DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "A Chambermaid's Diary" by Octave Mirbeau. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
The novel presents itself as the diary of Mademoiselle Célestine R., a chambermaid. Her first employer fetishizes her boots, and she later discovers the elderly man dead, with one of her boots stuffed into his mouth. Later on, Célestine becomes the maid of an upper class couple, Lanlaire, and is perfectly aware that she is entangled in the power struggles of their marriage. Célestine ends by becoming a café hostess, who mistreats her servants in turn! Excerpt: "To-day, September 14, at three o'clock in the afternoon, in mild, gray, and rainy weather, I have entered upon my new place. It is the twelfth in two years. Of course I say nothing of the places which I held in previous years. It would be impossible for me to count them. Ah! I can boast of having seen interiors and faces, and dirty souls. And the end is not yet. Judging from the really extraordinary and dizzy way in which I have rolled, here and there, successively, from houses to employment-bureaus, and from employment-bureaus to houses, from the Bois de Boulogne to the Bastille, from the Observatory to Montmartre, from the Ternes to the Gobelins, everywhere, without ever succeeding in establishing myself anywhere, the masters in these days must be hard to please. It is incredible..."
This novel presents itself as the diary of Mademoiselle C�lestine R., a chambermaid. Her first employer fetishizes her boots, and she later discovers the elderly man dead, with one of her boots stuffed into his mouth. Later on, C�lestine becomes the maid of a bourgeois couple, Lanlaire, and is perfectly aware that she is entangled in the power struggles of their marriage. C�lestine ends by becoming a bourgeois caf� hostess, who mistreats her servants in turn.
This is a satirical memoir that offers a rare glimpse into the lives of French nobility, bourgeois, and professional people in the late 19th century. The book follows the daily experiences of a chambermaid who serves a wealthy couple in the countryside. Her diary entries provide a sharp critique of the social hierarchies, institutions, and behaviors of both masters and servants, as well as a humorous and bitter commentary on human nature itself.
The Diary of a Chambermaid was written as a satire of Parisian society in the wake of the Drey-fus Affair. Octave Mirbeau brings a journalist's analytical eye to Celestine's adventures as she loses her innocence and becomes as corrupt and depraved as the men who exploited her. Since its publication in 1900 it has never ceased to shock and fascinate its readers and has been made into a film by Jean Renoir in 1946 and Luis Bunuel in 1964. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie.
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Facts meet fiction in this exciting, intricate Victorian detective story! Jane Pinny has moved to the very grand Lytton House to be a Maid Of All Work. And being a Maid Of All Work means that she has to do... well, ALL the work, obviously! Cleaning, dusting, scrubbing, washing - there's SO much to do in a Victorian country house. But when a priceless jade necklace belonging to the lady of the house disappears, Jane turns accidental detective (with the help of her best friend, a pigeon called Plump...) - can she solve the mystery of the missing jewels before it's too late? Perfect for fans of Horrible Histories, filled with amazing facts and historical trivia, with an exciting story and brilliant illustrations, you won't be able to put this SECRET DIARY down! Read the other books in the series: The Secret Diary of John Drawbridge, Medieval Knight in Training The Secret Diary of Thomas Snoop, Tudor Boy Spy The Secret Diary of Kitty Cask, Smuggler's Daughter
