Translated by Stephanie G. Ortega
Introduction by Sophie Haydock
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Red House Alley is the first complete English translation of Else Jerusalem's Der Heilige Skarabäus, her revolutionary novel about sex workers in 19th century Vienna. Jerusalem ripped away the veil of moral hypocrisy that viewed prostitutes as predators who lured men into their clutches and showed the women as victims exploited by pimps, madams, and the police. Its frank portrayal of the realities of the sex trade led the Nazis to ban the book in 1933, after which it was forgotten for over 80 years.
Red House Alley follows Milada, the illegitimate daughter of a prostitute, from childhood through her own conscription into sex work as a teenager and on to her ultimate escape. Milada watches as her mother is destroyed by poverty, disease, and alcoholism, and vows to avoid the same fate for herself. She endures a series of corrupt owners of Red House, the brothel just off one of the city's busiest shopping streets, who subject the women to increasingly degrading demands to attract clients.
Drawing directly from her own observations of the life of sex workers in Freud's Vienna, Else Jerusalem crafted a story that even now seems fresh, original, and relevant. Red House Alley is destined to take its rightful place as a classic of feminist literature.
Red House Alley by Else Jerusalem
978-1-915812-36-0