{"product_id":"memoirs-of-a-courtesan-in-nineteenth-century-paris-9780803282735","title":"Memoirs of a Courtesan in Nineteenth-Century Paris","description":"When Céleste Mogador's memoirs were first published in 1854 and again in 1858, they were immediately seized and condemned as immoral and unsuitable for public consumption. For a reader in our more forgiving times, this extraordinary document offers not only a portrait of the early life of an intelligent, courageous, and infinitely intriguing Frenchwoman but also an exceedingly rare inside look at the world of the courtesans and prostitutes of nineteenth-century France. Writing to conciliate judges and creditors, Mogador (born Céleste Venard in 1824) explains how with tenacity, wit, and audacity, she managed to escape a difficult childhood and subsequent life of prostitution to become, successively, a darling of the dance halls, a circus rider, and an actress, all the while attracting wealthy young men who vied for her favor. Although her account gives readers a peek into the rakish demimonde made famous by Verdi's opera La Traviata, its greatest value lies in its candid picture of a spunky, self-educated woman who doggedly transformed herself into an esteemed and prolific novelist and playwright, who fell in love with a count and married him, and who made her name synonymous with the bohemian life of the 1840s and 1850s in Paris.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonique Fleury Nagem is a professor of modern languages at McNeese State University. She is the translator of Chantal Chawaf's \u003ci\u003eMother Love, Mother Earth\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRedemption\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as of Dominique Rolin's \u003ci\u003eThe Garden of Delights.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bison Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51764009664786,"sku":"9780803282735","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ce240b91-20a7-450b-8c1c-727416e4d819.jpg?v=1764749822","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/memoirs-of-a-courtesan-in-nineteenth-century-paris-9780803282735","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}