Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2016 Confessions in Fiction, Opera, and Memoir: Subversive Elements of Courtesan Celebrity in Nineteenth-Century Paris Renée-Michèle Sasson Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES CONFESSIONS IN FICTION, OPERA, AND MEMOIR: SUBVERSIVE ELEMENTS OF COURTESAN CELEBRITY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY PARIS By RENÉE-MICHÈLE SASSON A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Renée-Michèle Sasson defended this dissertation on December 13, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Aimée Boutin Professor Directing Dissertation James O’Rourke University Representative William Cloonan Committee Member Mark Pietralunga Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii To Dee Smitley, my mother, who would be so proud to see her daughter arrive at this point in her life. Even with a full scholarship from the National Honor’s Society my mother was not allowed to study as a pharmacist in the late 1940s because it was not yet a field open to women. She never went to university, but instead got married and worked her entire life as a secretary. This is for her. To Gordon Smitley, my step-father, whose influence and affluence made this possible. To my father, Harold Conrad Evans, who taught me to sing with my heart which led me to put “heart” into everything I do.