LES GRANDES HORIZONTALES: The Lives and Legends of Marie Duplessis, Cora Pearl, La Pava, and La Présidente

The horizontal women of the title were four of Paris's most renowned—or notorious—courtesans immediately before and during the glittering Second Empire. But anyone looking for lubricious reading will be disappointed. British translator Rounding is more interested in how these four lives reflect the place of women in 19th-century France than in the details of their erotic adventures, though we are informed of who their various protectors were—and they included some of Paris's most prominent and powerful men. Rounding's aim is to separate the real lives from the myths surrounding the women, which, she asserts, reflect stereotypes of prostitutes as depraved, even denatured, women. Yet strangely, she ends up partially confirming them—there is something almost vampiric in how the wildly ostentatious Cora Pearl and Thérèse Lachmann (known as La Païva) bled men of their money to satisfy their taste for luxury. Marie Duplessis, Alexandre Dumas fils's model for La Dame aux camélias, died too young to do much harm (or to be of much interest), and La Présidente, Baudelaire's muse Apollonie Sabatier, retains an affecting dignity through her ups and downs. But Rounding's points are well taken: the men were willing dupes, proud to parade these high-priced lovelies on their arm; these men ultimately retained the power of the purse; and her four subjects were spirited, independent-minded women who rose from poverty to great heights (and, in the case of Cora Pearl, ended with a corresponding descent). Still, primarily avid students of women's studies and French cultural history will be gratified by this judicious account. (July)