Nana

The next morning, Nana wakes up and looks at the empty spot in bed next to her in puzzlement; her maid, Zoë, tells her that Paul Daguenet, her lover, has left. In addition to being an actress, Nana is also a sex worker. She lives on the second floor of a large house, a luxurious dwelling that a lover from Moscow rented for her. He paid six months’ rent, but since his departure Nana struggles to support herself: “It all smacked of a young woman who had been left in the lurch by her first real protector, and who had fallen foul of men of dubious character” (29).

Zoe tells Nana that she will have to rearrange some of her clients if she wants to avoid them running into each other. Nana has two regulars in addition to Daguenet, who cannot pay at all and whom Nana sees for pleasure. Despite these responsibilities, Nana wakes up excited—her aunt Madame Lerat is picking up Nana’s son Louis from the wet nurse who has been raising him. Nana wants him to live at Madame Lerat’s home so she can see him whenever she pleases. The wet nurse is demanding 300 francs to give Louis back, however, and Nana does not have the sum.

Madame Tricon, the woman who arranges Nana’s and many other sex workers’ clients, appears at the house and offers Nana a client who will supply the 300 francs. Nana accepts. Nana’s hairdresser Francis brings her a copy of the newspaper the Figaro, in which Fauchery has written glowingly of her magnetism (if not her actual talent).

As the day wears on, a steady stream of male visitors shows up at Nana’s door, including Georges Hugon, the 17-year-old boy who instigated the audience’s adoration of her the night before, as well as Steiner and the Comte Muffat. Nana makes all the men wait while she goes out to meet her client. When she returns much later, she has more than the necessary 300 francs. Exhausted and annoyed, she does not want to see any of her callers, but her finances are in a dire state, so she agrees to see two of the wealthiest visitors: Steiner and Muffat. To preserve appearances, they pretend to have come to solicit a donation to a charity, as now she is a respected member of the artistic community. Flattered, she gives them 50 francs from the sum she has just earned. She also happily accepts Georges’s flowers, amused that such a young man has come to call on her (even though she is only one year older than him).

The doorbell continues to ring so often for the rest of the day, that Nana and Zoe realize Bordenave has given out Nana’s address to anyone who asked for it after last night’s performance. Zoe initially tries to place them all in different parts of the house so they will not run into each other, but there are soon so many that this is impossible. Just as Nana begins to feel overwhelmed and slightly frightened, Zoe shows in Labordette. He has recently paid off one of her bills and is known widely as a friend to women. Nana accompanies him to dinner, leaving her busy apartment with a sigh of relief.