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

This essay makes the case for a courtesan novel, a sub-genre of popular fiction by renowned demi-mondaines in France from the Second Empire through the Belle Époque, who challenged in their novels Alexandre Dumas's portrayal of Marguerite in his La Dame aux camélias (1848), claiming that this work do not only promotes unrealistic stereotypes of courtesans, but also harmful ones. After defining the characteristics of the genre, this essay examines the way Céleste de Chabrillan, who famously privileged the courtesan's response to her own alienation in her autobiographical Adieux au monde (1854) and her fictional la Sapho, inspired Louise (“Valtesse”) de la Bigne (who wrote as “Ego”) to also up her pen to write courtesan fiction just as her protegée Liane de Pougy would during the Belle Époque. In Isola, Ego paints the competitive and aspersive demi-monde at the dawn of the Belle Époque. The work, now long-forgotten, though popular when first released, entices readers with its efforts to humanize the demi-mondaine, to underscore the societal hypocrisies that fuel its existence, and to refute the stereotypes of the courtesan as a venal and heartless creature.