Demi-monde
Related: decadent - female dandy - prostitution - underworld - monde
Phoenix: The Courtesans: The Demi-Monde in 19th-Century France - Joanna Richardson [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
As the 20th century dawned, evolving social mores regarding women's place in society (particularly the suffragette and flapper movements) caused the demimonde to fade. The term then became commonly used to refer to the class of 'starving artists' - painters, authors, poets and other pseudo-bohemian types - who were marginalized by their failure to succeed financially. [Jul 2006]
The four women whose lives I examine in 'Grandes Horizontales' - Marie Duplessis, La Paiva, Apollonie Sabatier and Cora Pearl - were all representative of the demi-monde in 19th-century Paris - that is, of that half-world midway between respectable high society and the low life of the common prostitute. 'Demi-monde' is a term suggestive of twilight, of a world of shifting appearances and shadow, where nothing is quite what it seems, a world between worlds. --Virginia Rounding , Grandes Horizontales (2003) - Virginia Rounding [Amazon.com] [Dec 2004]
Demi
Demi is French for half. A demi-demi is a mix of champenoise and white wine.Demi Monde
n. class of women of doubtful reputation. demi-mondain, a. demi- mondaine, n. woman of that class. --© From the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia1a. A class of women kept by wealthy lovers or protectors. b. Women prostitutes considered as a group.
2. A group whose respectability is dubious or whose success is marginal: the literary demimonde of ghost writers, hacks, and publicists. Also called demiworld.
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