num_pages: 262
description: The 1890s in Paris were a decade of elegance and perception, a heady mixture of high intellect and frivolous vivacity. Never has there been a period when "ladies" so commanded society, from a position so frequently horizontal - or when wit, so soon to be dulled, flowed faster than wine in the salons of the great hostesses, in the theatre, in the fashionable boulevard restaurants and nighclubs, and in the country chateaux of the beau monde. Never has amorous dalliance been conducted with more finesse - and success - nor duels flourished with greater ceremony and less danger to the participants. "The great business at hand was pleasure, conducted by a people who knew the seriousness of that business."
language: English
title: Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals
titlecomplete: Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals
genres: Historical, France, History, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 37
publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co.