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125 ratings, 3.72 average rating, 19 reviews
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published
September 30th 2000
by New York Review Books
binding
Paperback, 208 pages
isbn
094032248X
(isbn13: 9780940322486)
description
Colette herself considered The Pure and the Impure her best book, "the nearest I shall ever come to writing an autobiography." This g...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 196)
Read in January, 2007
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
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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.
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Read in July, 2007
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.
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Read in January, 2008
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.
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Read in April, 2007
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.
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Read in April, 2003
dear french colette. certainly a 'radical' woman writer. i think parts of this she offered as being autobiographical. it opens in a dark opium den. there is variety, experience, and it has been dubbed a 'journey into an erotic netherworld.'
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Read in October, 2008
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.
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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.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2007
Colette deemed this her favorite of all the books she wrote--a series of essays on unusual love affairs between improbably characters.
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Read in July, 2008
Mijn review staat hier:
http://kristien.filosofie.be/i...
http://kristien.filosofie.be/i...
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there were obvious things i disagreed with in the book. but i do like the idea of living back in the day.
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Read in January, 2003
fine prose for those who nurse opiate fantasies. perfect pairing: read book, then watch mccabe and mrs miller.
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I read this book for a class. It wasn't bad, really. Sometimes it's hard to follow, thought.
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SPICY, SAUCY.....salacious...with shades of sapphic...i'm only in chapter 5!
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Read in January, 2008
It was a chore to finish this book. The words just didn't grab me.
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Read in March, 2008
Almost little intimate essays...lovely
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