12 April 2014
03 April 2014
Erotic Exchanges by Nina Kushner
In the interest of full disclosure, I feel that I must start by saying that Nina and I went to high school together. When she published Erotic Exchanges: The World of Elite Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century Paris I told her I would give her a review on my blog. This is not, however, just supporting a friend and her career, as I found this book interesting, and fairly accessible to non-historians, as well as non-French speakers (although I did have trouble keeping some of the names straight).
First of all, I want to recognize the amount of research that clearly went into this book. I have great respect for Nina for wading through handwritten police reports from the 1700s, in French, no less. I can only imagine that the handwriting alone was a challenge! This is clearly a topic of great interest to her, and this book will clearly be important to those interested in the history of Paris, of prostitution, and of women's roles. I don't think I would have had the persistence to pursue this sort of work (although folks said that about my dissertation as well, so, to each his own, as they say).
The accessibility of this book comes mainly through the vignettes about the women and their various men that are woven throughout the analysis of their situations. Stories of girls entering the world of high-class sex for sale, of families using this world to advance themselves through their daughters, and the tales of love, wealth, poverty, and death that connected everything together.
In my view, this book gave a lot of positive views of these women. Many of them were clearly in complete control of their lives, and often strung along multiple men, so they really never had to suffer a decline in lifestyle. The connections between the theater, the ballet, and the opera and this world (the demimonde) were well laid out, and ran deep during the time period under study. It seems that the police inspectors in eighteenth-century Paris could probably have made good money as paparazzi and gossip writers in Hollywood today!
Now, this is an academic publication, even with its stories and accessibility to a more general audience. As such, there are some more dense parts to it. Anyone unfamiliar with this style of writing and chapter formatting may find it slow-going in places, but hopefully they will stick with it to really take in the observations made along the way.
If there is one weakness (and I joked with Nina about this on facebook), it is the lack of illustrations. She replied to my comment on that by saying that if there had been, the book might be selling more copies. Alas, readers will have to make do with the pictures in their own minds.
Erotic Exchanges was educational, interesting, with stories that read, in places, like a soap opera. Nina Kushner brought these women, and men, to life and opened up a somewhat hidden world to her readers. Don't just take my word for it, pick up a copy for yourself.
First of all, I want to recognize the amount of research that clearly went into this book. I have great respect for Nina for wading through handwritten police reports from the 1700s, in French, no less. I can only imagine that the handwriting alone was a challenge! This is clearly a topic of great interest to her, and this book will clearly be important to those interested in the history of Paris, of prostitution, and of women's roles. I don't think I would have had the persistence to pursue this sort of work (although folks said that about my dissertation as well, so, to each his own, as they say).
The accessibility of this book comes mainly through the vignettes about the women and their various men that are woven throughout the analysis of their situations. Stories of girls entering the world of high-class sex for sale, of families using this world to advance themselves through their daughters, and the tales of love, wealth, poverty, and death that connected everything together.
In my view, this book gave a lot of positive views of these women. Many of them were clearly in complete control of their lives, and often strung along multiple men, so they really never had to suffer a decline in lifestyle. The connections between the theater, the ballet, and the opera and this world (the demimonde) were well laid out, and ran deep during the time period under study. It seems that the police inspectors in eighteenth-century Paris could probably have made good money as paparazzi and gossip writers in Hollywood today!
Now, this is an academic publication, even with its stories and accessibility to a more general audience. As such, there are some more dense parts to it. Anyone unfamiliar with this style of writing and chapter formatting may find it slow-going in places, but hopefully they will stick with it to really take in the observations made along the way.
If there is one weakness (and I joked with Nina about this on facebook), it is the lack of illustrations. She replied to my comment on that by saying that if there had been, the book might be selling more copies. Alas, readers will have to make do with the pictures in their own minds.
Erotic Exchanges was educational, interesting, with stories that read, in places, like a soap opera. Nina Kushner brought these women, and men, to life and opened up a somewhat hidden world to her readers. Don't just take my word for it, pick up a copy for yourself.
02 April 2014
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