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Hottentot Venus
by Barbara Chase-Riboud
ISBN: 0385508565
ISBN-13: 9780385508568
Format: Hardcover
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Summary
Sarah Baartman has been genitally mutilated-to western eyes. In her South African tribe, she is not only normal but sexy. However, she ends up in a freak show as the Hottentot Venus, where she is taken throughout Europe, degraded and abused. In this novel, which takes place in the 1790s, she tells her story in her own words.
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Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group
Published date: 2003
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight: 1.3 pounds
Pages: 320
Publisher's Notes
From the bestselling author of Sally Hemings comes an extraordinary new novel based on the true story of Sarah Baartman, a South African herdswoman exhibited as a “scientific curiosity” in the capitals of nineteenth-century Europe. [end box]
Barbara Chase-Riboud’s previous historical novels won her critical praise and established her as a writer who daringly transforms the hidden truths of the past into compelling fiction. In Hottentot Venus, Chase-Riboud recounts the tragic life of Sarah Baartman, re-creating in vivid, shocking detail the racism and sexism at the heart of European imperialism.
Born in the colony of Good Hope, South Africa, in 1789, Sarah Baartman was taken to London at the age of twenty by an English surgeon, who promised her fame and fortune. Dubbed the “Hottentot Venus,” she was paraded naked in Piccadilly in a freak-show exhibition and subjected to the unabashed stares and crude comments of the British public, which resulted in a sensational trial for her custody by British abolitionists. Soon afterward, however, Baartman's keeper – who may have been her husband – sold her to a French circus owner. In 1814, her new owner took her to Paris as part of an exotic animal circus to be displayed to French high society. Baartman endured unconscionable exploitation and cruelty as medical experts and leading scientists touted her as an example of primitive evolution because of her genital “apron” and her prominent buttocks.
In an unforgettable saga that ranges from Capetown to St. Helena to London to Paris and back to Africa, Chase-Riboud has fashioned a Dickensian evocation of this icon of scientific racism, whose body, sex, and brain were exploited, examined, and dissected to become a synonym of ugliness and brutality — the absolute negation of European beauty, which even today taints our Western concepts of humanity. Sarah, the tragic heroine, evokes nineteenth-century novels of the “other” such as Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Nigger of the Narcissus.
In Hottentot Venus, Barbara Chase-Riboud evokes this strange and moving story in the voices of Baartman and her contemporaries, combining years of research with the sensitivity and perceptions of a masterful storyteller to bring the story to life. Like Chang and Eng and the author’s own Sally Hemings and Echo of Lions, HOTTENTOT VENUS is a powerful, stark portrayal of the harsh realities of race—a stunning look at the cruelty of curiosity, colonialism, and its twenty-first century consequences.
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
A nice ex-library copy. Gently used. All pages and cover clear except for a few library markings. Mylar over dustjacket. Binding solid and tight. No creases. Mylar is slightly dirty. ( more information) Offered by Once Sold Tales (United States)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
An ex-library used copy. All pages and cover clear except for a few library markings. Softly worn around edges and corners. Binding solid and tight. Purchasing this item supports the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation. ( more information) Offered by Once Sold Tales (United States)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday. Used - Good. Ex-library. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped daily. Over one million satisfied book lovers read with Experienced Books. 2003. Hardcover. 1st. Good condition, showing modest signs of wear. EX-LIBRARY with typical library markings, attachments and wear. Dust jacket: Acceptable. ( more information) Offered by Experienced Books LLC (United States)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday. Used - Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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5)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday. Used - Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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6)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday. Used - Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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7)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York, New York, U.S.A.: Doubleday, 2003 Paperback bound galley.. Arc. Paperback. Near Fine/N/a. ( more information) Offered by Burke's Book Store (United States)
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8)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday, 2003-11-04. Hardcover. Like New. looks great ( more information) Offered by Poboyz Book Store (United States)
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9)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York, New York: Doubleday. Hardcover. 0385508565 This book has some shelf wear as well as tanning and marks on the jacket and pages. This book is 320 pages of a historical fiction set in South Africa. . Good. 2003. Reprint. ( more information) Offered by Cupboard Maker Books (United States)
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10)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel (Qty: 4)
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Doubleday, 2003-11-04. 1st. Hardcover. Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. ( more information) Offered by BEST BARGAIN BOOKS WHOLESALER, INC. (United States)
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11)
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Hottentot Venus
Chase-riboud, Barbara
N.y.: Doubleday, 2003. a very good copy with a very good dust jacket.. First Edition. Very Good/Very Good. ( more information) Offered by Trolley Line Books (United States)
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12)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York: Doubleday, 2003. This Stated First Edition (and unless it's stated, it's not) has the required number line starting with a "1" to indicate First Printing. The book is in As New unread condition with an As New unclipped dust jacket. From the author of "Sally Hemings" comes another well-researched historical novel about Sarah Baartman, a South African woman who was brought to London in the early 19th Century and turned into a freak-show exhibition by her exploitive keeper. The book is bound in black boards with a black cloth spine and die-stamped gilt spine lettering. I've placed the dust jacket into a Brodart protective sleeve. The book measures 6 1/2 by 9 1/2 inches and incudes 317 pages.. First Edition. Hard Cover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. ( more information) Offered by Grimalkin Books (United States)
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Hottentot Venus : A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York, NY, U.S.A.: Doubleday Publishing, 2003 Publicity laid in. 1st Edition. Hard Cover. Very Fine/Fine. Reveiw Copy. ( more information) Offered by Book Buffs, Ltd. (United States)
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14)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York, New York, U.S.A.: Doubleday, 2003. Very light bumping at upper and lower spine, otherwise bright and unmarked. Excellent dust jacket.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good Plus/Very Good Plus. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾". ( more information) Offered by Wendys Books (United States)
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Hottentot Venus
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
New York, NY: Doubleday, 2003 A nice reading copy. Pages are clean and bright. Binding is tight. Book and jacket show some shelfwear. Jacket has been mylared for protection. Pages are slightly warped. Signed and dated by the author on the title page, date was corrected by the previous owner.. Signed by Author. First Edition, 1st Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good -/Good +. Mylared. ( more information) Offered by after-words bookstore (United States)
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Hottentot Venus: A Novel
Chase-Riboud, Barbara
Doubleday. Hardcover. 0385508565 New with very slight shelf wear from time on shelf (like you'd see at a major chain). We ship daily, provide personalized customer service and want you to have a great experience purchasing from us. Thank you for your consideration. . New. ( more information) Offered by BennettBooksLtd (United States)
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