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Vieți scandaloase: curtezane, concubine și amante celebre
In 1965, o batrina era gasita moarta intr-o camera de hotel din Nisa. Moartea ei marca sfirsitul unei epoci: era ultima mare curtezana din Europa. Cunoscuta drept La Belle Otero, fusese o frumusete spaniola vulcanica printre ai carei protectori s-au numarat kaizerul Wilhelm al II-lea, Printul de Wales (ulterior regele Eduard al VII-lea) si marele duce Petru Nikolaevici al Rusiei. A acumulat o avere uriasa, pe care insa a pierdut-o la jocurile de noroc. Vieti scandaloase cuprinde povestile celor mai faimoase (sau rau-famate) femei, a caror prada o constituiau cei mai bogati si mai puternici barbati ai timpului lor. Intre ele, Thaïs, celebra curtezana din Grecia antica responsabila pentru incendierea Persepolisului; Marie Duplessis, care a inspirat personajele din Dama cu camelii de Dumas si La Traviata de Verdi; Cora Pearl, despre care se spune ca, la una dintre petrecerile ei legendare, s-a servit goala oaspetilor pe o tava de argint; Ninon de L’Enclos, careia cardinalul Richelieu i-a oferit 50.000 de coroane ca sa petreaca o noapte in compania ei; Lola Montez, o falsa dansatoare spaniola care a provocat o revolutie. Si multe altele...
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
56 people are currently reading
919 people want to read
About the author
Ian Graham
589 books42 followersAfter working as an in-house journalist and editor in consumer electronics magazines, Ian Graham became a freelance writer. He has written more than 230 illustrated non-fiction books for children and teens, and contributed chapters to books including Dorling Kindersley’s Know it All and Big Ideas that Changed the World. He has a degree in applied physics and a postgraduate diploma in journalism.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
August 15, 2016
Interesting, but tries to cover far too many women in far too few pages, also jumps around too much with many digressions about executions.
August 21, 2016
The problem with this book is there is too much information in too short a space, it's like reading an encyclopedia. With this sort of presentation, if I had never heard of this woman before, I wasn't going to retain much. If I already knew about her, chances are I already knew what was here, so I didn't end up learning a lot. And there are no illustrations at all, which is never helpful. (I guess this isn't such a big deal if you are reading an ebook and can just look them up easily, but if you aren't, it's a big pain to have to go Google all the time)
May 3, 2018
A spicy, gossipy little book that covers the lives of over 60 courtesans, concubines, kept women, etc. The author probably could have omitted some of the chapters since I felt that I was reading basically the same thing over and over again. Poor, uneducated young girl catches the eye of a wealthy man or royal personage...becomes his mistress........attempts to spend all his money (sometimes succeeding).......is finally rejected....... dies in poverty. Granted, a few of these women were wise enough to make the most of their usually short time as favorites and came away from the experience well heeled and sometimes with a title. But most of them lived for the moment and when the moment passed they became pathetic, often disease ridden and shunned by their families, former friends, and society in general.
The majority of the women were from Britain and France but the author does touch on the concubines of China, the nautch girls of India, and the "women of pleasure" of Japan where the rituals and social standing of "scarlet women" were quite different from the European sisters. In fact, a favorite concubine became Empress Cixi in 19th century China.
This is a book that can be read at leisure since each chapter is self contained. It is a fun read, if a bit repetitive.
The majority of the women were from Britain and France but the author does touch on the concubines of China, the nautch girls of India, and the "women of pleasure" of Japan where the rituals and social standing of "scarlet women" were quite different from the European sisters. In fact, a favorite concubine became Empress Cixi in 19th century China.
This is a book that can be read at leisure since each chapter is self contained. It is a fun read, if a bit repetitive.
December 18, 2015
Ian Graham's book is an exhaustive treatment of the lives of courtesans throughout history. He reaches back to ancient Greece and Rome, India and China, and brings the reader through the centuries (and the countries) up to the present day... Camilla Parker Bowles is in here! I can't say I've ever considered her a courtesan.
I rarely have this reaction, but for once I wished for a more scholarly approach to the topic. After awhile, the profiles of individual women and their stories blur together. Their stories are all pretty similar. Instead, I would have wished for the author to integrate some of these women into a narrative that explained more about the courtesan life. He mentions many times how women were schooled in the art of the courtesan. What does that mean? Who taught them? What were they taught? Many of the women took to the stage as dancers and singers to gain notoriety or to earn money. What kind of singing and dancing? How could amateurs so easily become stars? Today singers and dancers endure grueling years of lessons and practice. It must have been different in earlier centuries, but how? These are the kinds of things I would have liked to know.
Mr. Graham makes a distinction between the courtesans, mistresses and concubines of the book's title and the lowly prostitute by choosing women whose arrangements were long-term and did not involve immediate payment for sexual favors. But to me, it was all prostitution, regardless of the pretty face anyone might try to impose on it. I felt sorry for these women, not inspired by them.
I agree with the sentiments of Tullia d'Aragona, an Italian woman he profiles from the 1500s: "If you knew the servility, the vileness, the depths and inconstancy of such a life, you would blame anyone who said it was a good one and excused it," she wrote. "Anyone who helps a young girl foolish enough to be pushed into such a life to get out of it is saving her from misery."
In the end, that was my overall view of the hazy distinctions made in this book. Although some of these women lived lavish lives until their comfortable ends, many of them ended up destitute, ruined by jealous lovers, killed by husbands, summarily discarded by royal patrons, or suffering horrible deaths from sexually transmitted diseases. I felt sad that in centuries past, there was no outlet for women's skills, talents and interests, and no way to ensure their own financial security other than to snag a man, whether a husband or a lover. I find it hard to enjoy a book that celebrates a role that women were forced to assume as a means of survival.
I rarely have this reaction, but for once I wished for a more scholarly approach to the topic. After awhile, the profiles of individual women and their stories blur together. Their stories are all pretty similar. Instead, I would have wished for the author to integrate some of these women into a narrative that explained more about the courtesan life. He mentions many times how women were schooled in the art of the courtesan. What does that mean? Who taught them? What were they taught? Many of the women took to the stage as dancers and singers to gain notoriety or to earn money. What kind of singing and dancing? How could amateurs so easily become stars? Today singers and dancers endure grueling years of lessons and practice. It must have been different in earlier centuries, but how? These are the kinds of things I would have liked to know.
Mr. Graham makes a distinction between the courtesans, mistresses and concubines of the book's title and the lowly prostitute by choosing women whose arrangements were long-term and did not involve immediate payment for sexual favors. But to me, it was all prostitution, regardless of the pretty face anyone might try to impose on it. I felt sorry for these women, not inspired by them.
I agree with the sentiments of Tullia d'Aragona, an Italian woman he profiles from the 1500s: "If you knew the servility, the vileness, the depths and inconstancy of such a life, you would blame anyone who said it was a good one and excused it," she wrote. "Anyone who helps a young girl foolish enough to be pushed into such a life to get out of it is saving her from misery."
In the end, that was my overall view of the hazy distinctions made in this book. Although some of these women lived lavish lives until their comfortable ends, many of them ended up destitute, ruined by jealous lovers, killed by husbands, summarily discarded by royal patrons, or suffering horrible deaths from sexually transmitted diseases. I felt sad that in centuries past, there was no outlet for women's skills, talents and interests, and no way to ensure their own financial security other than to snag a man, whether a husband or a lover. I find it hard to enjoy a book that celebrates a role that women were forced to assume as a means of survival.
January 3, 2025
I was very intrigued by this book when I picked it up from the library. I loved the implications of it all. However, I probably should have paid closer attention to the contents page.mm
This was not an overly long book, but it covered a vast amount of women from countries around the world. I wanted more substance about the women, but what I got was more of a blurb about MANY different women and their most famous lovers.
It was interesting, but there wasn't anything really groundbreaking about it. It is good for an interesting read, but there is not a lot of substance about any of the women. Great for a reference into women you may want to look more into.
3 Stars for me.
This was not an overly long book, but it covered a vast amount of women from countries around the world. I wanted more substance about the women, but what I got was more of a blurb about MANY different women and their most famous lovers.
It was interesting, but there wasn't anything really groundbreaking about it. It is good for an interesting read, but there is not a lot of substance about any of the women. Great for a reference into women you may want to look more into.
3 Stars for me.
Read
May 4, 2016An excellent read for those who love the history in it's more unusual behaviors. It never ceases to amaze me how the 20th century changed a lot of behaviors that had been acceptable for hundreds of years and made them obsolete. Or how closely related many of these people were and are in the 21st century. This is going to be a buy book and hang out in my bookshelf.
June 23, 2016
I ended up really liking this book. While Ian Graham is no Eleanor Herman or Michael Farquhar, he does cover a wide range of continents, countries, and centuries. I wish he had gone into more detail, cited his sources in-text, and was a little more devoted to chronological order.
September 21, 2017
This is stuffed with interesting information, although rather tersely delivered.
February 19, 2024
This was okay. Overall, I found it mostly just depressing as most of the women whose stories the book details end badly. I suppose that shouldn't surprise anyone, given that the roles and choices available to women throughout the eras the book covers were severely limited and dictated almost exclusively by men who wanted to control women entirely.
There should be some credit given to many of these women as they did buck a system that was rigged against them and managed to be successful - to a point, and for a time - at living their lives as they preferred.
As previously stated, most of the lives of the women discussed were short and in many cases difficult. An interesting examination of those few determined women who refused to accept the dictates of men but not a very uplifting book to read.
There should be some credit given to many of these women as they did buck a system that was rigged against them and managed to be successful - to a point, and for a time - at living their lives as they preferred.
As previously stated, most of the lives of the women discussed were short and in many cases difficult. An interesting examination of those few determined women who refused to accept the dictates of men but not a very uplifting book to read.
March 21, 2024
Interesting history lesson.
March 23, 2016
“In 1965, an impoverished elderly woman was found dead in Nice, France. Her death marked the end of an era; she was the last of the great courtesans. Known as La Belle Otero, she was a volcanic Spanish beauty whose patrons included Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia. She accumulated an enormous fortune, but gambled it all away. Scarlet Women tells her story and many more…
Courtesans were an elite group of talented, professional mistresses. The most successful became wealthy and famous in their own right. While they led charmed lives, they occupied a curious position: they enjoyed freedom and political power unknown to most women, but they were ostracized by polite society. From the hetaerae of ancient Greece to the cortigiani onesti of 16th century Venice, the oiran of Edo-period Japan to the demimondaines of 19th century France, this captivating book–perfect for readers of A Treasury of Royal Scandals–uncovers the rich, colorful lives of these women who dared to pursue fortunes outside their societies’ norms.”
The concept of this book had a lot of potential. It could have been truly revealing of the impact women had on history and the influential men they slept with in order to rise to power, wealth and notoriety. Instead, Graham wrote this book more as a gossip column, divulging salacious “secrets” of the women who bedded men of great power and wealth. The tone of this book borders on mocking and doesn’t deliver the proper respect these women garnered during their times with kings, noblemen, and knights.
The sketches of the courtesans, concubines and mistresses are brief – so brief that they start to blend together and feel the same as the previous one. If Graham had no intention of going into detail about the lives of these women, he certainly achieved that. This book felt more like a list of names of women who slept with men, their rise to fame and then their decent into madness, poverty and eventually death. I would have preferred to read a book about five or six mistresses, well written, researched and in depth, rather than a book full of every possible mistress and just a brief few paragraphs about each of them. 6/10.
Originally reviewed at WPL: Cover to Cover
Courtesans were an elite group of talented, professional mistresses. The most successful became wealthy and famous in their own right. While they led charmed lives, they occupied a curious position: they enjoyed freedom and political power unknown to most women, but they were ostracized by polite society. From the hetaerae of ancient Greece to the cortigiani onesti of 16th century Venice, the oiran of Edo-period Japan to the demimondaines of 19th century France, this captivating book–perfect for readers of A Treasury of Royal Scandals–uncovers the rich, colorful lives of these women who dared to pursue fortunes outside their societies’ norms.”
The concept of this book had a lot of potential. It could have been truly revealing of the impact women had on history and the influential men they slept with in order to rise to power, wealth and notoriety. Instead, Graham wrote this book more as a gossip column, divulging salacious “secrets” of the women who bedded men of great power and wealth. The tone of this book borders on mocking and doesn’t deliver the proper respect these women garnered during their times with kings, noblemen, and knights.
The sketches of the courtesans, concubines and mistresses are brief – so brief that they start to blend together and feel the same as the previous one. If Graham had no intention of going into detail about the lives of these women, he certainly achieved that. This book felt more like a list of names of women who slept with men, their rise to fame and then their decent into madness, poverty and eventually death. I would have preferred to read a book about five or six mistresses, well written, researched and in depth, rather than a book full of every possible mistress and just a brief few paragraphs about each of them. 6/10.
Originally reviewed at WPL: Cover to Cover
March 1, 2016
“Scarlet Women: The Scandalous Lives of Courtesans, Concubines, and Royal Mistresses” by Ian Graham follows the lives of over sixty courtesans, recounted over themed sections like “The Petticoat behind the throne,” “The ancient world,” and “Honored courtesans,” as well as geographical ones like “Meanwhile in Britain,” “The Americas,” and “Asia”—among other sections.
Each biographical sketch is brief, and is meant to bring out the highlights in each subject’s life before moving on to the next one. The courtesans covered vary—including famous ones like Mata Hari and Lola Montez, to ones closely tied to rulers—including the wives of Henry VIII, the lovers of the Sun King, as well as Napoleon’s Polish girlfriend, among others. Surprisingly there, was even a section about Camilla Parker Bowles, which as interesting as most of the book focuses on the past centuries.
Overall, this was an interesting book. I have not heard of most of the personalities covered prior to reading, so read their biographies with interest. Many of the courtesans became ones either in a quest for power, or more commonly, simply to sustain themselves or because they were backed into a corner by a powerful admirer like a king. I thought the parts about the royal courtesans were especially interesting. Unfortunately, there are no photographs of the courtesans discussed present in the book, which is a pity since it would have been nice to match the stories to a face. Aside from this, I enjoyed this book.
Each biographical sketch is brief, and is meant to bring out the highlights in each subject’s life before moving on to the next one. The courtesans covered vary—including famous ones like Mata Hari and Lola Montez, to ones closely tied to rulers—including the wives of Henry VIII, the lovers of the Sun King, as well as Napoleon’s Polish girlfriend, among others. Surprisingly there, was even a section about Camilla Parker Bowles, which as interesting as most of the book focuses on the past centuries.
Overall, this was an interesting book. I have not heard of most of the personalities covered prior to reading, so read their biographies with interest. Many of the courtesans became ones either in a quest for power, or more commonly, simply to sustain themselves or because they were backed into a corner by a powerful admirer like a king. I thought the parts about the royal courtesans were especially interesting. Unfortunately, there are no photographs of the courtesans discussed present in the book, which is a pity since it would have been nice to match the stories to a face. Aside from this, I enjoyed this book.
May 14, 2019
I was so excited about this book. I wanted to love it; I hoped it would be a rip-roaring, saucy & empowering historical account of women who refused to bow to narrow social expectations.
Instead, it was a disjointed, poorly written, moralistic cacophony of brief & shallow accounts of the lives of women (all of whom were most likely incredibly fascinating people, with specific reasons for making the choices they did) who had been reduced to seemingly empty caricatures of “women who did naughty things and therefore had (mostly) bad stuff happen to them.”
I didn’t learn anything of value about who they were, or why they did what they did; while the details of their male partners lives, choices, and motivations were emphasized and often lauded as “what was obviously going to be the end anyway.” The author’s tone was simultaneously purile & disinterested; the research halfassed, and the overall effect incredibly disappointing.
When I eventually read the author bio and realized he was a children’s author, I at least got an idea of why it seemed like he’d bitten off way more than he could chew.
It got two stars only because I like the subject matter so much.
Instead, it was a disjointed, poorly written, moralistic cacophony of brief & shallow accounts of the lives of women (all of whom were most likely incredibly fascinating people, with specific reasons for making the choices they did) who had been reduced to seemingly empty caricatures of “women who did naughty things and therefore had (mostly) bad stuff happen to them.”
I didn’t learn anything of value about who they were, or why they did what they did; while the details of their male partners lives, choices, and motivations were emphasized and often lauded as “what was obviously going to be the end anyway.” The author’s tone was simultaneously purile & disinterested; the research halfassed, and the overall effect incredibly disappointing.
When I eventually read the author bio and realized he was a children’s author, I at least got an idea of why it seemed like he’d bitten off way more than he could chew.
It got two stars only because I like the subject matter so much.
August 29, 2016
Ehhhh. Underwhelming. First, there was no apparent order to the sections in the book; I would have preferred if this was organized geographically. Second, there was a real missed opportunity here to delve into the history of the Asian courtesan traditions. I wanted to know so much more about Japan, China, Korea, and India! Third, the author uses short sentences and a lot of exclamation points, which doesn't come across as very scholarly. Fourth, the sections read as kind of a list of bullet points about a certain woman's life, without getting into motivations or societal context very much. Again, a real missed opportunity. The author may have produced a better work if he had perhaps selected just a few courtesans and explored their lives in detail, rather than giving us a short section about every known courtesan ever. I've forgotten most of them already.
August 11, 2020
dnf at page 151 of 233 in my copy. Ultimately I love the concept of this book but the author wrote with such a repeated formula and tried to fit so much in that it just grew bland and repetitive. Of course you can only do so much with available information, and I enjoyed reading some of it, but I found I took very little away because everything began to blend together after a while. Eventually it felt like I was reading the same thing over and over (this has less to do with the actual content and more with the writing style) that I grew bored, which is a disservice to the historic figures. I think it might've been better to focus on one smaller group or country or even time frame and flesh it out more, to avoid the formulaic writing. Sad I just couldn't finish it because I love the topic, but I ultimately couldn't bring myself to care enough.
April 10, 2016
This is a series of short, seven pages at most, biographical sketches on famous courtesans, concubines, and royal mistresses. Most of the featured ladies are European, but Asia and the U.S. get some representation as well. While there are no footnotes, there is a twenty-seven page bibliography arranged by the subjects. The author draws no major conclusions. Reading the bios, one sees that many of the ladies came from broken homes and dysfunctional families, and had a flair for living fast and expensively; but many died in poverty. They rose in the world by dint of the performing arts and subsequent other talents. For their influence on royal decisions, histories and biographies of their paramours should be consulted; there’s nothing groundbreaking here.
May 22, 2017
As a fan of women in history, this book thoroughly fascinated me. I loved getting glimpses into the lives of courtesans and mistresses from Ancient Greece to modern-day Britain. I never found myself bored by the material, nor did I wish for the sections on each woman to be expanded, a common complaint I see in the reviews. Different strokes for different folks, I guess!
I do wish the section on concubines in Asia were longer, as I feel quite informed on the sundry women kings of England and France spent time with, but not much about the women of China, Japan, Korea, etc.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book and would recommend for any fan of women's history.
I do wish the section on concubines in Asia were longer, as I feel quite informed on the sundry women kings of England and France spent time with, but not much about the women of China, Japan, Korea, etc.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book and would recommend for any fan of women's history.
August 7, 2017
I really liked it. A lot better then I expected. There are obviously a lot of women he could have picked from history and did a good job of not making any of the ones he did focus on glossed over. The inclusion of multiple cultures was appreciated though I wish there was more on Indian or Asian women but if you don't have the info you can't write the story. I do wish there was more focus on the untraditional role Madame de Pompadour played in that their relationship was for a long time nonsexual and she supplied every other need for him which was an exhausting role. There was also some historical inaccuracies that I caught on but other then that very good read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2016
This book is about all the mistresses of the world, from the beginning of time that has been recorded. Graham basically gives a detailed account of every woman known to man that work in the profession. He breaks it up by area or time frame.
I couldn't finish this book. It was written so dully - given the topic you'd expect this book to be exciting and interesting but it was the farthest thing from that. I really tried but some of the details are just not really necessary and the author sometimes talks more about events of the time rather than about the people.
I couldn't finish this book. It was written so dully - given the topic you'd expect this book to be exciting and interesting but it was the farthest thing from that. I really tried but some of the details are just not really necessary and the author sometimes talks more about events of the time rather than about the people.
May 6, 2020
Amazing the history of women who 'made a living' as it were by being mistresses! Their stories definitely have similarities, which gets to be kind of redundant, but it makes sense that so many would have similar backgrounds of hardship that kind of forced them into those lifestyles when so few choices were available to women, especially once 'sullied.' They were definitely creative and clever and used a lot of ingenuity to succeed! Too bad so many of them also ended up in poverty. A great read!
March 31, 2016
The title may say scandalous, but the book was a bit more on the boring side. The women in this book lead interesting and scandalous lives, but there was little analysis into why women entered this profession and the social structures that created courtesans and mistresses. It was more of a rote listing of brief biographies; useful, but not particularly enticing.
June 29, 2016
This is a fascinating collection of stories, that together form a history of courtesans, concubines and royal mistresses, that gives the book a broader scope and meaning. These women in many cases approached their profession with great expertise and care, and the book is full of surprising and counter-intuitive insights.
October 4, 2016
Fun and fascinating. But the scope was just too large. Many of the courtesans are covered in thumbnail sketches and the book is organized by geographic region, so the timelines and sheer parade of dates fast becomes overwhelming. That said, it's an enjoyably meandering - if disjointed - stroll through the side corridors of history to which these colorful and brilliant women were relegated.
June 13, 2019
Great topic, but TERRIBLE writing. "X killed his wife when he found her in bed with her lover. He killed the lover too!" Why so many exclamation points in a non fiction book? Sentences are so short, it's like reading a children's book for a kid reading her first chapter book. It's a shame the story telling is such crap.
September 27, 2016
More gossipy than scholarly. The numerous ! suggest that Graham is easily shocked.
August 10, 2017
In the Kindle edition, 72% ends the book. Remaining percentage is citations and glossary.
February 8, 2018
Extensive historical facts and contexts, which are the reasons I started reading it, but the writing style was sorta dry and not very engaging.
June 10, 2018
Very interesting read--
July 22, 2018
Written like a novel, it provides several vignettes covering a thousand year history of the courtesan, with emphasis on the 19th century.
October 25, 2018
A vague overview. Not helpful if you're looking for details or specifics.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews