Even supreme wealth and adoration leave the kept courtesan trapped in immanence and boredom

Evidence

However, in the midst of all this luxury, and surrounded by her courtiers, Nana was bored to tears. She had men for every minute of the night, and money all over the house, even among the brushes and combs in the drawers of her dressing-table. But all this had ceased to satisfy her; and she was conscious of a void in her existence, a gap which made her yawn. Her life dragged on without occupation, each day bringing back the same monotonous hours. The next day did not exist: she lived like a bird, sure of having enough to eat, and ready to perch on the first branch she came to. This certainty of being fed caused her to stretch out in languid ease all day, lulled to sleep in conventional idleness and submission as if she were the prisoner of her own profession. Never going out except in her carriage, she began to lose the use of her legs. She reverted to her childish habits, kissing Bijou from morning to night and killing time with stupid pleasures, as she waited for some man or other. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1692

Categorization

• XREF: This exemplifies Beauvoir’s immanence/transcendence distinction applied to an unexpected case — the pampered hetaera, echoing the dependent housewife’s “eternal monotony” from chapter 8 of the book so far. — connects to: The courtesan’s physical freedom masks a total economic dependence on masculine desire — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1687; The passionate man fails where subjectivity, not content, cannot fulfill itself; Boredom in marriage reduces a brilliant woman to a life of small things — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1356 (+1 more)
• CANDY: The image of Nana losing the use of her legs from never walking, and reverting to childish kissing of her dog Bijou, is a striking miniature of how wealth can imprison.

Broader Connections

• Boredom in marriage reduces a brilliant woman to a life of small things #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1356
• Total dependence reduces a wife’s freedom to abstract interiority that cannot save her #expands (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1355
• The passionate man fails where subjectivity, not content, cannot fulfill itself #complicates (0.80)