The badge of his identity - Author's notes
First and foremost, a big thank you to the people who made this experience possible : wendy, whose impressive organization skills turn this challenge, year after year, into a very unique and very addictive pleasure and help forget the hard parts - honscot, whose task is so difficult, stuck between correcting my many mistakes and letting me find my own voice in a language that can be at times so close to mine, and sometimes so alien - bellagattino, whose art lights this tale, I'm so glad she chose me !
So this is another fic inspired by a tidbit of real life - courtesans of the Belle Époque used to give it for free to some journalists to get free advertising in their newspapers in exchange - that I twisted to comply with my nefarious needs for a J2 version.
This story was born last summer after I saw an episode of Secrets d'histoire, a well-known program on one of the main French TV networks that gives easy access to history to a large audience by taking on a different topic each time ; it's never controversial but shows beautiful places that are not always open to the public. This episode, called "Les courtisanes : les reines de Paris" (The courtesans : queens of Paris), was about the most famous courtesans of the Belle Époque.
I only had to hear about the fact that some of those women, like Liane de Pougy, slept with some journalists to get free advertising to imagine immediately courtesan!Jared meeting journalist!Jensen with this naughty goal in mind. I sat down and began to write some time later, but then the story took on a life of its own and what I believed to be a short fic - the first chapter of TBohI - became another long one. I realized I had found my next bigbang story as the one-night stand between Jensen and Jared turned into a full-on relationship spanning years of development, joys and hardships mixed.
Thus, some of the events described in this fic are taken and altered from some real life situations that were either alluded to in the TV program or that I read about during my research for the story. Same thing about politics, my inspiration came from real actions but I changed the time as well as the way they occurred. I made it all happen in a fictional country but it was certainly inspired by some of the events and ideas going through France and other European countries around that time, especially the 19th century. In particular, Jensen being a fierce republican implies he is against royalty, and not a defender of the current American acceptation of Republicans vs. Democrats (of which I know very little).
Courtisanes, lorettes (fr), cocottes, grues, grisettes… were different names used at different times for those women who sold their body and company to more or less generous clients to make a living. There was a kind of hierarchy to this order, from the most famous girls who could choose one protector only, rich enough to have them live in luxury and then some, to the simplest ones who had a regular job plus as many clients as needed to survive. I didn't try to stick to the historical reality, Jared as a courtesan is certainly different than the ones who graced the Belle Époque with their charm and carnal knowledge, if only because I choose a man for that part.
Now for some information about the topics broached in the fic.
The story title is from Camille Paglia : "The stigma of the prostitute is the badge of her identity. That is why the client goes to her. If he wanted someone without a stigma, he’d go and screw the lady next door." I found it was pleasantly pedantic for a title.
Chapter 1 :
Chapter title from Madame de Staël (1766-1817) "Le désir de l’homme se porte vers les femmes, mais le désir des femmes, lui, se porte sur le désir de l’homme”.
Translation : "The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man." Quote found as I was searching for something about courtesans to inspire me for the title, and I got lost in thinking about what it meant for a man desiring a man in the particular case of a prostitute…
A faluche is a student hat.
Condoms have been used for a very long while, but they've become the most used birth-control method and prophylactic measure during sex since the 19th century. They were made of rubber at that time (latex was invented in 1920). Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) was discovered back in the 19th century.
Chapter 2 :
Chapter title from Corinne ou l'Italie by Madame de Staël (1766-1817) that you can read here (fr) and in English here (incomplete) or here.
Original quote : "Les hommes frivoles sont très-capables de devenir habiles dans la direction de leurs propres intérêts, car, dans tout ce qui s'appelle la science diplomatique de la vie privée comme de la vie publique, l'on réussit encore plus souvent par les qualités qu'on n'a pas, que par celles qu'on possède. Absence d'enthousiasme, absence d'opinion, absence de sensibilité, un peu d'esprit combiné avec ce trésor négatif, et la vie sociale proprement dite, c'est-à-dire la fortune et le rang, s'acquièrent ou se maintiennent assez bien."
Official translation (Gutenberg) : "Frivolous characters are very likely to acquire address in the pursuit of their own interests; for in all that is called the political science of private, as well as of public life, people succeed oftener by those qualities which they have not than by those which they possess. Absence of enthusiasm, absence of opinion, absence of sensibility, a little understanding, combined with this negative treasure, and social life, that is to say, fortune and rank, may be acquired or supported well enough." (and the other translation can be found here, p 47).
What I called Iffly paper for the fic is in fact named Papier d'Arménie (Armenian paper). It's been used more or less commonly in France since 1885 to deodorize rooms with its very recognizable scent exuding benzoin when you burn the paper coated "with its sweet, vanilla and balsamic notes evocative of the Far East" (from the official site).
The duel I describe is adapted from one of the different kinds I found here (fr). In real life, duels were forbidden a long time before the Belle Époque, even though many were still fought at that time, to defend one's honor for example.
In French, an "angel maker" (faiseur or faiseuse d'anges) is an abortionist.
Chapter 3 :
Title from Le front aux vitres by Paul Éluard (L'amour, la poésie, 1929) :
Le front aux vitres comme font les veilleurs de chagrin
Je te cherche par delà l’attente
Par delà moi-même
Et je ne sais plus tant je t’aime
Lequel de nous deux est absent
There's many translations on the web (I made mine up with my own words and a mix of these other translations, using my favorite options), here's one by Richard A. Branyon :
With my forehead against the pane as a vigil of sorrow
I search for you beyond expectation
Beyond myself
I love you so much that I no longer know
Which one of us is absent.
The complete poem can be read here, illustrated by a painting of Bonnard (see below). More attempts at translation here and here.
You can see pics of the Zouave uniform Jensen and Misha wear at Jared's party on this page. Jared's sailor costume is inspired by the one in use in the French navy, especially the red bobble on top of the hat worn since the middle of the 19th century.
The anecdote about the painter retouching his paintings already hanging on the walls in museums is one I heard about Pierre Bonnard, a postimpressionist French painter.
Hal's castle was inspired by the château de Belcastel in the Lot department (southwest France), situated on a 55-meter high promontory over the confluence of the Ouysse and the Dordogne. The "royal" eagle Hal talks about is called golden eagle in English, it seems it's only found in mountainous regions in France.
A grisaille is "a painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey".
Chapter 4 :
Title from Corinne ou l'Italie by Madame de Staël "Vous vivez en entier dans le moment present ; vous y êtes consignés par une passion dominante ; et tout ce qui ne se rapporte pas à ce moment vous paraît antique et suranné." (found here).
Official translation : "ye live but in the present ; ye are wedded to it by your passions, and all that belongs not to that present appears to you superannuated" (p 213)
As you can see, the word dominant does not appear in the old, official translation, it even changes the original meaning in my opinion by talking of passions - plural - instead of the one main passion that the speaker says makes everything else pale next to it. So, as this is the salient point that got me interested in the quote in the first place, this idea that someone or something is more important than anything else, I decided to use my own, not very good interpretation for the fic.
Calva (from Calvados) is an apple brandy.
The Lagoona is of course a poorly veiled allusion to the French Riviera that was already so fashionable by that time and where many courtesans spent luxurious vacations with their rich clients.
A bal musette was a very popular kind of entertainment back in the first half of the 20th century in France, especially among the poorer side of society. The star instrument was the accordion (also called "the poor man's piano") and you could dance very close. More info here.
The songs Jared and Jensen dance to are by Art Mengo, on the Live en Trio, track 18 "Sujet libre thème" for the instrumental, and track 16 "Bagatelle", that I used for the words "Allez embrasse-moi, embrasse-moi encore, et puis embrasse-moi, embrasse-moi encore... j'aime l'idée volatile des baisers éternels, qu'en restera-t-il ? Bagatelle, bagatelle... Pour joindre le futile à l'agréable, ma belle, qu'en restera-t-il ? Bagatelle, bagatelle."
Translation : "Go on, kiss me, kiss me again, and then kiss me, kiss me again… I love the volatile idea of eternal kisses. What will remain of this ? Trifles, trifles. To mix futile and pleasurable stuff. What will remain of this ? Trifles, trifles." Bagatelle also means in French philandering, and the original expression with which Art Mengo plays is "joindre l'utile à l'agréable" : "to mix useful and pleasurable stuff" (one of the few light, fluffy songs Art Mengo sings, as he's more known for his nostalgic and poetic oeuvres).