COURTESANS and OLD AGE : BOOK EXCERPT : THE BOOK OF COURTESANS

Page 121

... "Many courtesans were very good at financial planning. More than a few were able to end their days on this earth in the style to which they had become accustomed... Still others relied on the generosity of younger courtesans for whom they arranged liaisons. And from the 15th century through the 20th, another way existed for a courtesan to face old age with dignity. Like any profession, the art was handed down. If she were fortunate enough to have a daughter, a courtesan could train her in all the necessary skills and thus ensure a means of support in her old age."

"If ... motherly love this tradition seems wanting, one must remember that, under the weight of the restricted and difficult circumstances that women endured in this period, much of what any mother bequeathed her daughter was of mixed value. Never the less, even if being a courtesan was considered by some as preferable to marriage, there were mothers who did try to avoid passing on their professions."


Susan Griffin
The Book of Courtesans : A Catalogue of Their Virtues

SUSAN GRIFFIN : THE BOOK OF COURTESANS

The Book of Courtesans
A Catalogue of Their Virtues
C 2001 Susan Griffin
Broadway Books New York

Missy here: Author SUSAN GRIFFIN situates her Courtesans in their time and place - the past - and teaches us that the difference between a Courtesan and a Kept Woman (or Mistress) was that a Courtesan was not hidden.

She says that Courtesans and artists shared a world... a risque naughty world... The Courtesan was surrounded by scintillating activity...

GriffIn says that the tradition of having a Courtesan (even if you were a gay male) has disappeared but...

on page 11 we read : "Technically speaking, many women today do what courtesans did; it is quite common still for a married man to support his mistress, and a whole population of highly cultivated and elegant women serve today as escorts, call girls, and modern hetaerae. But just as surely as the role of the courtesan was created by historical conditions, she was also inextricably linked to a historical mood that had come to an end by the third decade of the last century...

Linking above to a great book review and more information (get yourself a copy of this book!) from GOODREADS online.