The Vagabond (Summarized Edition)

In The Vagabond (1910), Colette follows Renée Néré, a divorced music-hall performer, through Belle Époque Paris, recording the economics and erotic politics of a woman who works with her body yet refuses ownership. In supple first person, part diary and theater sketch, the novel marries sensuous detail to cool self-scrutiny as Renée weighs the comfort promised by a wealthy admirer against the hard...