Demimonde

Demi-mondeis a French 19th-century term referring to women on the fringes of respectable society, and specifically tocourtesanssupported by wealthy lovers.The term is French for "half-world", and derives from an 1855 play calledLe Demi-Monde,byAlexandre Dumasfils,dealing with the way that prostitution at that time threatened the institution of marriage. Thedemi-mondewas the world occupied by elite men and the women who entertained them and whom they kept.

Demimondainebecame a synonym for acourtesanor a prostitute who moved in these circles—or for a woman of social standing with the power to thumb her nose at convention and throw herself into thehedonisticnightlife. A woman who made that choice would soon find her social status lost, as she became"déclassée".

For the men, the high life of thedemimondewas isolated from the other world of wives and families and duties (if any). It embraced heavy drinking and other drug use, gambling, attending the theatre and ballet and horse races, the pursuit of highfashionin every aspect of life, and sexual promiscuity. Lavish spending led to indebtedness; promiscuity, in the worst scenario, led todisease.

Historically, the height of thedemimondewas encapsulated by the period known in France asLa Belle Époque(1871–1914), from the end of theFranco-Prussian Warto the beginning ofWorld War I.

The twentieth century brought the rise of theNew Woman,changing economies and social structures, as well as changing fashions and social mores, particularly in the aftermath of World War I. Prostitution and the keeping of mistresses did not disappear, but the labeldemimondainebecame obsolete as the 'half-world' changed.

Women calleddemimondaine

Externally, the defining aspects of the demimonde were an extravagantlifestyleof fine food and clothes, often surpassing that of other wealthy women of their day with a steady income of cash and gifts from their various lovers. Internally, their lifestyle was an eclectic mixture of sharp business acumen, social skills, andhedonism.Intelligent demimondaines, like the fictionalGigi's grandmother, would invest their 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 wasVirginia Oldoini, Countess di Castiglione,who came to Paris in the 1850s with very little money of her own and soon became mistress ofNapoleon 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 adventuressLola Montez,though she died before the term came into general use.

The actressSarah Bernhardtwas 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.

Marguerite Steinheil,from the Japy family, a powerful dynasty of French industrialists, married minorAcademic artpainter Adolphe Steinheil in 1890. She acted as her husband's model for some time, but aspired to a more intense and moneyed existence, and opened a salon in their villa at 6 bis, Impasse Ronsin, close toMontparnasse,which was soon frequented by all of Paris. Combining ambition and temperament, her status as the archetypal demimondaine rose as she conducted affairs with some of the most influential and generous men in the country. Marguerite, always concerned about her husband's career, obtained artistic commissions for him from her protectors, which helped Adolphe accept his marital misfortunes.

Marguerite's affair with the President of the Republic, Félix Faure, won Adolphe an official commission for a monumental painting representingThe Presentation of Decorations by the President of the Republic to the Survivors of the Disaster of theFort de la Redoute Ruinée(August 8, 1897), which was exhibited at the Salon des artistes of 1898. Adolphe was also awarded theLegion of Honorcross the same year. Félix Faure is alleged to have suddenly died from a stroke whilst receiving sexual favours from Marguerite at theÉlysée Palace.This part of her life has been fictionalised in the TV seriesParis Police 1900.

Fictionaldemimondaines

Descriptions of thedemimondecan be found inVanity Fair(1848), a novel which satirizes nineteenth century society, written byWilliam Makepeace Thackeray.Although it does not mention the termsdemimondeanddemimondaine(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 aredemimondecharacters, both of whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days.Becky Sharpis perceived as ademimondainebefore she is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels throughEuropeafter her husband abandons her.

Possibly the most famous portrayal of thedemimonde,albeit from before the word was coined, is inGiuseppe Verdi's operaLa traviata(1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired byAlexandre Dumasfils'sLa Dame aux Camélias;Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based onMarie Duplessis,1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men, including Dumas.She would famously be portrayed on stage by the aforementionedSarah Bernhardt.

In writing his 1924 playEasy Virtue,Noël Cowardstated his object was to present a comedy in the structure of a tragedy "to compare thedéclasséewoman of to-day with the more flamboyantdemi-mondaineof the 1890s. "

Colette'sGigi(1944), and its1958 film adaptation,also describe 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 thedemimondeofParisin the 'Gay Nineties', as she desires true love with only one man.

InA 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."

InThe Seven-Per-Cent Solution(1976), the character Lola Devereaux is labeled ademimondaineby the characterSigmund Freud.

Other uses of the term in fiction

InHenryk Sienkiewicz'sWithout Dogma(1891), the term"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.

InMarcel Proust'sSwann's Way(1913), Odette de Crécy is described as ademimondaine.

Françoise Sagan,in her novelBonjour Tristesse(1954), uses the termdemimondaineto 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 inPeter Matthew Hillsman Taylor's novellaThe Old Forest(from the story collection of the same name, 1985) usedemimondeto 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 inJames Joyce'sUlysses.

InKim Stanley Robinson'sMars trilogy(1990s), the termdemimonderefers to a semi-tolerated, "off the net" society of commerce and education.

In his ‘’Rivers of London’’ series, author Ben Aaronovitch repeatedly uses the term demi-monde to refer to a societal underworld where supernatural and faerie peoples mingle.

The English-language title of the Hungarian feature filmFélvilágisDemimonde.

TheShowtimeseriesPenny Dreadfulrecasts thedemimondeas a spiritual dimension. It is also the title of the fourth episode of the first season.

See also

• Ukiyo

Sources

• William Makepeace Thackeray(1848),Vanity Fair.
• Colette(1945),Gigi.
• William Blatchford (editor) (1983),The Memoirs of Cora Pearl: The Erotic Reminiscences of a Flamboyant 19th Century Courtesan.London;New York:Granada.ISBN0-246-11915-2.
• Katie Hickman (2003),Courtesans: Money, Sex and Fame in the Nineteenth Century.New York: Morrow.ISBN0-06-620955-2.
• Joanna Richardson(1967),The Courtesans: The Demi-monde in 19th Century France.London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.