The Case for the Courtesan Novel Sub-Genre: Counter-Discourse and Intertextuality in de Chabrillan, de la Bigne, and de Pougy

Abstract

This chapter fi rst makes the case for a courtesan novel sub-genre by outlining its characteristics, and then explores how Céleste de Chabrillan's La Sapho (1858) serves as a model for Isola (1876), a text in which Valtesse de la Bigne portrays her protagonist as an active reader. An examination underscoring counter-discourse in Liane de Pougy's L ' Insaisissable (1898) and Myrrhille (1899) follows. Through their pro-tagonists' discussion of literature, de la Bigne and de Pougy use intertex-tuality to effect an important shift in perspective from the traditionally degraded courtesan to the injured but driven woman who declares her right to write against men's damaging representations of her kind. Keywords Valtesse de la Bigne • Isola • Céleste de Chabrillan • courtesan novel • Liane de Pougy • counter-discourse • L'Insaisissable • Myrrhille • La Dame aux camélias • Manon Lescaut • La Femme de Claude Isola, the protagonist of Valtesse de la Bigne's novel of the same title (1876), heart-wrenchingly relates the tale of her fall into prostitution to her lover, Horace, but when she senses his alarm over her jaded condem-nation of a society that failed to protect her from exploitation as a young woman, exclaims: " La Dame aux camélias est démodée, Horace, et du reste son histoire tient toute entière dans le tiroir de son bureau, où à l'heure de sa mort, il ne reste pas dix louis " [The Lady of the camellias is passé, Horace, and anyways, her entire story fi ts into her desk drawer,