as Alexandre Dumas (fils) and Charles Baudelaire, as well as the Goncourt brothers (all of these men, by the way, were sources-through their fiction, poetry, and journals- for myths and legitimate information regarding the world of the courtesan). The author did a tremendous amount of research on the period in question, and she put it all together to create a fascinating look at a world that existed only for a brief time. If, like me, you are interested in 19th century France, I am sure you will get much pleasure from reading this book.