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Publication
Frankfurt am Main ;Leipzig : Insel-Verl., 2004.
Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Men of great wealth bought her love. She gave it to only one. Marguerite Gautier, the greatest beauty in Paris, was known to all as "the Lady of the Camellias" because she was never seen without her favorite flowers. She was luxuriously kept by the richest men in France, who thronged to her boudoir to lay their fortunes at her feet. She lived violently, spending herself and her money in reckless abandon. She had many lovers, but she never really loved�??until she met Armand Duval. Realizing that her only assets in life were her face and figure, Marguerite had learned how to make men pay. But what happens to a cool, calculating beauty when she herself suffers the wound of love?
User reviews
LibraryThing member gbill
Melodramatic and with characters that aren’t all that likeable, but yet somehow an enjoyable read, perhaps because of the depth of the emotions, and how the book transports you to early 19th century France. Marguerite is a ‘kept woman’, one who trades her sexual favors to aristocratic old men
The book is restrained and doesn’t give us detail for the amorous relations, and yet it’s refreshingly frank about them, both of which were good things. While it’s a completely different world that these characters inhabit, when they go through the ups and downs of their affair, we recognize emotions and actions that are timeless. It drags on a bit towards the end, but the story of sacrifice and love is touching.
Quotes:
On affairs, this from Marguerite:
“Men, instead of being satisfied in obtaining for a long time what they scarcely hoped to obtain once, exact from their mistresses a full account of the present, the past, and even the future. As they get accustomed to her, they want to rule her, and the more one gives them the more exacting they become. If I decide now on taking a new lover, he must have three very rare qualities: he must be confiding, submissive, and discreet.”
On chance:
“One day a young man is passing in the street, he brushes against a woman, looks at her, turns, goes on his way. He does not know the woman, and she has pleasures, griefs, loves, in which he has no part. He does not exist for her, and perhaps, if he spoke to her, she would only laugh at him, as Marguerite had laughed at me. Weeks, months, years pass, and all at once, when they have each followed their fate along a different path the logic of chance brings them face to face. The woman becomes the man’s mistress and loves him. How? Why? Their two existences are henceforth one; they have scarcely begun to know one another when it seems as if they had known one another always, and all that had gone before is wiped out from the memory of the two lovers. It is curious, one must admit.”
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for their money and lavish gifts. She keeps up an extravagant lifestyle while juggling suitors, which she can do without offending those involved too much as long as she maintains a sense of decorum about it. Armand is a young bourgeoisie who falls madly in love with her, and despite not having the economic means to pay her expenses, gets petty and jealous of her other men and tries to take her from it all, to the alarm of his father. The book is restrained and doesn’t give us detail for the amorous relations, and yet it’s refreshingly frank about them, both of which were good things. While it’s a completely different world that these characters inhabit, when they go through the ups and downs of their affair, we recognize emotions and actions that are timeless. It drags on a bit towards the end, but the story of sacrifice and love is touching.
Quotes:
On affairs, this from Marguerite:
“Men, instead of being satisfied in obtaining for a long time what they scarcely hoped to obtain once, exact from their mistresses a full account of the present, the past, and even the future. As they get accustomed to her, they want to rule her, and the more one gives them the more exacting they become. If I decide now on taking a new lover, he must have three very rare qualities: he must be confiding, submissive, and discreet.”
On chance:
“One day a young man is passing in the street, he brushes against a woman, looks at her, turns, goes on his way. He does not know the woman, and she has pleasures, griefs, loves, in which he has no part. He does not exist for her, and perhaps, if he spoke to her, she would only laugh at him, as Marguerite had laughed at me. Weeks, months, years pass, and all at once, when they have each followed their fate along a different path the logic of chance brings them face to face. The woman becomes the man’s mistress and loves him. How? Why? Their two existences are henceforth one; they have scarcely begun to know one another when it seems as if they had known one another always, and all that had gone before is wiped out from the memory of the two lovers. It is curious, one must admit.”
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LibraryThing member Pummzie
Almost a guilty pleasure. Dumas' novel is smutty and noble, trashy and sentimental, tragic and overwrought. Nineteenth century chick lit - I enjoyed it!
I suspect it would make a good weepie - I need to check out La Traviata...
I suspect it would make a good weepie - I need to check out La Traviata...
LibraryThing member schmal06
A quick read. While it's charming enough, it didn't leave too much of an impression on me afterwards. I read "Camille" because I heard it was the basis for Verdi's opera "La Traviata." I must say it makes a better opera. That said, if you have a free afternoon, it's enjoyable.
LibraryThing member MarquesadeFlambe
The only book by Dumas fils that I've read. I almost didn't want to like it as much as I ultimately did.
LibraryThing member dorenemlorenz
Perfect to read in bed when fighting a cold. Who needs Harlequin romances when Alexdanre Dumas fils is writing.
LibraryThing member Motherofthree
I purchased this from the library book sale. I had not heard of this story and missed the author connection - his father wrote Count of Monte Christo and the Three Musketeers. This is a great story of love, redemption, jealousy, and societal judgment. The ending is not happy, but the story worth
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reading. I'd have loved to sit down and have a drink and coversation with Dumas. Show Less
LibraryThing member Paulagraph
I read the Le Livre de Poche (French) 1966 edition of this book, not the one indicated. Although intended as a Catholic morality tale, it's well-written & fun to read (of course, it's tragic). Jettisoning the "save one's immortal soul" reading prompt and replacing it with socio-economic & feminist
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critique makes for a more illuminating reading experience. Good detailed depiction of the catch-22 circumstances of a 19th century "kept woman" and her "respectable" lover. Show Less
LibraryThing member varielle
I adore complicated, tortured stories of difficult love affairs if they don't descend into the sacarine or trite. Dumas fils does not disappoint with this fictionalized account of his own fractured love affair. Nothing burns quit so much as the passions that pain us in our youth. Although it's
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going on nearly 200 years old it wears well and has been mined for inspiration for books stage and film by lesser writers since. Sniff a camellia and heave a sad sigh for lost love. Show Less
LibraryThing member sushicat
The story is very similar to Manon Lescaut which is referenced a couple of times. But contrary to that tale, the characters are real, their behavior plausible and the story grips your emotion. The reader for this French edition does a superb job and had me crying during the final stages of the book.
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
The narrator buys a courtesan's old book at a whim. Some time later, the man who gave her the book comes looking for it, and shares with the narrator their tale of love and sorrow. They had but a few short months together before her debts and his family's need to maintain their reputation came
"...I am tired out with seeing people who always want the same thing; who pay me for it, and then think they are quit of me. If those who are going to go in for our hateful business only knew what it really was they would sooner be chambermaids. But no, vanity, the desire of having dresses and carriages and diamonds carries us away; one believes what one hears, for here, as elsewhere, there is such a thing as belief, and one uses up one's heart, one's body, one's beauty, little by little; one is feared like a beast of prey, scorned like a pariah, surrounded by people who always take more than they give; and one fine day one dies like a dog in a ditch, after having ruined others and ruined one's self."
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between them. I hadn't realized how closely the movie Moulin Rouge was based on this--the broad outline and many of the visual details (like the courtesan visiting her true love one last time, pale and waxy under her black veil) are the same. That said, Ewan McGregor's character was far less frustrating (nay, hateful!) than Armand Duval, the "hero" of this tale. But the courtesan of this tale is even more affecting than in the bombastic movie. I was helplessly crying near the end, distraught at Marguerite's courage and how little she hoped for (in vain, as it turns out)."...I am tired out with seeing people who always want the same thing; who pay me for it, and then think they are quit of me. If those who are going to go in for our hateful business only knew what it really was they would sooner be chambermaids. But no, vanity, the desire of having dresses and carriages and diamonds carries us away; one believes what one hears, for here, as elsewhere, there is such a thing as belief, and one uses up one's heart, one's body, one's beauty, little by little; one is feared like a beast of prey, scorned like a pariah, surrounded by people who always take more than they give; and one fine day one dies like a dog in a ditch, after having ruined others and ruined one's self."
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LibraryThing member mrsdanaalbasha
I wanted to name my daughter Camille but I didn't want her life to follow the name and gets the girl's bad. But "Camille" makes me think of a legendary beauty.
LibraryThing member MrsLee
A major spoiler here at the beginning. Fifty-seven years of my life and I never realized that the lady wasn't named Camille.
This is a romance from the mid-1800s set in France. A woman who is a courtesan has died and the rest of the book is about her lover coming to terms with it. Much of it reads
This was a quick read, although some of the angsty bits became annoying (I really wanted to give the young man a good shake), it was an interesting glimpse into a culture and time very unfamiliar to me, although thoughts of the movie Gigi kept popping into my head.
I doubt I will read it again, although I wrote down several quotes in my reading journal. I will possibly read something else by this author if it falls into my lap. I recommend it to those who enjoy reading classics because it is a reference to so many other works since its time. Also to anyone who likes a good romance.
This is a romance from the mid-1800s set in France. A woman who is a courtesan has died and the rest of the book is about her lover coming to terms with it. Much of it reads
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like a young girl's diary full of emotion, angst, despair and elation. There are moments though when the narrator speaks trying to explain his compassion for women who have "fallen" that are full of human understanding.This was a quick read, although some of the angsty bits became annoying (I really wanted to give the young man a good shake), it was an interesting glimpse into a culture and time very unfamiliar to me, although thoughts of the movie Gigi kept popping into my head.
I doubt I will read it again, although I wrote down several quotes in my reading journal. I will possibly read something else by this author if it falls into my lap. I recommend it to those who enjoy reading classics because it is a reference to so many other works since its time. Also to anyone who likes a good romance.
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LibraryThing member wishanem
I feel like my criticism of this book can't help but be unfair, but even with a generous eye towards its time and society of origin I still didn't like it much. It is a tragedy that simply takes too long to get to the point. After finishing the book I have learned that it was the basis for a
The author definitely wrote the book with a sympathetic bent towards "kept women", but the general negative attitudes of the characters towards women in general are tedious to me as a modern reader. In the opening frame story, which lasted far too long, the author quoted Jesus's statement to a woman who tradition holds was a prostitute, "Much shall be forgiven thee, because thou hast loved much." After this Biblical quote, the narrator of "Camille" asked, "Why do we make ourselves more strict than Christ?" While the story doesn't answer that question directly the events of the story clearly argue that harshly judging others is unfair and cruel. No matter what one might suspect, people's true motivations and circumstances are never certain and might justify or even necessitate their choices.
Words I learned in this book:
cabriolet - A two-wheeled carriage with a hood, drawn by one horse.
phaeton - An open four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.
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variety of adaptations including the opera "La Traviata" and the film "Moulin Rouge!", and having seen the latter I recognize the parallels.The author definitely wrote the book with a sympathetic bent towards "kept women", but the general negative attitudes of the characters towards women in general are tedious to me as a modern reader. In the opening frame story, which lasted far too long, the author quoted Jesus's statement to a woman who tradition holds was a prostitute, "Much shall be forgiven thee, because thou hast loved much." After this Biblical quote, the narrator of "Camille" asked, "Why do we make ourselves more strict than Christ?" While the story doesn't answer that question directly the events of the story clearly argue that harshly judging others is unfair and cruel. No matter what one might suspect, people's true motivations and circumstances are never certain and might justify or even necessitate their choices.
Words I learned in this book:
cabriolet - A two-wheeled carriage with a hood, drawn by one horse.
phaeton - An open four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage.
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LibraryThing member burritapal
A view into the life of a sex worker in Paris in the 19th century. Her lifestyle required $100,000 francs a year to support; you can imagine the balancing act she had to keep up. She was 20 years old, beautiful, intelligent, but sick with tuberculosis, and a young man of modest means wanted her all
Dumas fils writes so descriptively of Marguerite; what is hard to take is the attitude on the part of men that she is somehow less than her non-sex-worker counterparts. Shades of Sor Juana...Why do they create this job in society yet want to blame the woman who fills it?
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to himself. The sh*thead never realized the sacrifice she made for him. Ah well.Dumas fils writes so descriptively of Marguerite; what is hard to take is the attitude on the part of men that she is somehow less than her non-sex-worker counterparts. Shades of Sor Juana...Why do they create this job in society yet want to blame the woman who fills it?
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Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1848 (novel)
1852 (play)
Physical description
18 cm
ISBN
3458347100 / 9783458347101