Skip to content

The Pure and the Impure
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure Paperback - 2000

by Colette; Introduction by Judith Thurman; Herma Briffault (Translator)


From the publisher

Colette herself considered The Pure and the Impure her best book, "the nearest I shall ever come to writing an autobiography." This guided tour of the erotic netherworld with which Colette was so intimately acquainted begins in the darkness and languor of a fashionable opium den. It continues as a series of unforgettable encounters with men and, especially, women whose lives have been improbably and yet permanently transfigured by the strange power of desire. Lucid and lyrical, The Pure and the Impure stands out as one of modern literature's subtlest reckonings not only with the varieties of sexual experience, but with the always unlikely nature of love.

Details

  • Title The Pure and the Impure
  • Author Colette; Introduction by Judith Thurman; Herma Briffault (Translator)
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 2nd Printing
  • Pages 208
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher New York Review of Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
  • Date 2000-09-30
  • ISBN 9780940322486 / 094032248X
  • Weight 0.47 lbs (0.21 kg)
  • Dimensions 8 x 5.01 x 0.6 in (20.32 x 12.73 x 1.52 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Chronological Period: 1851-1899
    • Cultural Region: French
    • Sex & Gender: Feminine
    • Sex & Gender: Lesbian
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Library of Congress subjects Sex, French literature - 20th century
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 00009532
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 11/12/2000, Page 40
  • Reference and Research Bk News, 11/01/2000, Page 168
  • Vogue, 12/01/2000, Page 258

About the author

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette [1873-1954], was born in the village of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, where she led an idyllic childhood. At the age of twenty, she married Henri Gauthier-Villars, known as Willy, a Parisian man of letters under whose name she published the Claudine novels. Separated from Willy in 1905, Colette supported herself as an actress before establishing her own reputation as a writer. She was celebrated in later years as one of the great figures of twentieth-century French life and letters, and was the first woman to be accorded a state funeral by the French Republic.

Judith Thurman is the author of Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette and of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, which won the National Book Award for Biography in 1983. She is a widely published literary critic, cultural journalist, and translator of poetry.

Back to Top

More Copies for Sale

PURE AND THE IMPURE
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

PURE AND THE IMPURE

by COLETTE, HERMA BRIFF

  • Used
Condition
Used - Very Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248x
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$4.99
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
NYRB Classics. Used - Very Good. May have light to moderate shelf wear and/or a remainder mark. Complete. Clean pages.
Item Price
$4.99
$3.99 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette, Judith Thurman, Herma Briffault

  • Used
Condition
Used - Very Good
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248x
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Frederick, Maryland, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$5.49
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
NYRB Classics. Used - Very Good. Very Good condition. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner’s name, short gifter’s inscription or light stamp.
Item Price
$5.49
$3.99 shipping to USA
PURE AND THE IMPURE
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

PURE AND THE IMPURE

by COLETTE, HERMA BRIFF

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Like New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248x
Quantity Available
1
Seller
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$6.77
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
NYRB Classics. Used - Like New. May have light shelf wear and/or a remainder mark. Complete. Clean pages. paperback
Item Price
$6.77
$3.99 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure

by Colette (Author); Herma Brifault (Translated by); Judith Thurman (Introduction by)

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Like New
Edition
2nd Printing
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
1
Seller
The Bronx, New York, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$10.00
$5.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
New York: New York Review Books, 2000. 2nd Printing. Trade Paperback. Like New. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9¾" tall. Katy Homans (Cover Design). 184 pp. An excellent, spotlessly clean copy! Clean, fresh, sharp, tight, essentially and virtually flawless copy with crisp pages, clean text, and very light shelf wear.
Item Price
$10.00
$5.99 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used: Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
1
Seller
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$10.18
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
New York Review of Books, 2000-09-30. paperback. Used: Good.
Item Price
$10.18
FREE shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette

  • Used
  • very good
  • Paperback
Condition
Used - Very Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
1
Seller
GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$13.23
$10.83 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
Paperback. Very Good.
Item Price
$13.23
$10.83 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette; Judith Thurman; Herma Briffault

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
771
Seller
Fairfax Station, Virginia, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$11.17
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
NYRB Classics, 2000-09-30. Paperback. New.
Item Price
$11.17
$3.99 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette; Judith Thurman; Herma Briffault

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Like New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
775
Seller
Fairfax Station, Virginia, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$14.18
$3.99 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
NYRB Classics, 2000-09-30. Paperback. Like New.
Item Price
$14.18
$3.99 shipping to USA
PURE & THE IMPURE
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

PURE & THE IMPURE

by COLETTE,S

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248x
Quantity Available
1
Seller
NEW YORK, New York, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$17.95
$4.49 shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
pb. New. Brand New. Ships from an indie bookstore in NYC.
Item Price
$17.95
$4.49 shipping to USA
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)

by Colette

  • Used
  • Paperback
Condition
Used:Good
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780940322486 / 094032248X
Quantity Available
1
Seller
HOUSTON, Texas, United States
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Item Price
$19.06
FREE shipping to USA

Show Details

Description:
New York Review of Books, 2000-09-30. paperback. Used:Good.
Item Price
$19.06
FREE shipping to USA