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Bessie Cotter
Life behind the locked doors of a Chicago "House of Pleasure".
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 29, 2021
Venerated extremely as a literary work when it was first published, the novel portrays the life of a prostitute in pragmatic and down-to-earth images.
Set in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century, the novel recounts the story of Bessie Cotter, who readily enters the life of prostitution merely for the reason that it pays better than factory work.
Neither is Bessie a despondent prey of the streets, nor has she been drugged, swindleed, or mistreated into selling her body. Neither is she deliberately depraved or wicked. Instead, Bessie is a pleasant character, on the whole civilized and considerate toward others, whose easy philosophy of life is entirely based on survival.
Bessie evidently does not like the “sporting life,” but life in Miss Myrtle’s “parlour house” is balmy and sheltered. Bessie is at ease that she is fed well and earns $25 a night at Miss Myrtle’s. She compares these earnings with the $10 per week that she would make if she worked in a factory, the only other kind of work that someone deficient in saleable talents might find.
The other “ladies” labouring at Miss Myrtle’s have chosen their line of work for comparable motives. Although the major action of the book takes place in a house of prostitution, the sexual action is only suggested and not obvious. In an alike manner, the lingo of the women and their clients is innocuous; “obscenities” are used at only one point in the novel, when two waiters are clearing away dishes from the preceding night.
The blunder of the novel, in line with its critics, lies in the letdown of the author to censure Bessie and the other ladies of Miss Myrtle’s for their lifestyles, or to afford them with chastisement for their actions.
Set in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century, the novel recounts the story of Bessie Cotter, who readily enters the life of prostitution merely for the reason that it pays better than factory work.
Neither is Bessie a despondent prey of the streets, nor has she been drugged, swindleed, or mistreated into selling her body. Neither is she deliberately depraved or wicked. Instead, Bessie is a pleasant character, on the whole civilized and considerate toward others, whose easy philosophy of life is entirely based on survival.
Bessie evidently does not like the “sporting life,” but life in Miss Myrtle’s “parlour house” is balmy and sheltered. Bessie is at ease that she is fed well and earns $25 a night at Miss Myrtle’s. She compares these earnings with the $10 per week that she would make if she worked in a factory, the only other kind of work that someone deficient in saleable talents might find.
The other “ladies” labouring at Miss Myrtle’s have chosen their line of work for comparable motives. Although the major action of the book takes place in a house of prostitution, the sexual action is only suggested and not obvious. In an alike manner, the lingo of the women and their clients is innocuous; “obscenities” are used at only one point in the novel, when two waiters are clearing away dishes from the preceding night.
The blunder of the novel, in line with its critics, lies in the letdown of the author to censure Bessie and the other ladies of Miss Myrtle’s for their lifestyles, or to afford them with chastisement for their actions.
March 13, 2024
Although it was first published in 1936, Bessie Cotter is actually set sometime before the First World War, when gas-light and horse-drawn cabs were still widely-used. Each chapter is a series of linked conversations that shed light on the day-to-day life in a Chicago house of prostitution. The business is ultimately menaced by a character based on Billy Sunday called Surkey.
Interesting and insightful.
Interesting and insightful.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews