You know how sometimes you lie awake at night and give your pillow the most perfect speech or write the most literary op ed ... both without a recorder or lap top? So it was last night as I rethought the book about courtesans and whether they were, in fact, lusty lovers. I decided not.
As both the author and myself believe, milieu is everything. Given that these women had no other options for financial success, the life of a well-kept woman was an economic decision above all. Not to say that modern women don't weigh a mate from a cost benefit perspective, but that is an assessment for the long run. Passion and lust rarely looks that far in advance. The payback must be immediate, yes recurring is nice, but intense is better.
A passionate lover does not look to trade up like a courtesan. There is no rational thought involved. Body rules mind. Body wins.
A courtesan scorns social rules as does a passionate lover. Both can parade their attachments proudly, publicly. But a courtesan does so to array the trappings: the clothes, the jewels, the salon. Consumed lovers are oblivious to the afterglow spectacle they present, not offering a show, and shocked by the comments of observers because they are not conscious of their appearance.
Because Griffin is writing about the "career" of being a courtesan and not the inevitability of being a passionate, lustful lover, she omits characteristics such as abandonment, oblivion, and a complete rationalization of otherwise adhered to morals or standards. Her courtesans are too calculating, misers, hoarders, if you will. Lovers do not keep ledgers.
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