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9780810145849

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“A masterful book on the exploitation of the figure of the Parisian prostitute by male authors seeking to establish reputations in the nineteenth-century French literary field. Both well-known and lesser-known authors tied their ambitions to the provocative use value of one of the most geographically and sexually marginalized figures of the nineteenth century, but one that they were unable completely to control. Through a series of carefully contextualized close-readings, Tanner demonstrates how the ‘prostitute,’ as both historical category and metaphorized object, confounds municipal and authorial attempts to map her in such places reserved for her as the maison de tolÉrance, brasserie des femmes, and even the streets of Paris. An eminently literary study, Sex Work, Text Work also speaks to the cultural and political work performed by realist novels, and to the place of the reader in the worlds they construct.” —Gretchen Schultz, author of Sapphic Fathers: Discourses of Same-Sex Desire from Nineteenth-Century France “At stake in Tanner’s fascinating book is a new understanding of how prostitution functioned as a privileged site through which Parisians attempted to come to terms with the effects of Haussmannization. This book ties together the historical and the literary in an exemplary manner.” —Maurice Samuels, author of The Betrayal of the Duchess: The Scandal That Unmade the Bourbon Monarchy and Made France Modern

A masterful book on the exploitation of the figure of the Parisian prostitute by male authors seeking to establish reputations in the nineteenth-century French literary field. Both well-known and lesser-known authors tied their ambitions to the provocative use value of one of the most geographically and sexually marginalized figures of the nineteenth century, but one that they were unable completely to control. Through a series of carefully contextualized close-readings, Tanner demonstrates how the 'prostitute, ' as both historical category and metaphorized object, confounds municipal and authorial attempts to map her in such places reserved for her as the maison de tolerance, brasserie des femmes, and even the streets of Paris. An eminently literary study, Sex Work, Text Work also speaks to the cultural and political work performed by realist novels, and to the place of the reader in the worlds they construct. --Gretchen Schultz, author of Sapphic Fathers: Discourses of Same-Sex Desire from Nineteenth-Century France At stake in Tanner's fascinating book is a new understanding of how prostitution functioned as a privileged site through which Parisians attempted to come to terms with the effects of Haussmannization. This book ties together the historical and the literary in an exemplary manner. --Maurice Samuels, author of The Betrayal of the Duchess: The Scandal That Unmade the Bourbon Monarchy and Made France Modern

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Jessica Tanner is an associate professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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