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177th out of 207 books
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159 voters
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The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Colette herself considered The Pure and the Impure her best book, "the nearest I shall ever come to writing an autobiography." This guided tour of the erotic netherworld with which Colette was so intimately acquainted begins in the darkness and languor of a fashionable opium den. It continues as a series of unforgettable encounters with men and, especially, women whose liv...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
September 30th 2000
by New York Review Books
(first published 1967)
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"But what is the heart, madame? It's worth less than people think. It’s quite accommodating, it accepts anything. You give it whatever you have, it's not very particular. But the body... Ha! That's something else again! It has a cultivated taste, as they say, it knows what it wants. A heart doesn't choose, and one always ends up by loving."
Colette writings were on my wish list as long as I can remember. Her life and ideas of sexual liberation enthralled me with the very tho...more
Colette writings were on my wish list as long as I can remember. Her life and ideas of sexual liberation enthralled me with the very tho...more
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Colette's The Pure and the Impure is a meditation on sexuality/sexual relationships. It was an interesting read but there were times when I had trouble following the narrative, and that's why I refer to this book as a meditation. Many times I would have to go back and re-read several paragraphs in order to understand what or whom or who Colette was talking to. But I did gather a great quote, one that I can relate to:
"'I am neither that nor anything else, alas,' said La Cheval...more
"'I am neither that nor anything else, alas,' said La Cheval...more
Jesse
rated it
Please note that the above star rating is less indicative of the quality of the novel than of my shortcomings as a reader: I realize in retrospect that what I wanted was an engaging, gossipy yarn dissecting the sexual practices of the affluent and/or artistic circles Colette moved in in the fifty years spanning from the fin de siècle to her death just past the midway point of the 20th century... What I got instead was a nuanced, diffuse and delicately textured meditation on love, sexuality and ...more
Um this is the first Colette novel I’ve read and I definitely enjoyed it. It's about…it's not really the story of anything, but more or less a long essay I guess on friendships between women that can be sometimes romantic and sometimes platonic. It's also about the view of the kind of love that leads to physical pleasure and I guess how both sexes think of it.
I imagine this work was very shocking when it was first published in the 1930s insofar as how it treats gay and lesbian relat...more
I imagine this work was very shocking when it was first published in the 1930s insofar as how it treats gay and lesbian relat...more
I read about this book in Judith Thurman's bio of Collette and it's NOT what she makes it seem. It is not the aphoristic, insightful, daring meditation on sexuality, eroticism, deviance, domination and submission. It's very a much a meditation on queer lifestyles at the turn of the century, with a kind of grudging admiration for lesbian couples and female sexuality, little enough compared to her recognition and worship of gay male sexuality. What's more interesting to think about is why she take...more
I found this book very difficult to read. I feel like I need to re-read it some other time. This novel isn't a chronological story, it's more like a collection of interactions the author, Colette, has had and her thoughts and opinions on them. The people she discusses are fascinating; they lead artistically heavy and absurd lives. Their stories are engrossing, but the overall lack of continuity and Colette's stream of consciousness story-telling makes it a difficult read.
Colette's most personal book, but kind of frustrating because for someone so unabashad she totally keeps her guard up the entire time. Interesting mostly as a personal chronicle of libertine sexuality in pre-war Europe through a feminish (not feminist, but not dudely) lens.
Darran Mclaughlin
added it
Not bad and not great. An exploration of love and sex among the demi mondain in early 20th century Paris. It was written partly in response to 'Sodom and Gommorah' by Proust but it reminded me much more of 'Nightwood' by Djuna Barnes and the work of Jean Rhys.
This is an excellent study of the sheer variability of human sensuality. Colette writes with sensitivity and emotional aptitude of the LGBT subcultures of early 1900s Paris, as well as the emotional foubles of heterosexual love as well.
somehow hard to read, somehow cold for me, but very interesting.
More than the book, Colette's biography and life is amazing.
Guess for the next project, i want to try something like this.
More than the book, Colette's biography and life is amazing.
Guess for the next project, i want to try something like this.
I like Colette's stories much more than her books of observations. I found the book hard to follow and I had to focus on what I knew her topic was to understand what she was explaining. Maybe it was too vague and inside-y for me to understand.
Angie
marked it as to-read
I come across her books from time to time and always think it's odd I've never read anything..so..we'll give it a go at some point.
Ok, I like this one. But it is only 160-pages book and I'm not sure I would like to spend more time reading it than I have.
An acquired taste. But once acquired, savoured. I am wondering what it would be like to read in french
My boss' wife adores Colette, cannot say enough about her greatness. In part, I am not easily engaged by her sort of dreamy post nineteenth century female style. I expected to be drawn in by the sexually liberated woman I think she was. I was somewhat intrigued by elements of the world she creates with her writing, an autobiographical portrayal of the bohemian Paris of the early 20th century. But the style didn't do it for me, I think I like a rawer more contemporary style. Lots of people l...more
This collection of reminiscings by Colette reminded me of an out-of-print collection of erotic stories by Anais Nin, but without the erotic charge that runs through almost all of Nin's writing. Colette has the 'grande-dame' voice of a woman who believes she has seen much, and just like the title, the narrative voice becomes heavy and somewhat tiring. When compared to her earlier books - in particular, the 'Claudine' series - 'The Pure and Impure' is disappointing.
this book is probably better than my experience reading it. at less than 200 pages, it took me about 3 weeks to read it. i dunno, i just couldn't get into it. the episodic nature of colette's storytelling didn't really lend itself to edge of your seat reading, and the subject matter (the various permutations of erotic, sensual relationships) wasn't something i really wanted to ponder deeply. not bad, but something i could (should?) have passed on.
Bridget
rated it
Recommends it for:
first year freshman feminists who love french
Shelves:
nyrb,
lost-in-translation
I felt like I should read a Colette book, so I did. It wasn't as interesting or as exciting as I would have liked. I should have read this when I was freshman in college and really excited about sexy French lady writing. As it was, all I could think was I'd rather be reading Duras. And that's a sad thing.
(The second star is my benefit of the doubt towards translation.)
(The second star is my benefit of the doubt towards translation.)
I just re-read this book after reading Judith Thurman's wonderful biography of Colette. It was great to read it in that context and I feel like I got a lot more out of it on this second reading than I did the first time around. I knew more about Colette's personal histories with the subjects she examines, and I also realized how very ahead of its time this book is.
I found myself losing interest all through this rather short book. While parts of it I found to be beautifully written most of it was just a bunch of words on a page.
A melancholy examination of transgressive sexuality in late 19th/early 20th-century France. Frustratingly oblique in places. Most interesting for its musings on gender roles; Collete's ideas about gender are far from those of either her more conservative contemporaries or her feminist/queer-theory heirs.
Don't be fooled by the main description. This book is self-absorbed and dripping with sentimentalism. The majority of it is a description of social impressions and emotional reactions. Very airy stuff without much substance.
Maybe I should have read Colette before Anais Nin, but I'm in the mood for more erotica and this isn't it! I do love Colette, though, so I'm finishing this one.
Colette was pretty ambivalent about lesbians, in spite of her androgyny. It shows. But it's interesting to hang out in her world a while.
Colette deemed this her favorite of all the books she wrote--a series of essays on unusual love affairs between improbably characters.
Mijn review staat hier:
http://kristien.filosofie.be/index.php?/...
http://kristien.filosofie.be/index.php?/...
there were obvious things i disagreed with in the book. but i do like the idea of living back in the day.
fine prose for those who nurse opiate fantasies. perfect pairing: read book, then watch mccabe and mrs miller.
I read this book for a class. It wasn't bad, really. Sometimes it's hard to follow, thought.
It was a chore to finish this book. The words just didn't grab me.
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Colette was the pen name of the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She is best known, at least in the English-speaking world, for her novel Gigi, which provided the plot for a Lerner & Loewe musical film and stage musical.
More about Colette...
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“I did not look for her, because I was afraid of dispelling the mystery we attach to people whom we know only casually.”
—
21 people liked it
“But what is the heart, madame? It's worth less than people think. it's quite accommodating, it accepts anything. You give it whatever you have, it's not very particular. But the body... Ha! That's something else again! It has a cultivated taste, as they say, it knows what it wants. A heart doesn't choose, and one always ends up by loving.”
—
10 people liked it
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