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Grandes Horizontales Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Grandes Horizontales


This is a book about the lives and legends of four courtesans who flourished during the 19th century in Paris. One was Marie Duplessis, La Paiva, Apollonie Sabatier and Cora Pearl. Marie became the prototype of the 'prostitute with a golden heart' and portrayed in the play, La Dame Aux Camélia. La Paiva, who was of Russian/Jewish origins, graduated from being a common prostitute to being one of the most wealthy and ostentatious courtesans of the age; Apollonie was surrounded by a circle of literary and artistic admirers and became the muse of the poet Charles Baudelaire; and Cora, 'the English Beauty of the French Empire' had affairs with, among (many) others, two relatives of the Emperor Napoleon III.
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These women were all representatives of the 'demi-monde', that is, of that half-world midway between respectable high society and the low life of the common prostitute. 'Demi-monde' is a term suggestive of twilight, of a world of shifting appearances and shadow, where nothing is quite what it seems, a world between worlds.
The review of this Book prepared by Virginia Rounding



Chapter Analysis of Grandes Horizontales

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Plot & Themes

job/profession:    -   prostitute Job/profession/poverty story    -   Yes Period of greatest activity?    -   1600-1899

Subject of Biography

Gender    -   Female Profession/status:    -   prostitute Ethnicity    -   White Nationality    -   French

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   7 () Europe    -   Yes City?    -   Yes City:    -   wealthy Misc setting    -   Fancy Mansion Century:    -   19th century

Writing Style

Book makes you feel?    -   thoughtful Graphic sex in book?    -   Yes Pictures/Illustrations?    -   More in color 6-10 How much dialogue in bio?    -   little dialog How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life?    -   26-50% of book

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Virginia Rounding Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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