MADELEINE: An Autobiography

When it was published in 1919, this story of a woman's career as a prostitute in late 19th century America containing descriptions of sexual transactions between prostitutes and their customers did not alarm censors. Instead it was the author's failure to be humbled by her experiences, and her critical attitude toward Christian reformers, that offended. Since then Madeleine has largely gone unnoticed, but this prostitute's autobiography is literate and has a polished text. Some 'fallen women' were educated in their early years and a career in prostitution did not prevent women from developing intellectual interests and abilities. The book stands as a consciously crafted record of the material and emotional perils faced by prostitutes of the period and as a cultural document of the Progressive Era, showing one woman's attempt to achieve independence. In three parts, the first encompasses Madeleine's earliest years and her break from her family to enter 'the oldest profession'. She describes the circumstances which brought about her 'social bankruptcy' and those which made possible her spiritual renewal. Book II covers her career as a prostitute in St. Louis, Kanas City and Chicago, and her erratic involvement with Paul, her lover. She realises that she and Paul cannot break down the wall of mistrust between them and build a life together. Book III treats her years as a madame in a frontier city in Canada, her alcoholism, and her final rejection of prostitution. The epilogue is a bitter attack on Progressive reformers who worry about 'white slavery', the abduction of young women into a life of prostitution, a phenomenon Madeleine insists did not exist. Finding herself unmarried and pregnant at the age of 17 in around 1887, Madeleine had turned to the self-sufficiency prostitution offered. Includes the introductions to the 1919 and 1986 editions. Facsimile reprint, 329pp, paperback.