{"product_id":"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.","brand":"Celeste Mogador, Monique Fleury Nagem, Monique Fleury Nagem","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45865747218750,"sku":"9780803282735","price":569.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/products\/9780803282735_c0c642f3-f838-4bac-b227-3578aab84855.jpg?v=1707330166","url":"https:\/\/exclusivebooks.co.za\/products\/9780803282735","provider":"Exclusive Books Online","version":"1.0","type":"link"}