The Pure and the Impure by Colette

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.

The 2665th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - Donald Barthelme’s Reading List (Believer Mag)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
The Pure and the Impure Paperback 1621031 $77.52 $0.01
Pure & the Impure Mass Market Paperback 12116164 $19.99
The Pure and the Impure. Hardcover 6360013 $17.98 1975
THE PURE AND THE IMPURE Paperback 3901358 $1.49
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics) Paperback 840601 $5.51 $3.29 2000
The Pure and the Impure Paperback 5848332 $9.10
The Pure and the Impure (Twentieth Century Classics) Paperback 7240119 $110.60 1990