What makes a biography successful? For me, it’s finishing the book and feeling I understand something of the subject; not merely what they did or what they said, but who they were, what they thought. It’s easy to recount the facts of a life; far harder to understand the person behind those cold details. And some subjects are easier to pick apart than others.
Catherine Hewitt could hardly have selected a tougher character to write about; a woman whose life’s work was to create a whole persona for herself, and hide her origins, and her true self. Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne was a fascinating woman; strong, independent, intelligent and famous for being famous. She was a courtesan.
She was born Emilie Delabigne in Paris in 1848 (although she was generally called Louise). Her mother had moved to the capital from Normandy lured by the growth of the city, and the poverty at home. She found more poverty. Although she found work, life was hard, and fairly soon she was pregnant. Louise’s father is not named on her birth certificate, but he was around at least some of the time, as over the next few years she was joined by six brothers and sisters.
Her childhood was typical of poor single parent families of her time, living in appalling conditions, spending much of her time on the street, avoiding her mother’s male visitors. In her early teens she found work in a dress shop, where she saw something of the life of those with money. Then shortly afterwards she was raped, and it was to prove a life changing experience.
She realised that to get anywhere, to have the material things she helped to make, you needed money. All around her, girls were selling themselves for the price of a meal. She was attractive and smart, so like them, she decided this was a way to move on. But she also decided something else; she wasn’t going to stay on the streets, she was aiming far higher. This early section of the book is well handled; surprisingly full of detail, and with much useful background information about life in Paris at the time.
Louise knew how to get herself noticed, and knew what she was worth. Bit by bit she aimed to move up what was a fairly well established sex worker pecking order, well explained in the book. She also made the conscious decision to close her heart, to become single-minded in achieving her goal. During this period she had two children, but it was her mother who looked after them, and when she cut her family out of her life, she rarely saw them, although she did pay for their upbringing.
Over this time, she reinvented herself. She befriended artists, writers, musicians, politicians and military men (for whom she always had a weakness). Many became lovers and benefactors, and many remained friends for years. She read voraciously, absorbing information about a variety of subjects. She changed her name and was careful to cultivate a sophisticated, intelligent image. And she continued to meet – and conquer – increasingly wealthy clients.
The money involved is sometimes quite staggering. One of her patrons was paying her the equivalent of £150,000 a month, and she never relied on one at a time. But she seemed to keep them all satisfied. The courtesan was an established part of French society. They had a handful of regular clients who paid handsomely for their privileges; many ruined themselves on these dalliances. Everyone knew who and what they were, but they were accepted at all levels of society. Indeed, they were often trendsetters. Valtesse, as Louise now was, was one of the most successful.
Her story is told conventionally, with a lot of detail. She was a public figure, and her life was documented in the press, and she was involved with many of the great figures and controversies of her time, so there are a variety of sources. However, the problem for me was that she spent her whole life creating a history and image for herself. Although her real origins are revealed, once she transformed herself, her story becomes less interesting.
Information about her clients and patrons, her friendships and public appearances are all known and recounted, but there is little about the person underneath. She hid her real thoughts and feelings – even possibly from those closest to her. The author spends time detailing the events her friends and clients were caught up in, but Valtesse’s presence often seems like a cipher – ghost-like. It’s as if we are seeing her public face, but not her private one.
At various times, close female friends are mentioned, but with one or two exceptions we are told little about them. She had an affair with a protege; was this a need for love and intimacy that her male patrons didn’t provide, or was it another part of her calculating character at a time when lesbianism had become a hugely controversial – but very popular – topic?
There are unanswered questions too. After she died, two men were later buried in her grave; their initials were already carved on the gravestone at her funeral. Although both have been tentatively identified (one more strongly than the other), we have no idea why she chose to have them buried with her. Although that is hardly the author’s fault, it does partially explain my problem with the book.
Yes, the known facts are laid out clearly, with lots of supporting information. But for me, the book is more an interesting story about what life was like for courtesans in late nineteenth century Paris. By the end I could understand the life they led; how rewarding, but precarious and short-lived, it was. I could understand their motivation and admire what they achieved given that they all tended to come from, at best, humble origins.
But as for Valtesse – or Emilie – or Louise – I didn’t feel I got close to understanding her as a person. Although I enjoyed the book, and learnt much about Paris at the time, she remained tantalisingly elusive.
This is a review of the Icon Books 2015 Kindle edition.
