{"product_id":"the-contessa-paperback-by-benedetta-craveri-translated-from-the-italian-by-alex-andriesse","title":"The Contessa Paperback by Benedetta Craveri, translated from the Italian by Alex Andriesse","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                \n                    \n                        \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                        \u003cul\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eNew York Review Books\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2026-09-15)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e520\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9798896230465\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e601.02\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                            \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e21.51 x 14.58 x 2.74\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                        \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                        \u003cbr\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCelebrity, seductress, covert diplomat. Virginia Verasis, Contessa di Castiglione, was the original \"famous for being famous\" It Girl. This thrilling, transporting biography explores the countessa's fascinating, provocative, and dramatic life in all its mess and glory.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVirginia Verasis, Countess of Castiglione—the nineteenth-century aristocrat, socialite, and beauty—has become famous for the enigmatic and operatic photographs of herself that she choreographed and staged, now seen as masterworks of the art. But her life story is no less extraordinary than her artistic vision, as Benedetta Craveri shows us in this groundbreaking new biography, which draws on archival material and the countess's own diaries to piece together the puzzle that was Virginia.\u003cbr\u003eEighteen years old when Victor Emmanuel I sent her to Paris on a special assignment, and already renowned as a beauty in her native Italy, Virginia was tapped to persuade Napoleon III to support the cause of Italian unification. Her entrance into the haut monde of Paris was unlike anything anyone had ever seen—a performance by a performer who made the world her stage. When Italy became a kingdom with the emperor's backing in 1861, it was in no small part thanks to the role that Virginia had played. But it was not a role that she necessarily wished to play. She wanted to be free at all costs—sexually, financially, artistically—and she resented men's weaponization of her beauty.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Contessa\u003c\/i\u003e reveals a woman of many facets and at least as many contradictions, vain and visionary, charming and monstrous, impossible to know and impossible to ignore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                        \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                        \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBenedetta Craveri \u003c\/b\u003eis a Professor of French literature. She taught for many years at the University Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples. She is a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and contributes to \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e and to the cultural pages of the Italian newspaper \u003ci\u003eLa Repubblica\u003c\/i\u003e. Her books include \u003ci\u003eMadame du Deffand and Her World\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMistresses and Queens\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Conversation\u003c\/i\u003e (available from New York Review Books). She is married to a French diplomat and in 2017 was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca by l’Institut de France.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlex Andriesse\u003c\/b\u003e’s essays and poems have appeared in \u003ci\u003eGranta\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eReview of Contemporary Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eLiterary Imagination\u003c\/i\u003e. His translations include Roberto Bazlen’s \u003ci\u003eNotes Without a Text and Other Writings\u003c\/i\u003e and François-René de Chateaubriand’s \u003ci\u003eMemoirs from Beyond the Grave: 1768–1800 \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003e1800–15 \u003c\/i\u003eboth of which are also available from NYRB Classics. He lives in the Netherlands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                    \n                \n            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":47400609317025,"sku":"BBSNIJ9798896230465","price":48.56,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9798896230465.jpg?v=1789461218","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/the-contessa-paperback-by-benedetta-craveri-translated-from-the-italian-by-alex-andriesse","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}