We all tend to look at the life of others through the lens of our own experience, beliefs and values. I do this with the famous 'courtesan' of the 20th century...Pamela Harriman.
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COURTESAN?
As I was heading into the last five years of my life as a full-time teacher in the years 1994 to 1999, two biographies of the life of Pamela Harriman appeared(1994, 1996). A film was released and a TV doco about her life both came out in the USA(1998) just six months before I left classrooms forever. Tonight I saw the doco Churchill’s Girl released in Australia on ABC TV; it had been on Channel 4 in the UK in November 2006. I write this prose-poem about the life of one of history’s greatest courtesans and, arguably, modern history’s, the twentieth century’s, greatest courtesan next to Clare Boothe Luce. I should quality my words, I suppose, not being a particular authority on the subject of courtesans in modern or ancient history. After reading Blair Schulman’s fine article at the Divas internet site, he may be right: calling Harriman a courtesan may be just a “cheap and easy answer,” a simplistic explanation, a sort of psychological reductionism, an oversimplified analysis of a woman with an incredible life story and many talents. -Ron Price with thanks to ABC TV, 8:35-9:30, 21 June 2007 and Blair Schulman, “Pamela Churchill Harriman,” Divas Internet Site, 21 June 2007.
I first came across the term
courtesan while teaching
ancient Greek history in my
last years in the classroom...
And Pamela Harriman, I confess,
I had never heard of until tonight,
as this solstice passed into history
on a cold Tasmanian winter night.
A glittering jewel adorning the veneer
of high politics with a pervasive and
exploding sexuality, patina of wit and
charm-heavyweight champ of courtesans.
Right at the start of our Seven Year Plan1
she began--at 16--to wow the men & they
came running all her life. Oh Pamela!!!
Too bad you did not write your memoirs.
On time’s long road, in 1992/3, perhaps
your biggest year, getting Clinton elected;
then you were off to France as our Holy
Year ended in May of 19932, completely
passing you by, Pamela—you missed it all—
the most precious Being ever to draw breath
on this planet and at that high water mark in
our history you were enmeshed in politics,
power, prestige and wealth as you always
had been with much success—you were
the best, Pamela, I’ve got to hand it to you,
one of the best......I wish you well in Shelley’s
Undiscovered Country...has it continued for
you in the last 10 years in a land of lights?
1 1936/7
2 Pamela Harriman began her role of Ambassador to France in May 1993 as the Baha’i Holy Year
ended.
--Ron Price 22 June 2007
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Usually A Doco Does Not Tell the Whole Story
