Demimonde
Encyclopedia
Demi-monde refers to a group of people who live hedonistic
lifestyles, usually in a flagrant and conspicuous
manner. The term was commonly used in Europe from the late 18th to the early 20th century, and modern use often refers to that period. Its connotations of pleasure-seeking contrasted with wealth and high-class
behavior make it comparable to the later jet set
or nomenklatura
.
The term was often used as one of disapprobation, the behavior of a person in the demimonde being contrary to more traditional or bourgeois values. Such behaviors often included drinking or drug use, gambling, high spending (particularly in pursuit of fashion
, as through clothing as well as servants and houses), and sexual promiscuity. The term demimondaine referred to a woman who embodied these qualities; later it became a euphemism for a courtesan
or prostitute.
The term 'demimonde' is French for "half the world". It derives from a comedy by Alexandre Dumas fils published in 1855 called Le Demi-Monde.
and the flapper
movements resulted in the label demimondaine becoming obsolete. The term then became commonly used to refer to the class of 'starving artists'
. The smart demimondaine, like the fictional Gigi's grandmother, would invest her wealth for the day when her beauty would fade. Others ended up penniless and starving when age finally took its toll on their beauty, unless they managed to marry one of their lovers.
The most famous real-life demimondaine was arguably Cora Pearl
. During her life, she was the acknowledged Queen of the Paris courtesans. Her lovers, all wealthy noblemen, she called her 'chain of gold' - and included such notables as the Duc de Rivoli and even (she claimed) Prince Napoleon. Cora was so successful that she literally made and spent millions of francs during her life. But she was not a simple hedonist - during the Siege of Paris
, she turned her mansion
into a hospital
for wounded soldier
s. Cora's memoir
s were discovered in 1982 in the hands of a German
collector, and released by Granada Publishing Ltd in 1983, under the title The Memoirs of Cora Pearl: The Erotic Reminiscences of a Flamboyant 19th Century Courtesan. Her memoirs are, as the title declares, erotic reminiscences where she discusses in the most graphic detail the sexual prowess and tastes of her lovers, both famous and humble. Possibly the most titillating (and telling) scene describes her presentation at dinner, naked and decked in cream, as a final dish.
Another famous beauty was Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione who coming to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own, soon became mistress of Napoleon III and after that relationship ended, soon moved on to many other wealthy powerful men in government, finance and European royalty. She was possibly the most aristocratic and exclusive of the demimondaines, it is said she charged a member of the British aristocracy a million francs for 12 hours in her company. Sadly she lacked charm, and as soon as her looks went so did her patrons. She died alone and mentally ill many years later.
. Descriptions of the demimonde can be found in Vanity Fair, a novel
which satirizes 19th century society written by William Makepeace Thackeray
. Although it does not mention the terms 'demimonde' and 'demimondaine' (they were coined later), the terms were later used by reviewers and other authors in reference to three characters in it. Lady Crackenbury and Mrs. Washington White are demimonde characters, both of whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she presents in court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe
after her husband abandons her. Colette's
Gigi
also describes the demimonde and their lifestyle. Gigi is schooled from childhood to be a kept woman, to stifle her feelings in return for a life of ease. "We never marry in our family", says Gigi's mother. But Gigi finds herself a misfit in the demimonde of Paris
in the 'Gay Nineties
', as she desires true romance with Gaston.
's Mars trilogy
, the "demimonde" refers to a semi-tolerated, "off the net" society of commerce and education.
Similarly, in Alison Sinclair's Darkborn, the "demimonde" is an area of the city inhabited by prostitutes and other undesirables in mainstream society.
In Henryk Sienkiewicz
's Without Dogma, the "demimonde" refers to the affluent, pleasure-seeking portion of society, unbound by morals, religion or tradition, and is loosely analogous to the "Jet Set" of modern times.
In Rod Rees' Demi-Monde quadrilogy, the "Demi-Monde" is a highly advanced computer simulation, created in order to train the US army for urban combat.
Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
lifestyles, usually in a flagrant and conspicuous
Conspicuous consumption
Conspicuous consumption is spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status....
manner. The term was commonly used in Europe from the late 18th to the early 20th century, and modern use often refers to that period. Its connotations of pleasure-seeking contrasted with wealth and high-class
Elite
Elite refers to an exceptional or privileged group that wields considerable power within its sphere of influence...
behavior make it comparable to the later jet set
Jet set
"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating all around the world in social activities that are unreachable to ordinary people...
or nomenklatura
Nomenklatura
The nomenklatura were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc., whose positions were granted only with approval by the...
.
The term was often used as one of disapprobation, the behavior of a person in the demimonde being contrary to more traditional or bourgeois values. Such behaviors often included drinking or drug use, gambling, high spending (particularly in pursuit of fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
, as through clothing as well as servants and houses), and sexual promiscuity. The term demimondaine referred to a woman who embodied these qualities; later it became a euphemism for a courtesan
Courtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
or prostitute.
The term 'demimonde' is French for "half the world". It derives from a comedy by Alexandre Dumas fils published in 1855 called Le Demi-Monde.
Decline
As the 20th century dawned, evolving social mores resulted in the demarginalization of the demimonde. Women's suffrageWomen's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
and the flapper
Flapper
Flapper in the 1920s was a term applied to a "new breed" of young Western women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior...
movements resulted in the label demimondaine becoming obsolete. The term then became commonly used to refer to the class of 'starving artists'
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
Women called demimondaine
Externally, the defining aspects of the demimonde were an extravagant lifestyle of fine food and clothes, easily surpassing that of most other wealthy women of their day, because of the steady income they made in cash and gifts from their various lovers. Internally, their lifestyle was an eclectic mixture of sharp business acumen, social skills, and hedonismHedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
. The smart demimondaine, like the fictional Gigi's grandmother, would invest her wealth for the day when her beauty would fade. Others ended up penniless and starving when age finally took its toll on their beauty, unless they managed to marry one of their lovers.
The most famous real-life demimondaine was arguably Cora Pearl
Cora Pearl
Cora Pearl was a famous courtesan of the 19th century French demimonde, born Emma Elizabeth Crouch.- Early life :Her date and place of birth are disputed, as she was believed to have forged her birth certificate, giving the date as 23 February 1842, and the place as Caroline Place, East...
. During her life, she was the acknowledged Queen of the Paris courtesans. Her lovers, all wealthy noblemen, she called her 'chain of gold' - and included such notables as the Duc de Rivoli and even (she claimed) Prince Napoleon. Cora was so successful that she literally made and spent millions of francs during her life. But she was not a simple hedonist - during the Siege of Paris
Siege of Paris
The Siege of Paris, lasting from September 19, 1870 – January 28, 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune....
, she turned her mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
into a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
for wounded soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s. Cora's memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
s were discovered in 1982 in the hands of a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
collector, and released by Granada Publishing Ltd in 1983, under the title The Memoirs of Cora Pearl: The Erotic Reminiscences of a Flamboyant 19th Century Courtesan. Her memoirs are, as the title declares, erotic reminiscences where she discusses in the most graphic detail the sexual prowess and tastes of her lovers, both famous and humble. Possibly the most titillating (and telling) scene describes her presentation at dinner, naked and decked in cream, as a final dish.
Another famous beauty was Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione who coming to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own, soon became mistress of Napoleon III and after that relationship ended, soon moved on to many other wealthy powerful men in government, finance and European royalty. She was possibly the most aristocratic and exclusive of the demimondaines, it is said she charged a member of the British aristocracy a million francs for 12 hours in her company. Sadly she lacked charm, and as soon as her looks went so did her patrons. She died alone and mentally ill many years later.
Fictional demimondaine
Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Verdi's Opera La TraviataLa traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
. Descriptions of the demimonde can be found in Vanity Fair, a novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
which satirizes 19th century society written by William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
. Although it does not mention the terms 'demimonde' and 'demimondaine' (they were coined later), the terms were later used by reviewers and other authors in reference to three characters in it. Lady Crackenbury and Mrs. Washington White are demimonde characters, both of whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she presents in court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
after her husband abandons her. Colette's
Colette
Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
Gigi
Gigi
Gigi is a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot focuses on a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a courtesan and her relationship with the wealthy cultured man named Gaston who falls in love with her and eventually marries her....
also describes the demimonde and their lifestyle. Gigi is schooled from childhood to be a kept woman, to stifle her feelings in return for a life of ease. "We never marry in our family", says Gigi's mother. But Gigi finds herself a misfit in the demimonde of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the 'Gay Nineties
Gay Nineties
Gay Nineties is an American nostalgic term that refers to the decade of the 1890s. It is known in the UK as the Naughty Nineties, and refers there to the decade of supposedly decadent art by Aubrey Beardsley, the witty plays and trial of Oscar Wilde, society scandals and the beginning of the...
', as she desires true romance with Gaston.
Other uses of the term in fiction
In Kim Stanley RobinsonKim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research...
's Mars trilogy
Mars trilogy
The Mars trilogy is a series of award-winning science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson that chronicles the settlement and terraforming of the planet Mars through the intensely personal and detailed viewpoints of a wide variety of characters spanning almost two centuries...
, the "demimonde" refers to a semi-tolerated, "off the net" society of commerce and education.
Similarly, in Alison Sinclair's Darkborn, the "demimonde" is an area of the city inhabited by prostitutes and other undesirables in mainstream society.
In Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
's Without Dogma, the "demimonde" refers to the affluent, pleasure-seeking portion of society, unbound by morals, religion or tradition, and is loosely analogous to the "Jet Set" of modern times.
In Rod Rees' Demi-Monde quadrilogy, the "Demi-Monde" is a highly advanced computer simulation, created in order to train the US army for urban combat.
Citations
- William Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace ThackerayWilliam Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
(1848), Vanity FairVanity FareVanity Fare were a UK pop/rock group formed in 1966, best remembered for their million selling song, "Hitchin' a Ride," which became a worldwide hit in 1970.-Career:...
. - ColetteColetteColette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...
(1945), GigiGigiGigi is a 1944 novella by French writer Colette. The plot focuses on a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a courtesan and her relationship with the wealthy cultured man named Gaston who falls in love with her and eventually marries her....
. - William Blatchford (editor) (1983), The Memoirs of Cora Pearl: The Erotic Reminiscences of a Flamboyant 19th Century Courtesan. LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
: Granada. ISBN 0-246-11915-2. - Katie Hickman (2003), Courtesans : Money, Sex and Fame in the Nineteenth Century . New York: Morrow. ISBN 0-06-620955-2.