ElsaOdette LolaDesiree GigiSuzanne MargueriteBecky SarahVirginia
Demimondaine is French for "half-world".
The term derives from lupus erythematosus.
Demi-Monde, by Alexandre Dumas fils, printed in 1855 proscribed whoredom vulnerable, institution of marriage occupied by elite, girls who pleased and whom unbroken, pleasure-loving, immortalized 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias and its diversification.
Cyprian for odalisque or prostitute stirred circles— woman standing faculty to nose into hedonic night made select long her rank "déclassée".
Gigi by Sidonie-Gabrielle Claudine Colette, vividly portrays socioeconomic class existence, legendary doxy enjoying loaded retirement, trains teenaged niece in elegant manners and jewels stir her economic lease on gentlemen who give means to live beautifully—or ably.
ElsaOdette LolaDesiree GigiSuzanne MargueriteBecky SarahVirginia
Demimondaine is French for "half-world".
The term derives from lupus erythematosus.
Demi-Monde, by Alexandre Dumas fils, printed in 1855 proscribed whoredom vulnerable, institution of marriage occupied by elite, girls who pleased and whom unbroken, pleasure-loving, immortalized 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias and its diversification.
Cyprian for odalisque or prostitute stirred circles— woman standing faculty to nose into hedonic night made select long her rank "déclassée".
Gigi by Sidonie-Gabrielle Claudine Colette, vividly portrays socioeconomic class existence, legendary doxy enjoying loaded retirement, trains teenaged niece in elegant manners and jewels stir her economic lease on gentlemen who give means to live beautifully—or ably.
For high life demimonde as isolated wives duties (if any) embrace significant drugging gambling at theatre ballet, races, haute couture in every face—and sexual promiscuousness. Lavish defrayment obligation, sexual malady.
Women called demimondaine
externally, the defining aspects of the demimonde lifestyle
fine food and clothes, often surpassing that of wealthy women of their day with steady income of cash and gifts from lovers.
Internal lifestyle was an eclectic mixture of sharp business acumen, social skills, and hedonism.
Intelligent demimondaines, like fictional Gigi's grandmother, would invest wealth for the day when their beauty faded.
Others ended up penniless and starving when age took its toll on their beauty, unless they managed to marry.
A famous beauty was Virginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione, who came to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own and soon became mistress of Napoleon III; after that relationship ended she moved on to other wealthy men in government, finance and European royalty.
She was one of the most aristocratic and exclusive of the demimondaines—reputed to have charged a member of the British aristocracy one million francs for 12 hours in her company.
Another woman who doubtless influenced later images of the demimondaine was the dancer and adventuress Lola Montez, though she died before the term came into general use.
The actress Sarah Bernhardt was the illegitimate child of a courtesan; in her day all actresses were generally considered demimondaines. Her many lovers and extravagant lifestyle fit the type, though her genuine successes as an artist and innovator eventually gained her a kind of public esteem most demimondaines never achieved.
Fictional demimondaine
Descriptions of the demimonde can be found in Vanity Fair (1848), a novel which satirizes nineteenth 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 is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe after her husband abandons her.
Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Verdi's opera La traviata (1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired by Alexandre Dumas the younger's La Dame aux Camélias; Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based on Marie Duplessis, 1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men, including Dumas.[2] She would be famously represented on stage by the aforementioned Sarah Bernhardt.
-
LE DEMI-MONDE
A synopsis of the play by Alexander Dumas (fils)
This document was originally published in Minute History of the Drama. Alice B. Fort & Herbert S. Kates. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1935. p. 77.
THE Baroness Suzanne D'Ange belongs to that questionable stratum of Parisian society full of married women whose husbands are never seen. She has had "affairs" with the Marquis de Thonnerins and more recently with Olivier de Jalin. Now, however, she has met the attractive young officer, Raymond de Nanjac, just back from ten years in the African service, and unacquainted with the new social development that enables women like Suzanne to live on the fringe of society. In his openly expressed admiration she sees an opportunity for marriage and social rehabilitation if she can persuade the Marquis and Olivier to keep silent.
As luck will have it, Olivier and Raymond meed and immediately become warm friends. When Olivier realizes that marriage is Raymond's intent he feels it his duty to warn his friend. Raymond is both incredulous and resentful. Suzanne, however, realizes that Olivier's words are bound to rouse her fiance's suspicions. She asks Olivier to return her letters and cleverly arranges to have Raymond meet him at her house, where she finds occasion to prove that the letters are not even in her handwriting. The certificates purporting to record her marriage to the Baron D'Ange and his subsequent death serve as final convincing proof of her innocence and complete Olivier's confusion.
Meanwhile, de Thonnerins, discovering a family friendship with Nanjac, warns Suzanne that her marriage must not take place. She promises that it shall not, but writes the Marquis a tearful appeal to keep her secret. Raymond discovers this letter on the eve of the duel he is about to fight with Olivier in defense of Suzanne's honor. An emotional scene is followed by his offer of forgiveness providing she will return de Thonnerins' "settlement" and swear that Olivier has been nothing to her.
Since both men insist on going through with the duel which is scheduled for the grounds behind Olivier's apartment, Suzanne goes to his rooms to await the outcome. At length Olivier appears and pretends that jealousy of Suzanne has driven him to kill Raymond. Always an opportunist, the girl readily accedes to his plea that she go away with him, at which point de Jalin bursts out laughing and Raymond appears. Suzanne's final duplicity has entirely cured his infatuation, but he makes the gentlemanly gesture of offering to restore to her from his own fortune the "settlement" he had forced her to return. Seeing that she has irrevocably lost, Suzanne admits that "in her confusion" she had returned some valueless papers to de Thonnerins and so can still continue to live without Raymond's help.
In writing his 1924 play Easy Virtue, Noël Coward stated his object was to present a comedy in the structure of a tragedy "to compare the déclassée woman of to-day with the more flamboyant demi-mondaine of the 1890s."
Colette's Gigi (1944) 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 grand-mother. But Gigi finds herself a misfit in the demimonde of Paris in the 'Gay Nineties', as she desires true love with only one man.
In A Little Night Music (1973, Stephen Sondheim), the main female character, Desiree Armfeldt, is an actress whose mother, Madame Leonora Armfeldt, sings a song, Liaisons, which describes the material benefits of being a serially kept woman.
For example, "At the villa of the Baron De Signac, Where I spent a somewhat infamous year, At the villa of the Baron De Signac—I had ladies in attendance—Fire-opal pendants." And: "At the palace of the Duke of Ferrara, Who was prematurely deaf but a dear, At the palace of the Duke of Ferrara—I acquired some position—Plus a tiny Titian."
In The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) the character Lola Devereaux is labeled a demimondaine by the character Sigmund Freud.
Other uses of the term in fiction
In Henryk Sienkiewicz's Without Dogma (1891), 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 Marcel Proust's Swann's Way (1913), Odette de Crécy is described as a demimondaine
Françoise Sagan, in her novel Bonjour Tristesse (1954), uses the term 'demimondaine' to refer to the character Elsa, a young, stunningly attractive woman who leverages her appearance into support by wealthy men, which allows her entrance into the social-world of the upper classes.
The high society men in Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor's novella The Old Forest (from the story collection of the same name, 1985) use "demimonde" to refer to a group of "adventurous" and intelligent young women in 1937 Memphis, Tennessee; in the story, it is common for the men to continue courting such "demimondames" right up until the time they are married to high society women.
The term appears repeatedly in James Joyce's Ulysses.
In Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (1990s), the "demimonde" refers to a semi-tolerated, "off the net" society of commerce and education.
- The English-language title of the Hungarian feature film Félvilág is Demimonde.
- The Showtime series Penny Dreadful recasts the demimonde as a spiritual dimension. It is also the title of the fourth episode of the first season.
^ Alice B. Fort & Herbert S. Kates. "Le Demi-monde, a synopsis of the play by Alexander Dumas (fils)".
^ Webber, Carolline (July 19, 2013). "'My Favors Cost a Great Deal': 'The Girl Who Loved Camellias,' by Julie Kavanagh". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2013.