Jonathan Beckman
Political Pornography
A King’s Ransom: The Life of Charles Théveneau de Morande, Blackmailer, Scandalmonger and Master-Spy
By Simon Burrows
Continuum 288pp £20
Charles Théveneau de Morande was not a man who kept friends for long. Throughout his sordid and occasionally bizarre life within London’s émigré community during the 1770s and 1780s, he would repeatedly charm his fellow Frenchmen with his wit, energy and saucy jokes, only to turn on them shortly afterwards by libelling them in newsprint, challenging them to duels or trying to squeeze them for as much money as they seemed capable of coughing up. Even his longstanding friendship with Beaumarchais rested on the understanding that the playwright would bail out Morande’s debts so that certain incriminating documents never came to light. Yet Morande served the French monarchy until its extinction in the Terror. This is something of a surprise since he began his career as the author of an outrageous libelle against Louis XV.
Morande was born in 1741 in Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy. His reprobate tendencies were evident from an early age: on one occasion he contrived to imprison the Father Superior of the local Capuchin monastery in his cell as the latter was waiting to be shaved. Morande’s father sent him
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk