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
When @djbduncan notices the text for a literary jigsaw puzzle had been written by a former colleague, his head spins. A wild surmise. Are jigsaws REF-able?
Dennis Duncan - The W Factor
Dennis Duncan: The W Factor
literaryreview.co.uk
In an effort to scold drinkers, Victorian temperance societies furiously marked every drinking establishment with a red X on city maps. It was a spectacular case of propaganda backfiring.
@foxtosser explores the history of drink maps
Edward Brooke-Hitching - From Beer Street to Gin Lane
Edward Brooke-Hitching: From Beer Street to Gin Lane - Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
literaryreview.co.uk
How did a workers’ insurance agent who died of tuberculosis at the age of forty become a global literary icon?
@MortenHoiJensen on Kafka's metamorphosis
Morten Høi Jensen - Paranoid Humanoid
Morten Høi Jensen: Paranoid Humanoid - Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka by Karolina Watroba; Kafka: Making o...
literaryreview.co.uk