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Fanny Hill: Memoirs for a Woman of Pleasure
This unique edition of Fanny Hill Memoirs for a Woman of Pleasure from Dead Dodo Vintage includes the full original text as well as exclusive features not available in other editions.
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill), is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London, it is considered "the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel." One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history; it has become a synonym for obscenity.
From her position of wealth and happy respectability, Fanny Hill looks back at her early life and disreputable adventures. Arriving in London alone, poor and innocent, she falls into the hands of a brothel-keeper. But only when she is separated from the man she loves does she enroll in the 'unhappy profession' of prostitution. Fanny becomes a kept woman and also works in an elegant bawdy-house, entertaining polite voluptuaries. By the age of eighteen, she can afford to retire; in her marriage she can at last combine sexual passion with romantic love.
Fanny Hill, shrouded in controversy for most of its more than 250-year life, & banned from publication in the U.S. until 1966, was once considered immoral & without literary merit, even earning its author a jail sentence for obscenity.
The tale of a naïve young prostitute in bawdy eighteenth-century London who slowly rises to respectability, the novel & its popularity endured many banning’s & critics, & today Fanny Hill is considered an important piece of political parody & sexual philosophy on par with French libertine novels.
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 1748
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16932 people want to read
About the author
John Cleland
458 books69 followersJohn Cleland (1709 – 1789) was an English novelist, most famous—and infamous—as the author of the erotic novel Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.
He was born in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey but grew up in London, where his father was first an officer in the British Army and then a civil servant; he was also a friend to Alexander Pope, and Lucy Cleland was a friend or acquaintance of both Pope, Viscount Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, and Horace Walpole. The family possessed good finances and moved among the finest literary and artistic circles of London.
Cleland entered Westminster School in 1721, but he left or was expelled in 1723. His departure was not for financial reasons, but whatever misbehavior or allegation had led to his departure is unknown. Historian J. H. Plumb speculates that Cleland's puckish and quarrelsome nature was to blame, but, whatever caused Cleland to leave, he entered the British East India Company after leaving school. He began as a soldier and worked his way up into the civil service of the company and lived in Bombay from 1728 to 1740. He returned to London when recalled by his dying father. Upon William's death, the estate went to Lucy for administration. She, in turn, did not choose to support John.
He was born in Kingston upon Thames in Surrey but grew up in London, where his father was first an officer in the British Army and then a civil servant; he was also a friend to Alexander Pope, and Lucy Cleland was a friend or acquaintance of both Pope, Viscount Bolingbroke, Chesterfield, and Horace Walpole. The family possessed good finances and moved among the finest literary and artistic circles of London.
Cleland entered Westminster School in 1721, but he left or was expelled in 1723. His departure was not for financial reasons, but whatever misbehavior or allegation had led to his departure is unknown. Historian J. H. Plumb speculates that Cleland's puckish and quarrelsome nature was to blame, but, whatever caused Cleland to leave, he entered the British East India Company after leaving school. He began as a soldier and worked his way up into the civil service of the company and lived in Bombay from 1728 to 1740. He returned to London when recalled by his dying father. Upon William's death, the estate went to Lucy for administration. She, in turn, did not choose to support John.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,215 reviews
August 28, 2016
If you've heard one euphemism for penis, you...well, you haven't heard them all. Once you finish this book, then you'll have heard them all.
I had more fun reading this porn than I did many other 18-century novels, but that's largely because it's very short; faced with 600 pages of this, and given that I've already seen the word "vermilion" at least 600 times, I would probably give up.
And as porn goes, it's....okay I guess? It's not exactly hot, but it's not unacceptably un-hot, either, which is more than one can say for most of the internet. I found myself skimming the sex scenes. It can be fairly entertaining, at least; I highlighted the euphemism "red-headed champion," which is legitimately funny. It's hotter than Moll Flanders, to which it's clearly somewhat of a response - although that's not saying much, as Moll Flanders is emphatically unsexy.
The fact that this is a book written by a grown man from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl sometimes intrudes with ickiness, but one tries to get past it. Guys have written porn from the points of view of the ladies they wish they were nailing since - well, since this, as far as I know - and one has to suspend one's definition of the age of consent when one reads anything from Pamela to Tolstoy. And Cleland was only in his 20s when he wrote this, which makes it (again, allowing also for the era) at least slightly less creepy than if he was 50. It still throws me out of the narrative (such as it is) occasionally - particularly when he falls into one of the tropes that dudes writing porn have submitted to since (see above): all women want to be chaste but find themselves transported by passion as soon as they see a penis, and all penises are huge. I have, startling as it might seem, talked to upwards of several women, and they've assured me that neither of the above things are even a tiny bit accurate for any man other than me.
I'll give you a (slightly spoiler-y) taste. See if you think you can handle the following two things:
1) A scene where a woman seduces a mentally handicapped man for no other reason than "She had had her freak out" (yes, he really wrote that, 250 years before Missy Elliott);
2) This thoroughly typical passage: "Presently the approach of the tender agony discover'd itself by its usual signals, that were quickly follow'd by my dear love's emanation of himself that spun out, and shot, feelingly indeed! up the ravish'd in-draught; where the sweetly soothing balmy titillation opened all the juices of joy on my side, which extatically in flow, help'd to allay the prurient glow, and drown'd our pleasure for a while. Soon, however, to be on float again!"
If the first didn't horrify you too much, and the second didn't put you in a coma, you're good to go.
There's a half-hearted sermon that closes the book; it reads, in part, "If I have painted Vice in all its gayest colours...it has been solely in order to make the worthier, the more solemn sacrifice of it, to Virtue." I don't think we're supposed to take that seriously. For what it's worth, this is a peculiarly feminist book. (Peculiarly, I said.) In sharp contrast to most books of its time, Fanny Hill presents a picture of a woman who enjoys sex and goes about getting it with no shame whatsoever. There are no nasty repercussions; things turn out quite well for her. Jane Smiley claims that shame was an obsession in the salacious 18th century; well, then, this book stands, possibly alone, above it. Good for Fanny Hill.
I had more fun reading this porn than I did many other 18-century novels, but that's largely because it's very short; faced with 600 pages of this, and given that I've already seen the word "vermilion" at least 600 times, I would probably give up.
And as porn goes, it's....okay I guess? It's not exactly hot, but it's not unacceptably un-hot, either, which is more than one can say for most of the internet. I found myself skimming the sex scenes. It can be fairly entertaining, at least; I highlighted the euphemism "red-headed champion," which is legitimately funny. It's hotter than Moll Flanders, to which it's clearly somewhat of a response - although that's not saying much, as Moll Flanders is emphatically unsexy.
The fact that this is a book written by a grown man from the perspective of a 15-year-old girl sometimes intrudes with ickiness, but one tries to get past it. Guys have written porn from the points of view of the ladies they wish they were nailing since - well, since this, as far as I know - and one has to suspend one's definition of the age of consent when one reads anything from Pamela to Tolstoy. And Cleland was only in his 20s when he wrote this, which makes it (again, allowing also for the era) at least slightly less creepy than if he was 50. It still throws me out of the narrative (such as it is) occasionally - particularly when he falls into one of the tropes that dudes writing porn have submitted to since (see above): all women want to be chaste but find themselves transported by passion as soon as they see a penis, and all penises are huge. I have, startling as it might seem, talked to upwards of several women, and they've assured me that neither of the above things are even a tiny bit accurate for any man other than me.
I'll give you a (slightly spoiler-y) taste. See if you think you can handle the following two things:
1) A scene where a woman seduces a mentally handicapped man for no other reason than "She had had her freak out" (yes, he really wrote that, 250 years before Missy Elliott);
2) This thoroughly typical passage: "Presently the approach of the tender agony discover'd itself by its usual signals, that were quickly follow'd by my dear love's emanation of himself that spun out, and shot, feelingly indeed! up the ravish'd in-draught; where the sweetly soothing balmy titillation opened all the juices of joy on my side, which extatically in flow, help'd to allay the prurient glow, and drown'd our pleasure for a while. Soon, however, to be on float again!"
If the first didn't horrify you too much, and the second didn't put you in a coma, you're good to go.
There's a half-hearted sermon that closes the book; it reads, in part, "If I have painted Vice in all its gayest colours...it has been solely in order to make the worthier, the more solemn sacrifice of it, to Virtue." I don't think we're supposed to take that seriously. For what it's worth, this is a peculiarly feminist book. (Peculiarly, I said.) In sharp contrast to most books of its time, Fanny Hill presents a picture of a woman who enjoys sex and goes about getting it with no shame whatsoever. There are no nasty repercussions; things turn out quite well for her. Jane Smiley claims that shame was an obsession in the salacious 18th century; well, then, this book stands, possibly alone, above it. Good for Fanny Hill.
August 21, 2012
I'm talking about an erotic novel here, so maybe don't read my review if you tend to get offended by open and frank discussion about sexual acts. Just warning you in advance :)
Okay, firstly, this is porn. Just porn. Not a great literary achievement, not something that will sit snug in your mind with the Austen and Bronte classics... PORN. It got quite a reputation for being the first pornography to appear in novel form, and it also got a reputation because it was banned for multiple centuries and resulted in a prison sentence for the author. Being published in 1748, I can't say I'm surprised. In fact, the much more surprising thing is that books like Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) and Delta of Venus (1977) caused such a controversy when Cleland's work had already beaten them to it two hundred years beforehand.
This is far more scandalous than Lady Chatterley's Lover and about on a par with Delta of Venus. The story is a rather disturbing (even by today's standards) tale about a fifteen year old girl who engages in sex with both men and women, participates in mutual masturbation, almost gets raped, falls into prostitution, takes part in orgies, whips a man for his sexual pleasure, and witnesses two men having anal sex only to report them to the local villagers. During this time, Fanny also manages to fall in love several times and - to give credit where it's due - does experience quite a bit of growth as a woman and as a human being.
The plot, though, is completely ridiculous, moves too fast, and ends up feeling sloppy and careless. Fanny runs from lover to lover in what feels like a bunch of short stories about sexual encounters than a full novel about a woman's sexual exploration. It must be pointed out that Cleland's portrayal of female sexuality and the ability for women to have sex for pleasure, not just to make babies or appease their husbands, seems incredibly before it's time. However, Fanny Hill is not a particularly strong character and her circumstances are often a result of where others put her, not where she takes herself.
When it comes to this kind of book, I always try and look it at from two angles and see if it delivers on either: 1) as a novel, or 2) as porn. I don't believe it delivers on the first beyond introducing the eighteenth century to the exploration of female sexuality. As for the second, well, I guess there's something for everyone stuck in here somewhere. Especially if you get hot when female genitalia is described as "clammy" and a guy's penis is described in this way: "not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, that had proportions been observ’d, it must have belong’d to a young giant." Are you fanning yourself with desire? Then this is the book for you!
Okay, firstly, this is porn. Just porn. Not a great literary achievement, not something that will sit snug in your mind with the Austen and Bronte classics... PORN. It got quite a reputation for being the first pornography to appear in novel form, and it also got a reputation because it was banned for multiple centuries and resulted in a prison sentence for the author. Being published in 1748, I can't say I'm surprised. In fact, the much more surprising thing is that books like Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) and Delta of Venus (1977) caused such a controversy when Cleland's work had already beaten them to it two hundred years beforehand.
This is far more scandalous than Lady Chatterley's Lover and about on a par with Delta of Venus. The story is a rather disturbing (even by today's standards) tale about a fifteen year old girl who engages in sex with both men and women, participates in mutual masturbation, almost gets raped, falls into prostitution, takes part in orgies, whips a man for his sexual pleasure, and witnesses two men having anal sex only to report them to the local villagers. During this time, Fanny also manages to fall in love several times and - to give credit where it's due - does experience quite a bit of growth as a woman and as a human being.
The plot, though, is completely ridiculous, moves too fast, and ends up feeling sloppy and careless. Fanny runs from lover to lover in what feels like a bunch of short stories about sexual encounters than a full novel about a woman's sexual exploration. It must be pointed out that Cleland's portrayal of female sexuality and the ability for women to have sex for pleasure, not just to make babies or appease their husbands, seems incredibly before it's time. However, Fanny Hill is not a particularly strong character and her circumstances are often a result of where others put her, not where she takes herself.
When it comes to this kind of book, I always try and look it at from two angles and see if it delivers on either: 1) as a novel, or 2) as porn. I don't believe it delivers on the first beyond introducing the eighteenth century to the exploration of female sexuality. As for the second, well, I guess there's something for everyone stuck in here somewhere. Especially if you get hot when female genitalia is described as "clammy" and a guy's penis is described in this way: "not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, that had proportions been observ’d, it must have belong’d to a young giant." Are you fanning yourself with desire? Then this is the book for you!
July 10, 2021
this book has no business being as funny as it is
it’s a metaphor, see
a historical reminder that you’ve never done anything original in bed
it’s a metaphor, see
a historical reminder that you’ve never done anything original in bed
July 9, 2019
All sex acts are unique, beautiful, & uniquely beautiful in the immensely pleasurable "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure." Through the ages, sex has brought wondrous delight to human beings & here is testament of that fortitude over mere convention and the evil forces of repression.
This, like the ever-powerful "Naked Lunch" centuries later, had to be defended/bashed fervently by those thinking the book had any power over weak minds or even anything, um, ethical? Still, le petit mort (or being "embalm'd by an injection") being exemplified by the most exquisite and tender prose imaginable, is surely a cause for celebration, yeah. It is appetizing in anecdotal terms, as well as in its lushly long sentences. Fanny Hill has no other option but to become a prostitute, and thus takes an immense amount of pride in such an old, tried-but-true occupation--she flourishes & learns. She is eager, adventurous. Sure, all things nasty men want their women to be. You will be amazed to find lesbianism, group sex, voyeurism, an array of anatomies and variety of men/participants, gay sex, threesomes, etc, etc. etc. It soon becomes clear that the mercenary aspect of the whole enterprise is what ultimately attracts and inspires Fanny (and remember, she has NO other choice, outlet, life). This is what brings her pleasure. And the part of men finding themselves through the sexual acts-- that is something that brings her pleasure as well. This is candid, verging on poetic, storytelling. Her life is sad, but there is a zero ugliness factor in this novel to declare it an essential one. It's a genuine template for our future erotica.
This, like the ever-powerful "Naked Lunch" centuries later, had to be defended/bashed fervently by those thinking the book had any power over weak minds or even anything, um, ethical? Still, le petit mort (or being "embalm'd by an injection") being exemplified by the most exquisite and tender prose imaginable, is surely a cause for celebration, yeah. It is appetizing in anecdotal terms, as well as in its lushly long sentences. Fanny Hill has no other option but to become a prostitute, and thus takes an immense amount of pride in such an old, tried-but-true occupation--she flourishes & learns. She is eager, adventurous. Sure, all things nasty men want their women to be. You will be amazed to find lesbianism, group sex, voyeurism, an array of anatomies and variety of men/participants, gay sex, threesomes, etc, etc. etc. It soon becomes clear that the mercenary aspect of the whole enterprise is what ultimately attracts and inspires Fanny (and remember, she has NO other choice, outlet, life). This is what brings her pleasure. And the part of men finding themselves through the sexual acts-- that is something that brings her pleasure as well. This is candid, verging on poetic, storytelling. Her life is sad, but there is a zero ugliness factor in this novel to declare it an essential one. It's a genuine template for our future erotica.
April 14, 2025
After reading the back cover (you start where you want), you might think you will read a whole erotic story longer than those inserted in magazines placed high up in bookstores.
Close your gaping mouths, put your two hands on the table, and open your gutters wide (and your legs then, if you like; all that is none of our business).
Before getting to the heart of the matter, we have over 100 pages (out of 220) of introduction to Fanny Hill's memories.
Yes, it gives the most extended foreplay in the history of the erotic book, without a doubt!
Close your gaping mouths, put your two hands on the table, and open your gutters wide (and your legs then, if you like; all that is none of our business).
Before getting to the heart of the matter, we have over 100 pages (out of 220) of introduction to Fanny Hill's memories.
Yes, it gives the most extended foreplay in the history of the erotic book, without a doubt!
October 15, 2007
They should make me Education Secretary. I'd make Fanny Hill required reading in freshman English classes across the country, thus instantly solving our country's illiteracy problem and instilling an abiding love of literature in our nation's young citizens.
I miss my copy of this book! I'd never heard of it before when I found it in a box on the sidewalk in Park Slope a few years ago, and had no idea what a lovely filthy treasure I had just unearthed.... I hope Lindsey enjoyed my edition of this venerable classic, and I REALLY hope her mom never found it under her mattress.
I miss my copy of this book! I'd never heard of it before when I found it in a box on the sidewalk in Park Slope a few years ago, and had no idea what a lovely filthy treasure I had just unearthed.... I hope Lindsey enjoyed my edition of this venerable classic, and I REALLY hope her mom never found it under her mattress.
December 2, 2014
If I could go back in time and track Cleland down for a nice chat, I'd smack him in the face with a clipboard and watch him like a hawk till he'd read through the list clipped there in its entirety. Better yet, I'd take a woman and a man back with me, both of them less concerned with feminism issues to an unholy extent than I, and let the conversings about the genders commence. Maybe then, perhaps, I'd figure this author out.
The list? An abridged version of the following.
If you've seen my review of Delta of Venus, you know I take erotica seriously. That whole spiel about increasing respect and social justice and all that jazz? Still relevant, sadly so when considering this piece appeared in 1749. That's 265 years ago, 18th century stuff alongside the likes of Voltaire and Swift and we're still mucking around in slut shaming. Seriously! This is a classic written by a dead white male two and a half centuries ago, and it's chock full of feminism! Second wave feminism at that! Where are the feminist scholars and, more importantly, where are the rest of those classics/elitist/whatever your name for those in the literature "know" who are reading this without taking a single smidgen away from it besides the fact that it's bad erotica?
Yes, bad erotica. While it may have done the job more than 250 years ago, these days people like their porn with a little more...well. Now that I think about it, a great deal of today's Fifty Shades of Grey readers don't actually mind if the biology's a little off so long as there's plenty of writhing and fingering and whipping, which this work has in full. The only difference really is Cleland's constant hitting home the fact that, while women have different equipment, they have the same need for pleasure and more importantly respectful pleasure, whomever the companion they happen to be with. Now that's something that could put modern readers off.
Also, the synonyms for penis. I'm not even going to go into that. If you want a list, the book's been around for a while. Spoilers abound and may even be carefully categorized.
Besides all that, not only does Fanny Hill like sex so long as her partner's not an asshole, she likes educating herself! Behold.
While I'm at it, have some more breakdowns of female stereotypes:
The list? An abridged version of the following.
If you've seen my review of Delta of Venus, you know I take erotica seriously. That whole spiel about increasing respect and social justice and all that jazz? Still relevant, sadly so when considering this piece appeared in 1749. That's 265 years ago, 18th century stuff alongside the likes of Voltaire and Swift and we're still mucking around in slut shaming. Seriously! This is a classic written by a dead white male two and a half centuries ago, and it's chock full of feminism! Second wave feminism at that! Where are the feminist scholars and, more importantly, where are the rest of those classics/elitist/whatever your name for those in the literature "know" who are reading this without taking a single smidgen away from it besides the fact that it's bad erotica?
Yes, bad erotica. While it may have done the job more than 250 years ago, these days people like their porn with a little more...well. Now that I think about it, a great deal of today's Fifty Shades of Grey readers don't actually mind if the biology's a little off so long as there's plenty of writhing and fingering and whipping, which this work has in full. The only difference really is Cleland's constant hitting home the fact that, while women have different equipment, they have the same need for pleasure and more importantly respectful pleasure, whomever the companion they happen to be with. Now that's something that could put modern readers off.
Men know not in general how much they destroy of their own pleasure when they break through the respect and tenderness due to our sex, and even to those of it who live only by pleasing them.Of course, there are problematic aspects, namely the homophobia, the pretense of sex only being successful when dick thrusting is involved and resulting invalidation of female pleasure, the multiple instances of sexual assault rapid fire forgiven because the assaulter was attractive/pitiful/remorseful/what have you. Less problematic and more absurd were the multiple male orgasms business: so sorry, men, but your refractory period averages a half hour and can even go on for days, whereas women, you're good to go.
Also, the synonyms for penis. I'm not even going to go into that. If you want a list, the book's been around for a while. Spoilers abound and may even be carefully categorized.
Besides all that, not only does Fanny Hill like sex so long as her partner's not an asshole, she likes educating herself! Behold.
...he it was who first taught me to be sensible that the pleasures of the mind were superior to those of the body; at the same time, that they were so far from obnoxious to or incompatible with each other that, besides the sweetness in the variety and transition, the one serv'd to exalt and perfect the taste of the other to a degree that the senses alone can never arrive at.No wonder the unabridged version's been taken to trial as recently as 1963, as god forbid a woman reconcile body and mind so ardently. Yeesh.
While I'm at it, have some more breakdowns of female stereotypes:
Silks, laces, earrings, pearl necklace, gold watch, in short, all the trinkets and articles of dress were lavishly heap'd upon me; the sense of which, if it did not create turns of love, forc'd a kind of grateful fondness, something like love; a distinction it would be spoiling the pleasure of nine tenths of the keepers in the town to make, and is, I suppose, the very good reason why so few of them ever do make it.You're welcome.
...all my looks and gestures ever breathing nothing but that innocence which the men so ardently require in us, for no other end than to feast themselves with the pleasures of destroying it, and which they are so greviously, with all their skill, subject to mistakes to.
September 22, 2017
By 18th century standards it was literary smut. Even by today's standards it is bawdy. Fellow GR reviewer Jessica called it "lovely filthy filth". It has survived the centuries though and still finds itself in print and apparently still being read by hundreds of Goodreads members.
June 18, 2020
"The paths of vice are sometimes strewed with roses, but then they are for ever infamous for many a thorn, for many a cankerworm; those of virtue are strewed with roses purely, and those eternally unfading ones.
If you do me then justice, you will esteem me perfectly consistent in the incense I burn to virtue: if I have painted vice all in its gayest colours, if I have decked it with flowers, it has been solely in order to make the worthier, the solemner, sacrifice of it to virtue."
Interesting afterthoughts from the infamous 18th century Fifty Shades of Sex.
If you do me then justice, you will esteem me perfectly consistent in the incense I burn to virtue: if I have painted vice all in its gayest colours, if I have decked it with flowers, it has been solely in order to make the worthier, the solemner, sacrifice of it to virtue."
Interesting afterthoughts from the infamous 18th century Fifty Shades of Sex.
Read
June 25, 2016A strikingly repetitive book - certainly not a novel, with a curious jolly hockey sticks air to it.
Structured as the memoirs of an innocent young girl, written in letters to a lady, from the countryside who is tricked into a life of prostitution (of the decorous type in respectable brothels not the wandering about Covent Garden type). It has a good deal of admiring descriptions of penises follows and the noun vermilion is frequently used to describe the vulvas seen during the course of her work.
This is not a work in the realist tradition, clients apparently pay up, prostitutes don't get beaten up, pregnancy and disease aren't worries. Nor is there any character development unless that is a euphemism for the loss of virginity, or anything much you could call a plot. It is the work of a man imagining himself as a prostitute - a situation which he finds thoroughly enjoyable in a jolly kind of way, with the particular bonus of being able to see lots of big penises. The meat of the book - a very loose collection of disconnected episodes - is extra-textual, and that is imagining Cleland's sexuality.
At the beginning of the first part of the book Ms Hill is broken into the work of being a prostitute, at the beginning of the second part her self and some other young women (I believe that child prostitution flourished for obvious reasons in 18th century London, not that you would ever suspect it from this book since they are young, but not that young) set up their own brothel and take turns relating how they lost their virginity. At the end of either the first or the second part - it's really not important which - Ms Hill settles down with a handsome, wealthy young man who has a very large penis. In-between are various encounters with clients who almost invariably have large penises. One would have to be particularly generous to regard this as constituting a plot.
It's self indulgent (I suppose self-evidently, it is a work of pornography after all), but it's repetitive nature makes the book eventually boring and comes to limit the extent to which it even could be used as a one hand read.
There is a very limited range of sexual acts described and the most interesting moment is the narrator's shock when a man and a woman actually undress, as most of the sex described involves only loosening clothing and opening it at strategic points.
This book left me with the impression that 18th century sex was less interesting than I might have otherwise imagined. Certainly less interesting than suggested by the Edinburgh club whose members had to contribute clippings of their mistresses' pubic hair to make a ceremonial wig. No wonder people drank so much.
Structured as the memoirs of an innocent young girl, written in letters to a lady, from the countryside who is tricked into a life of prostitution (of the decorous type in respectable brothels not the wandering about Covent Garden type). It has a good deal of admiring descriptions of penises follows and the noun vermilion is frequently used to describe the vulvas seen during the course of her work.
This is not a work in the realist tradition, clients apparently pay up, prostitutes don't get beaten up, pregnancy and disease aren't worries. Nor is there any character development unless that is a euphemism for the loss of virginity, or anything much you could call a plot. It is the work of a man imagining himself as a prostitute - a situation which he finds thoroughly enjoyable in a jolly kind of way, with the particular bonus of being able to see lots of big penises. The meat of the book - a very loose collection of disconnected episodes - is extra-textual, and that is imagining Cleland's sexuality.
At the beginning of the first part of the book Ms Hill is broken into the work of being a prostitute, at the beginning of the second part her self and some other young women (I believe that child prostitution flourished for obvious reasons in 18th century London, not that you would ever suspect it from this book since they are young, but not that young) set up their own brothel and take turns relating how they lost their virginity. At the end of either the first or the second part - it's really not important which - Ms Hill settles down with a handsome, wealthy young man who has a very large penis. In-between are various encounters with clients who almost invariably have large penises. One would have to be particularly generous to regard this as constituting a plot.
It's self indulgent (I suppose self-evidently, it is a work of pornography after all), but it's repetitive nature makes the book eventually boring and comes to limit the extent to which it even could be used as a one hand read.
There is a very limited range of sexual acts described and the most interesting moment is the narrator's shock when a man and a woman actually undress, as most of the sex described involves only loosening clothing and opening it at strategic points.
This book left me with the impression that 18th century sex was less interesting than I might have otherwise imagined. Certainly less interesting than suggested by the Edinburgh club whose members had to contribute clippings of their mistresses' pubic hair to make a ceremonial wig. No wonder people drank so much.
September 26, 2019
There is a saying – Curiosity killed the cat. I learned about this 18th century porn while reading David Lodge’s Modes of Modern Writing, and of course it aroused (😊) my interest regarding both the language and the approach of a subject I had thought until then too daring for a prude period. It seems I was wrong and all that prudeness we know about is due to 19th century, mainly Victorian period. So, for one of most banished books in history (as Wikipedia informs us) Fanny Hill is not even very revolutionary.
However, with all the fuss around it, the main question one might ask is about Fanny Hill literary traits. In the same study, David Lodge says:
"Pornography I define as a type of discourse designed to be used as a substitute for or stimulus to erotic pleasure. (…) Like other types of nonliterary discourse (advertising, polemic etc.) pornography can become literary if it responds successfully to a literary reading. What usually prevents it from doing so is that it is unrealistic rather than nonrealistic: it pretends to a realism it cannot sustain."
Therefore, to answer the above question, it seems the more a text has porn qualities, the less likely it is to have literary ones. Let’s see in our book:
-very virile men with huge penises– check
-very sensual women with perfect bodies– check;
-perfect orgasms every time– check;
-erotic fantasies presented in a realistic way – check;
-detailed description of the progress of excitement – check;
-explicit language – not-so-check, but touchingly euphemistic, though;
-Pretty-Woman-like finale – check.
So, from what I can tell (although my knowledge of this kind of reading is limited to a few bad romances and Fifty Shades of Gray :D ) this could be considered a sort of old-fashioned porn, amusing and often involuntary parodic and even sweet in some kinky way. A curiosity, a useful document in the history of porn (there must be a history of porn, surely?), but of course, not literature in the same way Fifty Shades of Gray is not literature.
To conclude, I’m not sorry I read it (in spite of my introductory line), but it didn’t feel like reading literature (and at some point it bored me so much I skipped many “hot” pages). I was amused by the moralistic finale, though, so contrary to the obvious message that you can have the cake and eat it too. In porn land, I mean.
However, with all the fuss around it, the main question one might ask is about Fanny Hill literary traits. In the same study, David Lodge says:
"Pornography I define as a type of discourse designed to be used as a substitute for or stimulus to erotic pleasure. (…) Like other types of nonliterary discourse (advertising, polemic etc.) pornography can become literary if it responds successfully to a literary reading. What usually prevents it from doing so is that it is unrealistic rather than nonrealistic: it pretends to a realism it cannot sustain."
Therefore, to answer the above question, it seems the more a text has porn qualities, the less likely it is to have literary ones. Let’s see in our book:
-very virile men with huge penises– check
-very sensual women with perfect bodies– check;
-perfect orgasms every time– check;
-erotic fantasies presented in a realistic way – check;
-detailed description of the progress of excitement – check;
-explicit language – not-so-check, but touchingly euphemistic, though;
-Pretty-Woman-like finale – check.
So, from what I can tell (although my knowledge of this kind of reading is limited to a few bad romances and Fifty Shades of Gray :D ) this could be considered a sort of old-fashioned porn, amusing and often involuntary parodic and even sweet in some kinky way. A curiosity, a useful document in the history of porn (there must be a history of porn, surely?), but of course, not literature in the same way Fifty Shades of Gray is not literature.
To conclude, I’m not sorry I read it (in spite of my introductory line), but it didn’t feel like reading literature (and at some point it bored me so much I skipped many “hot” pages). I was amused by the moralistic finale, though, so contrary to the obvious message that you can have the cake and eat it too. In porn land, I mean.
September 25, 2019
Frequently sexy in the first half, predictably flaccid in the second. S’always the way.
July 22, 2020
It's one of the most banned books and the first pornography in a novel form or something like that... i obviously had to someday get it... i also think that's enough erotica for this year. i'm gonna reread 50 Shades Of Freed next year. my brain can't take more of that right now
my edition is in Greek and it's split into two books *no idea why*, part a and b. part A was ok. i wish it had the illustrations.
i surprisingly loved the first part and it's a 4.8 for me. part two tho is meh and kinda offensive. what's his beef with gay men *there are rumors that he may have been gay and yeah it smells like self hate in here*?
THIS BITCH, who mind you had phenomenal lesbian sex, was later like ''haha i'm gonna get his semen to prove he's gay so they prosecute them for sodomy''. bitch get chlamydia and die, the fuck. part two Fanny is such a fucking cunt.
i would have given this a 4 but he annoyed me so it's a 3.
my edition is in Greek and it's split into two books *no idea why*, part a and b. part A was ok. i wish it had the illustrations.
i surprisingly loved the first part and it's a 4.8 for me. part two tho is meh and kinda offensive. what's his beef with gay men *there are rumors that he may have been gay and yeah it smells like self hate in here*?
THIS BITCH, who mind you had phenomenal lesbian sex, was later like ''haha i'm gonna get his semen to prove he's gay so they prosecute them for sodomy''. bitch get chlamydia and die, the fuck. part two Fanny is such a fucking cunt.
i would have given this a 4 but he annoyed me so it's a 3.
October 12, 2010
I thought Fanny Hill was going to be in the same vein as The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, including a smattering of cheeky 18thC sex scenes that hardly raise an eyebrow in the 21stC. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I'd heard Fanny Hill's reputation (who hasn't? the slattern!), but then I've also read Lady Chatterley's Lover which isn't half as saucy as its reputation....
I wasn't quite prepared for the fact that Fanny Hill consists almost entirely of sex scenes linked together by the slimmest of storylines. I really should have guessed, 18thC attitudes to sex were far more liberal than those censorial Victorians, weren't they?
I was laughing out loud during many passages.... Hilarious. 'Bawdy romp' doesn't start to describe it! The sex does become rather repetative towards the end, however I'm impressed at the number of different euphemisms the author, John Cleland, utilises for the male member!
Some sections sit uncomfortably with a modern audience; raping virgins is not a bundle of laughs in the real world and the cliche of the 'happy-hooker' ignores the unhappy majority who would have preferred NOT to risk syphilis, every day, to earn their keep. However, I think this just serves to point out how society's attitudes have changed in the intervening years...
If you're thinking of reading Fanny Hill; don't expect literature and be surprised by the sex; don't look for porn and be disappointed by the flowery language. Instead, see it as an entertaining insight into the fantasies of an 18th Century man.
I'd heard Fanny Hill's reputation (who hasn't? the slattern!), but then I've also read Lady Chatterley's Lover which isn't half as saucy as its reputation....
I wasn't quite prepared for the fact that Fanny Hill consists almost entirely of sex scenes linked together by the slimmest of storylines. I really should have guessed, 18thC attitudes to sex were far more liberal than those censorial Victorians, weren't they?
I was laughing out loud during many passages.... Hilarious. 'Bawdy romp' doesn't start to describe it! The sex does become rather repetative towards the end, however I'm impressed at the number of different euphemisms the author, John Cleland, utilises for the male member!
Some sections sit uncomfortably with a modern audience; raping virgins is not a bundle of laughs in the real world and the cliche of the 'happy-hooker' ignores the unhappy majority who would have preferred NOT to risk syphilis, every day, to earn their keep. However, I think this just serves to point out how society's attitudes have changed in the intervening years...
If you're thinking of reading Fanny Hill; don't expect literature and be surprised by the sex; don't look for porn and be disappointed by the flowery language. Instead, see it as an entertaining insight into the fantasies of an 18th Century man.
August 5, 2009
A rather repetitive and primitive story of a young naive girl who arrives in London without any money or family to take care of her and who have to endure a lot of hardship before finally finding her true love. The hardship, however, is mostly in the form of a lot of sex which she finds a lot of pleasure in - this is truly a book where the means are more important than the end and the means are described in detail, unfortunately these details are more or less the same, repeated over and over, only the metaphors used in describing them varies, basically. This also means that the plot is virtually non-existing, the end is unbelievable and there's just enough to serve as the string to tie the sexual encounters together with - rather like modern day porn.
Furthermore, most of the women in this book are rather weak creatures, waiting to be swept of their feet by a(ny) man who happens to come along and who by persuasion and mild use of force always gets what he wants - and in thus surrendering, the women invariably discover their own pleasure in these borderline rapes. It is very obvious that this was written by a man and that even though our heroine, Fanny, are rather competent and at least one other woman can manage her own business, it is clear that the author's opinion of women is not the highest - which I think was rather typical of the time. But porn really hasn't changed much over the last couple of centuries...
This is one of the early erotic novels and intellectually, I can appreciate this book - but I read for the joy of it and this was for the most part lacking in this book - rather ironically, one could say.
Furthermore, most of the women in this book are rather weak creatures, waiting to be swept of their feet by a(ny) man who happens to come along and who by persuasion and mild use of force always gets what he wants - and in thus surrendering, the women invariably discover their own pleasure in these borderline rapes. It is very obvious that this was written by a man and that even though our heroine, Fanny, are rather competent and at least one other woman can manage her own business, it is clear that the author's opinion of women is not the highest - which I think was rather typical of the time. But porn really hasn't changed much over the last couple of centuries...
This is one of the early erotic novels and intellectually, I can appreciate this book - but I read for the joy of it and this was for the most part lacking in this book - rather ironically, one could say.
June 1, 2016
This was pretty fucking awful. The writing is terrible - I don't care what century you're from. Entire paragraphs that consist of one long, bloated sentence with about fourteen commas? Kill me.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say that this guy loved the absolute shit out of synonyms. He crammed those babies, three and four at a time, into sentences that I was barely following in the first place. He couldn't tell you, for instance, about that whore over there with the pale white skin without also making sure you know that her skin is milky, pearly, snowy and ivory as well. He also really loved referring to the penis as a: weapon of destruction, instrument of battering, tool of attack. In short, penises are SCURRY, YA'LL! Watch out for those damn things.
I'm not sure why anyone even remembers this dude's name except for the sheer shock factor of him having written such a porny pornaganza in a time when it was generally accepted that one should keep their porniness to themselves instead of sharing it amongst their fellows in written form. I'd like to travel back in time and puncture the weird, delusional bubble he lived in, in which orphaned children forced into prostitution somehow love and are super turned on by their aforementioned horrific predicament. And then there is romance. Aw. How cute.
And I'm not exaggerating when I say that this guy loved the absolute shit out of synonyms. He crammed those babies, three and four at a time, into sentences that I was barely following in the first place. He couldn't tell you, for instance, about that whore over there with the pale white skin without also making sure you know that her skin is milky, pearly, snowy and ivory as well. He also really loved referring to the penis as a: weapon of destruction, instrument of battering, tool of attack. In short, penises are SCURRY, YA'LL! Watch out for those damn things.
I'm not sure why anyone even remembers this dude's name except for the sheer shock factor of him having written such a porny pornaganza in a time when it was generally accepted that one should keep their porniness to themselves instead of sharing it amongst their fellows in written form. I'd like to travel back in time and puncture the weird, delusional bubble he lived in, in which orphaned children forced into prostitution somehow love and are super turned on by their aforementioned horrific predicament. And then there is romance. Aw. How cute.
June 27, 2016
It was free on Gutenberg and seventeen year old Anya wanted some sexy fun times. Unfortunately, this book was pure porn with no sexy fun times to be had. Seventeen year old Anya was very disappointed. :c
July 9, 2015
In 1748 English novelist John Cleland went to debtors’ prison; while he was there he wrote a novel that went on to become the most prosecuted and banned book in history. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is often referred to as Fanny Hill and is considered one of the first pornographic novels in the English language. Due to the release of this book, Cleland and his publisher Ralph Griffiths were both arrested and charged with “corrupting the King’s subjects”. The book went on to become so popular that pirated editions were sold underground. The book’s popularity eventually saw the book being published in 1821 in the United States, where its first known obscenity case convicted publisher Peter Holmes for printing a “lewd and obscene” novel.
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure tells the story of an orphaned fifteen year old with no skill and very little education named Fanny Hill. She leaves her village to find employment in London, where she is hired by Mrs. Brown. Fanny believed her employment was legitimate and that she would be working as a maid but she discovered that Mrs. Brown ran a brothel and intended to sell her maidenhead. The prostitute that shared her room opened Fanny’s innocent eyes to the sensuality of sex. She eventually falls in love and runs away with a man named Charles.
I do not want to go into too much detail about the plot of this book; in fact I have only covered the very first part of the story. I started off this review with mentioning that John Cleland wrote this book while in debtors’ prison and I think this is an interesting fact to remember. Cleland plays out all types of sexual fantasies while he is locked away; the novel pretty much covers everything you can think of sexually. The all-important one in this book was losing her maidenhead, which was sold to at least three different clients. However there is something deeper going on within the pages of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.
This novel kept getting banned until 1973 in the United States; it was the introduction of the Miller test which finally lifted its banning. The Miller test is a three prong obscenity tested used in the United States Supreme Court to determine if something should be labelled as obscene. The work is considered obscene if all three conditions are satisfied and I am going to quote the law here so you better understand the Miller test.
(a) Whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards” would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest
(b) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law
(c) Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
The ban was lifted because Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure holds literary and artistic value and rightly so. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is a stunning book to read, the proses are elegant but I also found it fascinating how many erotic fiction tropes comes from this one book. I have not read many erotic novels, but from what I know and read, there is a lot that this genre needs to thank John Cleland. All the cliché scenarios and sex scenes owe a lot to this novel but one I am glad I don’t see any more is the use of the word ‘machine’. The idea of men walking around with machines between their legs bugged me and I just didn’t like that terminology; unfortunately the word ‘weapon’ seems to have survived.
This was a fascinating exploration into the origins of erotic fiction and sex scenes in literature and ultimately I am glad to have read Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. It is not that often that I associate steaming sex scenes with literature of the 18th century, so it is good to know that people were deviant back then. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure isn’t just about sex; Fanny Hill works as a sex worker but she also finds love. She discovers that sex outside love isn’t as pleasurable and this is the message that I really took away from this novel. Despite all the fantasies, I think John Cleland wanted to look at how important love is when it comes to pleasure seeking.
This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure tells the story of an orphaned fifteen year old with no skill and very little education named Fanny Hill. She leaves her village to find employment in London, where she is hired by Mrs. Brown. Fanny believed her employment was legitimate and that she would be working as a maid but she discovered that Mrs. Brown ran a brothel and intended to sell her maidenhead. The prostitute that shared her room opened Fanny’s innocent eyes to the sensuality of sex. She eventually falls in love and runs away with a man named Charles.
I do not want to go into too much detail about the plot of this book; in fact I have only covered the very first part of the story. I started off this review with mentioning that John Cleland wrote this book while in debtors’ prison and I think this is an interesting fact to remember. Cleland plays out all types of sexual fantasies while he is locked away; the novel pretty much covers everything you can think of sexually. The all-important one in this book was losing her maidenhead, which was sold to at least three different clients. However there is something deeper going on within the pages of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.
This novel kept getting banned until 1973 in the United States; it was the introduction of the Miller test which finally lifted its banning. The Miller test is a three prong obscenity tested used in the United States Supreme Court to determine if something should be labelled as obscene. The work is considered obscene if all three conditions are satisfied and I am going to quote the law here so you better understand the Miller test.
(a) Whether “the average person, applying contemporary community standards” would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest
(b) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law
(c) Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.
The ban was lifted because Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure holds literary and artistic value and rightly so. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is a stunning book to read, the proses are elegant but I also found it fascinating how many erotic fiction tropes comes from this one book. I have not read many erotic novels, but from what I know and read, there is a lot that this genre needs to thank John Cleland. All the cliché scenarios and sex scenes owe a lot to this novel but one I am glad I don’t see any more is the use of the word ‘machine’. The idea of men walking around with machines between their legs bugged me and I just didn’t like that terminology; unfortunately the word ‘weapon’ seems to have survived.
This was a fascinating exploration into the origins of erotic fiction and sex scenes in literature and ultimately I am glad to have read Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. It is not that often that I associate steaming sex scenes with literature of the 18th century, so it is good to know that people were deviant back then. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure isn’t just about sex; Fanny Hill works as a sex worker but she also finds love. She discovers that sex outside love isn’t as pleasurable and this is the message that I really took away from this novel. Despite all the fantasies, I think John Cleland wanted to look at how important love is when it comes to pleasure seeking.
This review originally appeared on my blog: http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...
February 26, 2011
An outstanding allegorical work. Using tales of sex, John Cleland managed to portray the common fate of women: from their blissful innocence, to their hard lives, their exploitation by men, rebellion and ultimate redemption. First person narrator here is the young and beautiful Fanny Hill. This is the story of her poverty as an orphan, the innocence of her virginity, her corruption in a brothel, her languid life as a mistress, her defiant infidelities and wild sexual abandon, and finally her redemption, after getting rich (courtesy of a rich man who fell for her then died) and finding her true love. The story of each and every woman's life.
Central to these lives is the uneradicated evil against which women all over the world, since time immemorial, had struggled, and continue to struggle:
"I (Fanny Hill), struggling faintly, could not help feeling what I could not grasp, a column of the whitest ivory, beautifully streak'd with blue veins, and carrying, fully uncapt, a head of the liveliest vermilion: no horn could be harder or stiffer; yet no velvet more smooth or delicious to the touch. Presently he guided my hand lower, to that part in which nature and pleasure keep their stores in concert, so aptly fasten'd and hung on to the root of their first instrument and minister, that not improperly he might be styl'd their purse-bearer too: there he made me feel distinctly, through their soft cover, the contents, a pair of roundish balls, that seem'd to play within, and elude all pressure but the tenderest, from without."
I'm looking down at it right now, reprimanding it for all its, and its brethrens', mischief
Central to these lives is the uneradicated evil against which women all over the world, since time immemorial, had struggled, and continue to struggle:
"I (Fanny Hill), struggling faintly, could not help feeling what I could not grasp, a column of the whitest ivory, beautifully streak'd with blue veins, and carrying, fully uncapt, a head of the liveliest vermilion: no horn could be harder or stiffer; yet no velvet more smooth or delicious to the touch. Presently he guided my hand lower, to that part in which nature and pleasure keep their stores in concert, so aptly fasten'd and hung on to the root of their first instrument and minister, that not improperly he might be styl'd their purse-bearer too: there he made me feel distinctly, through their soft cover, the contents, a pair of roundish balls, that seem'd to play within, and elude all pressure but the tenderest, from without."
I'm looking down at it right now, reprimanding it for all its, and its brethrens', mischief
June 5, 2017
Трудно ми е да оценя книгата, защото бидейки скандална с откровеността си, носи и много красота, поезия, стойност.
Не, историята не е пошла и порнографска, нито пък е цинична или грозна, напротив, книгата е написана с типичния английски изтънчен финес от отминалите времена и описва живота на една жена, която по стечение на обстоятелствата, е започнала да изкарва прехраната си чрез своето най- силно оръжие- своето тяло.
Загубила родителите си, Фани решава да търси щастието си в големия град. Едва в разцвета на моминството си, тя се изправя пред множество трудности, чрез които открива себе си. По детски наивното момиче, с чисти намерения, скоро се сблъсква с реалността и бива въведена в тънкостите на съблазняването и похотта.
Именно в този процес, Фани открива своята сексуалност и я използва както за собствено удовлетворение, така и за да извлича ползи от нея. Тя съчетава полезното с приятното.
В интерес на истината, Фани спечели моите симпатии. Независимо от ролята, която е изпълнявала, тя притежава своя морал. За мен проституцията не е свързана толкова с тялото, а с мислите, а тези на Фани не крият задкулисни намерения.
По принцип не си падам по еротични и любовни романи, но за мен беше любопитно да прочета подобна проза от 18в и не съжалявам за отделеното време. Самият език е наслада за сетивата. Бях впечатлена да чета за еротични сцени, описани толкова поетично и без капка вулгарност.
Не, историята не е пошла и порнографска, нито пък е цинична или грозна, напротив, книгата е написана с типичния английски изтънчен финес от отминалите времена и описва живота на една жена, която по стечение на обстоятелствата, е започнала да изкарва прехраната си чрез своето най- силно оръжие- своето тяло.
Загубила родителите си, Фани решава да търси щастието си в големия град. Едва в разцвета на моминството си, тя се изправя пред множество трудности, чрез които открива себе си. По детски наивното момиче, с чисти намерения, скоро се сблъсква с реалността и бива въведена в тънкостите на съблазняването и похотта.
Именно в този процес, Фани открива своята сексуалност и я използва както за собствено удовлетворение, така и за да извлича ползи от нея. Тя съчетава полезното с приятното.
В интерес на истината, Фани спечели моите симпатии. Независимо от ролята, която е изпълнявала, тя притежава своя морал. За мен проституцията не е свързана толкова с тялото, а с мислите, а тези на Фани не крият задкулисни намерения.
По принцип не си падам по еротични и любовни романи, но за мен беше любопитно да прочета подобна проза от 18в и не съжалявам за отделеното време. Самият език е наслада за сетивата. Бях впечатлена да чета за еротични сцени, описани толкова поетично и без капка вулгарност.
October 30, 2013
So I'm not really sure where to go here. I have a ton of thoughts but not really sure how best to organize.
On one hand, I am astounded by the blatent language and content (given that this was published in 1748). Some of it makes fifty shades look tame (although if you read my review of that, my complaint there was that it really wasn't as graphic as advertised).
I was also pleased (while simultaneously offended) at the progressive description of female sexuality. Especially after reading such criticisms as Moran and Greer, this is a book written by a man over 250 years ago in which he credits women with active sexual desire. However, I was offended by the fact that the portrayal did not come across as accurate. Instead, it really does read like a bad porno movie. You can just see the male perspective "you know she wants it, can't you tell she just really, really wants it" oozing out of the text and the implication is less that a woman would become a prostitute out of economic necessity and more that the women who are prostitutes are self-selected nymphomaniacs who just can't get enough sex.
The plot itself was ridiculously bad and contrived and full of conveniences. The heroine very easily stumbles across peepholes and is able to watch all sorts of scenes during which she is "educated" on the ways of the pleasure seekers.
Similarly, all of the prostitutes end up losing their virginity to men that are attractive and young and to whom they are immensely attracted. I thought the first episode in which Fanny almost loses her virginity to the fat old man to be most realistic and was disappointed that it wasn't consummated (or at least have one other girl with a similar story in which it was consummated). It was just way too disney-fied (if I can apply that term to something so clearly not disney-esque) with the love story angles on top of the prostitution. Along with this, the girls paramours (and long term "keepers") were also usually attractive and young or at least not disguisting. The only two men who are slightly unattractive are the chubby guy who gets off on masochistic acts and the small dicked guy who needs viagra. But ultimately, Fanny doesn't really mind either of these fellows.
The ending was also annoying in part because she was conveniently re-united with Charles (and now she's rich to boot), but also because despite the fact that the lesson here is really "living with Vice isn't so bad" but Cleland tries to change it to "Virtue is better". She does not choose virtue and is then rewarded; she has chosen vice, is rewarded monetarily and then is re-united with Charles and choses virtue simply because she wants no other man. It is just sort of "blechh-y", but I would imagine a necessary conclusion to this novel back when it was written.
There were two language points that I was surprised with: "Does" was used to describe the prostitutes and I wondered if this was a slang that somehow originated from or led to the term "john doe" (especially since men who frequent prostitutes are now called johns); and she describes being taken from behind while lying on her side as "spoon-fashion", which made me wonder if it originated the term "spooning". Just interesting to see sexual slang from modern times used in a book like this.
Finally, I was offended that Fanny was so put out by homosexuals. She describes it all as unnatural and wants to call in the police after witnessing a homo-erotic act. What? Really? She is fine with a guy hiring her to tie him up and beat him with switch until he bleeds and even allows this same dude to hit her clit with the switch but yet she is offended just because some guys want to have sex with each other? This just seemed a bit unbelievable. Especially given that I have heard that use of the "back door" was fairly common as a type of birth control; why would she find it so unnatural and offensive.
Overall it is an amazingly interesting book from a historical perspective. The smut isn't bad, but the plot is awful.
On one hand, I am astounded by the blatent language and content (given that this was published in 1748). Some of it makes fifty shades look tame (although if you read my review of that, my complaint there was that it really wasn't as graphic as advertised).
I was also pleased (while simultaneously offended) at the progressive description of female sexuality. Especially after reading such criticisms as Moran and Greer, this is a book written by a man over 250 years ago in which he credits women with active sexual desire. However, I was offended by the fact that the portrayal did not come across as accurate. Instead, it really does read like a bad porno movie. You can just see the male perspective "you know she wants it, can't you tell she just really, really wants it" oozing out of the text and the implication is less that a woman would become a prostitute out of economic necessity and more that the women who are prostitutes are self-selected nymphomaniacs who just can't get enough sex.
The plot itself was ridiculously bad and contrived and full of conveniences. The heroine very easily stumbles across peepholes and is able to watch all sorts of scenes during which she is "educated" on the ways of the pleasure seekers.
Similarly, all of the prostitutes end up losing their virginity to men that are attractive and young and to whom they are immensely attracted. I thought the first episode in which Fanny almost loses her virginity to the fat old man to be most realistic and was disappointed that it wasn't consummated (or at least have one other girl with a similar story in which it was consummated). It was just way too disney-fied (if I can apply that term to something so clearly not disney-esque) with the love story angles on top of the prostitution. Along with this, the girls paramours (and long term "keepers") were also usually attractive and young or at least not disguisting. The only two men who are slightly unattractive are the chubby guy who gets off on masochistic acts and the small dicked guy who needs viagra. But ultimately, Fanny doesn't really mind either of these fellows.
The ending was also annoying in part because she was conveniently re-united with Charles (and now she's rich to boot), but also because despite the fact that the lesson here is really "living with Vice isn't so bad" but Cleland tries to change it to "Virtue is better". She does not choose virtue and is then rewarded; she has chosen vice, is rewarded monetarily and then is re-united with Charles and choses virtue simply because she wants no other man. It is just sort of "blechh-y", but I would imagine a necessary conclusion to this novel back when it was written.
There were two language points that I was surprised with: "Does" was used to describe the prostitutes and I wondered if this was a slang that somehow originated from or led to the term "john doe" (especially since men who frequent prostitutes are now called johns); and she describes being taken from behind while lying on her side as "spoon-fashion", which made me wonder if it originated the term "spooning". Just interesting to see sexual slang from modern times used in a book like this.
Finally, I was offended that Fanny was so put out by homosexuals. She describes it all as unnatural and wants to call in the police after witnessing a homo-erotic act. What? Really? She is fine with a guy hiring her to tie him up and beat him with switch until he bleeds and even allows this same dude to hit her clit with the switch but yet she is offended just because some guys want to have sex with each other? This just seemed a bit unbelievable. Especially given that I have heard that use of the "back door" was fairly common as a type of birth control; why would she find it so unnatural and offensive.
Overall it is an amazingly interesting book from a historical perspective. The smut isn't bad, but the plot is awful.
September 11, 2017
Divided into two long letters written by Fanny to a female friend, this feels like a book of two halves. The first makes an intervention into the standard story of the innocent young woman, alone and without resources: Fanny makes her way to London, falls in love then loses her beloved Charles. Taken advantage of, and after a brief period of distress, rather than wringing her hands Fanny finds herself taking to her new-found role as a purchased mistress and rather good at both giving and taking sexual pleasure.
This is definitely the better half, and makes interesting reading alongside other C18th novels such as Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded and Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady. Fanny isn't extraordinarily beautiful, she is economically-disadvantaged yet is given some agency, something figured by the way in which she is the owner of a gaze which dwells lasciviously on the physical charms of her male lovers, putting them into the position of being looked at in a way which is usually reserved for women.
The second half is actually duller (unless you're reading this merely as a piece of 'pornography' in which case it's definitely more inventive!) as Fanny takes up residence in an upmarket brothel.
What makes this such a scandalous novel is the ending:
An antidote to the moralistic narratives about sin and punishment such as that we see in Hogarth's series of paintings, this is unexpectedly subversive for the way in which Fanny is both innocent and whore, and yet still gets her happy ending. It just would have been nice if there'd been a bit more story and fewer encounters with yet another massive penis in part two!
This is definitely the better half, and makes interesting reading alongside other C18th novels such as Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded and Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady. Fanny isn't extraordinarily beautiful, she is economically-disadvantaged yet is given some agency, something figured by the way in which she is the owner of a gaze which dwells lasciviously on the physical charms of her male lovers, putting them into the position of being looked at in a way which is usually reserved for women.
The second half is actually duller (unless you're reading this merely as a piece of 'pornography' in which case it's definitely more inventive!) as Fanny takes up residence in an upmarket brothel.
What makes this such a scandalous novel is the ending:
An antidote to the moralistic narratives about sin and punishment such as that we see in Hogarth's series of paintings, this is unexpectedly subversive for the way in which Fanny is both innocent and whore, and yet still gets her happy ending. It just would have been nice if there'd been a bit more story and fewer encounters with yet another massive penis in part two!
March 19, 2024
I'm actually surprised it took me this long to encounter Cleland's infamous pornographic novel, and the reason for doing so now is only because I wanted to be familiar with the original before diving into Francis King's Danny Hill: Memoirs of a Prominent Gentleman, a parody concerning Fanny's reprobate half-brother.
I hate to say this, but I didn't quite feel the wait was really worth it - the book is extremely repetitive, and there isn't much pleasure to be had from reading umpteen descriptions of the same sexual act, other than to see what additional euphemisms for the same body parts and activities he can come up with.
Cleland doesn't even really vary his itinerary much beyond the same standard missionary position - I believe there is ONE instance of variance of positions, but no really outré escapades, other than a tepid and brief experiment with sadomasochism. [There is also one short interlude in which Fanny witnesses an act of sodomy between two men, of which she heartily DISapproves].
Regardless, it was a fairly quick read once one adjusts to the archaic language, and now I can say I've read it - but I was expecting much more from all the hoopla over it.
I hate to say this, but I didn't quite feel the wait was really worth it - the book is extremely repetitive, and there isn't much pleasure to be had from reading umpteen descriptions of the same sexual act, other than to see what additional euphemisms for the same body parts and activities he can come up with.
Cleland doesn't even really vary his itinerary much beyond the same standard missionary position - I believe there is ONE instance of variance of positions, but no really outré escapades, other than a tepid and brief experiment with sadomasochism. [There is also one short interlude in which Fanny witnesses an act of sodomy between two men, of which she heartily DISapproves].
Regardless, it was a fairly quick read once one adjusts to the archaic language, and now I can say I've read it - but I was expecting much more from all the hoopla over it.
March 23, 2010
Hooray for smut!
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is widely considered the first pornographic novel and one of the most heavily banned books around. I thought it was an enjoyable read overall (though I found the first part/letter more entertaining than the second), but it really doesn't have much more storyline than modern-day porn. I also would have to agree with other reviewers who complained of it being rather penis-centric (the women just ooh and aah over all the amazing penises), hypocritical with regard to homosexual sex (women with women was fine; men with men, not so much), and overly chauvinistic (a woman can't be anything without a man...duh). However, I did really enjoy the character of Fanny Hill and think that her wily ways are enough to make every prude blush and make Samantha Jones (of Sex and the City fame) proud...even if the ending was a bit of a cop out (again with the chauvinism).
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is widely considered the first pornographic novel and one of the most heavily banned books around. I thought it was an enjoyable read overall (though I found the first part/letter more entertaining than the second), but it really doesn't have much more storyline than modern-day porn. I also would have to agree with other reviewers who complained of it being rather penis-centric (the women just ooh and aah over all the amazing penises), hypocritical with regard to homosexual sex (women with women was fine; men with men, not so much), and overly chauvinistic (a woman can't be anything without a man...duh). However, I did really enjoy the character of Fanny Hill and think that her wily ways are enough to make every prude blush and make Samantha Jones (of Sex and the City fame) proud...even if the ending was a bit of a cop out (again with the chauvinism).
May 24, 2017
Ако трябва да опиша с една дума "Мемоарите на една лека жена" тя ще бъде отрезвяваща. Отне ми доста време да прочета тези скромни няма и триста странички, но и ми даде много храна за размисъл. И една сериозна част от вината за това е дело на преводача.
Благодаря на целия екип на Deja Book, които решиха да издадат книгата в този й вид и най-вече на Слави Ганев за чудовищния труд, който е вложил, както в превода, така и в предговора и пространно обширните бележки, които съпътвстват цялата книга и които заслужено мога да нарека литературен, обществен, социален и психологически анализ.
"Мемоарте на една лека жена" крие под еротичната си повърхност много горчиви и дори грозни истини за обществото през 19 век. Романът поставя съвсем точно мястото на жената в това общество, както и отношението на жените към самото общество. В разгулния живот, който води Фани, тя открива своята сила. От плячка се превръща в изкусителна жена, която познава силата на своето тяло. Макар да се облагодетелства финансово от насладите, с които тялото й дарява многобройни и различни по възраст, социален статус и желания мъже, за нея съблазняването, любовната игра и всеки последвал сексуален акт са плод на нейната силно изразена сексуална натура и желание да се наслади на удоволствията, с които може да я дари другият пол.
Тази книга поставя някои много сериозни въпроси на масата, разнищва важни философски теории и прави дисекция на цяло едно общество, на цяла една епоха.
Историята на Фани Хил започва от наивността и невинността на едно невръсно момиче, което заминава от своето малко село в големия Лондон, минава през съзряването, осъзнаването на сексулаността като част от човешката природа, като инструмент на любовта, като средство за оцеляване, като средство за контрол и достига своята кулминация, за да ни покаже Фани като една млада и зряла независима жена с изразена феминистична натура, която е поела сама юздите на своя живот.
Отношението на Фани към секса и към нейните партньори отразява като огледало обществения живот през 19 век - нейното преклонение пред мъжката натура, възгледите за хомосексуалистите, фалшивото и лицемерно благоприличие, както и многообразните роли на жената.
"Мемоарите на една лека жена" е една от забранените и преследвани книги. Отхвърлена от едно пуританско общество, да не споменавам измислената англиканска църква. И макар съдържанието на книгата да е наистина силно еротично ,за порнография не може и да става дума. Езикът и стилът, с които е написана са толкова изящни и елегантни, изпълнени с метафори и алегории, че дори по този белег не може да бъде сложена в една категория със съвременните любовни романи.
"Мемоарите" дава много теми за размисъл и позволява на читателя да надникне в един отминал свят. Начинът, по който е поднесена на читателите е забележителен - не само с прекрасната си корица, която на всичкото отгоре е и твърда, но най-вече със съдържанието, което предлага - обширни бележки под линията, които хвърлят светлина върху множество иначе скрити заставки в историята, както и много извадки от литературна критика, научни трудове, статии и пр.
"Мемоарите" е като трън в едно куцо и осакатено общество - отхвърлена, нежелана и толкова неудобна, защото изразява още по-силно обществените недъзи.
http://readersense.blogspot.bg/2017/0...
Благодаря на целия екип на Deja Book, които решиха да издадат книгата в този й вид и най-вече на Слави Ганев за чудовищния труд, който е вложил, както в превода, така и в предговора и пространно обширните бележки, които съпътвстват цялата книга и които заслужено мога да нарека литературен, обществен, социален и психологически анализ.
"Мемоарте на една лека жена" крие под еротичната си повърхност много горчиви и дори грозни истини за обществото през 19 век. Романът поставя съвсем точно мястото на жената в това общество, както и отношението на жените към самото общество. В разгулния живот, който води Фани, тя открива своята сила. От плячка се превръща в изкусителна жена, която познава силата на своето тяло. Макар да се облагодетелства финансово от насладите, с които тялото й дарява многобройни и различни по възраст, социален статус и желания мъже, за нея съблазняването, любовната игра и всеки последвал сексуален акт са плод на нейната силно изразена сексуална натура и желание да се наслади на удоволствията, с които може да я дари другият пол.
Тази книга поставя някои много сериозни въпроси на масата, разнищва важни философски теории и прави дисекция на цяло едно общество, на цяла една епоха.
Историята на Фани Хил започва от наивността и невинността на едно невръсно момиче, което заминава от своето малко село в големия Лондон, минава през съзряването, осъзнаването на сексулаността като част от човешката природа, като инструмент на любовта, като средство за оцеляване, като средство за контрол и достига своята кулминация, за да ни покаже Фани като една млада и зряла независима жена с изразена феминистична натура, която е поела сама юздите на своя живот.
Отношението на Фани към секса и към нейните партньори отразява като огледало обществения живот през 19 век - нейното преклонение пред мъжката натура, възгледите за хомосексуалистите, фалшивото и лицемерно благоприличие, както и многообразните роли на жената.
"Мемоарите на една лека жена" е една от забранените и преследвани книги. Отхвърлена от едно пуританско общество, да не споменавам измислената англиканска църква. И макар съдържанието на книгата да е наистина силно еротично ,за порнография не може и да става дума. Езикът и стилът, с които е написана са толкова изящни и елегантни, изпълнени с метафори и алегории, че дори по този белег не може да бъде сложена в една категория със съвременните любовни романи.
"Мемоарите" дава много теми за размисъл и позволява на читателя да надникне в един отминал свят. Начинът, по който е поднесена на читателите е забележителен - не само с прекрасната си корица, която на всичкото отгоре е и твърда, но най-вече със съдържанието, което предлага - обширни бележки под линията, които хвърлят светлина върху множество иначе скрити заставки в историята, както и много извадки от литературна критика, научни трудове, статии и пр.
"Мемоарите" е като трън в едно куцо и осакатено общество - отхвърлена, нежелана и толкова неудобна, защото изразява още по-силно обществените недъзи.
http://readersense.blogspot.bg/2017/0...
Want to read
June 25, 2016Anne says "Cleland was the first writer to represent sexual acts as something beautiful, rather than vulgar or ridiculous." Her full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
January 12, 2021
Две звезди само от уважение към имената на големите автори, от които Борис Роканов е направил този отвратителен бълвоч - иначе е за минус две. Бахти якото, да си редактор на "Мемоарите на Фани Хил" от Джон Клеланд (пиратското издание от тъмните времена на 90-те, когато се издаваше квото и да е както и да е) и на всичкото отгоре така да се вдъхновиш, че след това да вземеш този текст за основа, да му нашаткаш вътре в добавка квото ти скимне от творчеството на Милър и Буковски и гордо да закичиш въпросния парцал с епитети като "проект на борис r", "свръхроман", "движение за свръхлитература", "да посочим смъртта на постмодернизма", "колаж" и прочее чекии. Много ми е интересно ако аз утре издам нещо от типа на "Заветът на Ктхулу - един проект на Бранимир S" и вътре наплякам произволно сглобени текстове от Лъвкрафт, Кинг и Баркър, па обявя смъртта на съвременния хорър с претенцията за създаване на "Движение за Хиперлитература", какъв ще бъде финалният резултат.
Ами не.
Всичките тия купешки надутости замазват факта, че преди двайсетина години се е пръкнало някакво книжле от кухо издателство, за което си прибрал едни пари и си излъгал други хора да финансират подобна употребявана тоалетна хартия. За такива неща трябва да се лежи в затвора, а вечер съкилийниците ти като се усамотят с теб да те карат да им чуруликаш избрани любими техни пасажи от книгата, докато ги забавляваш.
Ами не.
Всичките тия купешки надутости замазват факта, че преди двайсетина години се е пръкнало някакво книжле от кухо издателство, за което си прибрал едни пари и си излъгал други хора да финансират подобна употребявана тоалетна хартия. За такива неща трябва да се лежи в затвора, а вечер съкилийниците ти като се усамотят с теб да те карат да им чуруликаш избрани любими техни пасажи от книгата, докато ги забавляваш.
December 18, 2016
I have a thing where I MUST read controversial/banned books, and this one I HAD to read being that it was written in 1748! Controversial books written before America was even a country... I'm in. Not big on romance, and I definitely don't read erotica.
I went in thinking this would be amusingly tame and innocent, something like Moll Flanders or Vanity Fair with an R rating a bit ahead of it's time.
1963, the US let up on obscenity laws and amazing books were published for the public to read. This book is one of many that were able to to see the light of day legally, and I've found I've enjoyed most of these so far. Except this one.
This is the first where I felt there was no purpose except for a man who wanted to write a long winded fantasy as a woman. From there, he gives a misogynistic perspective about loss of virginity, easy women, and basically painfully drawn out sex scenes. Which is totally okay if that is your thing! I'm not judging.
While the writing is surprisingly fluid and reads well, the subject matter is 100% erotic. And at times funny. If there is anything about this book I did like, it was the description of anatomy and certain acts. Maypoles will never be the same. I read a few passages out loud to my boyfriend and mum, who both laughed with me.
I was a bit frowny at parts because the author writes from the perspective(s) of women enjoying a man taking advantage of them when they put up a fight (um, its rape period) but the men giving them such "pleasure" makes the deflowering act forgivable and the woman forever fond of her rapist. It's formulaic: innocent girl + interesting boy = curious but reluctant girl. Curious but reluctant girl + man overpowers girl = girl having feelings of guilt and feeling forever ruined... but enjoyed the act so much she can only ever lead a life now of ill-repute. Hence, the main character's exploits all take place in an upscale brothel.
I saw the book to the end. Wouldn't do it again. Historically amusing, came away with some vocabulary for 18th century anatomy. Awesome.
* I rate everything 5 stars to check off I've read them, unless I hate them. I'm lazy. ;)
I went in thinking this would be amusingly tame and innocent, something like Moll Flanders or Vanity Fair with an R rating a bit ahead of it's time.
1963, the US let up on obscenity laws and amazing books were published for the public to read. This book is one of many that were able to to see the light of day legally, and I've found I've enjoyed most of these so far. Except this one.
This is the first where I felt there was no purpose except for a man who wanted to write a long winded fantasy as a woman. From there, he gives a misogynistic perspective about loss of virginity, easy women, and basically painfully drawn out sex scenes. Which is totally okay if that is your thing! I'm not judging.
While the writing is surprisingly fluid and reads well, the subject matter is 100% erotic. And at times funny. If there is anything about this book I did like, it was the description of anatomy and certain acts. Maypoles will never be the same. I read a few passages out loud to my boyfriend and mum, who both laughed with me.
I was a bit frowny at parts because the author writes from the perspective(s) of women enjoying a man taking advantage of them when they put up a fight (um, its rape period) but the men giving them such "pleasure" makes the deflowering act forgivable and the woman forever fond of her rapist. It's formulaic: innocent girl + interesting boy = curious but reluctant girl. Curious but reluctant girl + man overpowers girl = girl having feelings of guilt and feeling forever ruined... but enjoyed the act so much she can only ever lead a life now of ill-repute. Hence, the main character's exploits all take place in an upscale brothel.
I saw the book to the end. Wouldn't do it again. Historically amusing, came away with some vocabulary for 18th century anatomy. Awesome.
* I rate everything 5 stars to check off I've read them, unless I hate them. I'm lazy. ;)
January 29, 2014
Se trata de uno de los libros más estrambóticos que existen.
Fanny Hill es un clásico de la literatura erótica, que ya provocó un gran revuelo en su publicación en 1748, llevándola incluso a censurarse su distribución durante dos siglos. La historia cuenta sin ningún pudor como Fanny, una hija de humildes campesinos, sufre la muerte de su familia y decide llegar a Londres a buscar una buena vida. Pero su inocencia será presa de mujeres sin escrúpulos que intentarán vender sus artes... No sólo Fanny disfrutará de este mundo nuevo para ella, sino que además sacará interesantes conclusiones.
Este libro va al grano: sexo. No se pierde en otros planteamientos de una trama más fuerte (aunque sí se consolidan algunos aspectos superficialmente), los encuentros sexuales ocupan casi todo el foco. También se incluyen algunos elementos más allá de lo aceptable en la época, como el S&M o la homosexualidad, siendo este relato un gran liberador de la mente libertina.
Lo que cabe destacar es la impresionante gama de vocabulario empleada, las metáforas para no referirse a lo que el lector está pensando. Es, de verdad, una fascinante prosa para plantear esta obra. Algunas novelas de ahora llamadas eróticas deberían aprender de Fanny Hill.
Pese al tono triste, pues Fanny muchas veces es engañada, existe un soberbio toque de humor en las descripciones que hacen a la novela hilarante, casi como si el autor quisiera reírse de sus espectadores. La hilaridad es otro de los puntos que me han convencido.
No sé si lo recomendaría, pues el delirante mundo de Fanny Hill puede ser ofensivo para muchos. Pero es un libro tan curioso que merece dedicarle una lectura. Mas que para excitarse, para reírse.
Fanny Hill es un clásico de la literatura erótica, que ya provocó un gran revuelo en su publicación en 1748, llevándola incluso a censurarse su distribución durante dos siglos. La historia cuenta sin ningún pudor como Fanny, una hija de humildes campesinos, sufre la muerte de su familia y decide llegar a Londres a buscar una buena vida. Pero su inocencia será presa de mujeres sin escrúpulos que intentarán vender sus artes... No sólo Fanny disfrutará de este mundo nuevo para ella, sino que además sacará interesantes conclusiones.
Este libro va al grano: sexo. No se pierde en otros planteamientos de una trama más fuerte (aunque sí se consolidan algunos aspectos superficialmente), los encuentros sexuales ocupan casi todo el foco. También se incluyen algunos elementos más allá de lo aceptable en la época, como el S&M o la homosexualidad, siendo este relato un gran liberador de la mente libertina.
Lo que cabe destacar es la impresionante gama de vocabulario empleada, las metáforas para no referirse a lo que el lector está pensando. Es, de verdad, una fascinante prosa para plantear esta obra. Algunas novelas de ahora llamadas eróticas deberían aprender de Fanny Hill.
Pese al tono triste, pues Fanny muchas veces es engañada, existe un soberbio toque de humor en las descripciones que hacen a la novela hilarante, casi como si el autor quisiera reírse de sus espectadores. La hilaridad es otro de los puntos que me han convencido.
No sé si lo recomendaría, pues el delirante mundo de Fanny Hill puede ser ofensivo para muchos. Pero es un libro tan curioso que merece dedicarle una lectura. Mas que para excitarse, para reírse.
March 23, 2009
I had no idea when I read this that people could be so naughty "back then". Heh. I am thinking I wouldn't even blink at the book now and would probably grumble at the lack of plot - but when I was a teen and I read this - it was shocking and kind of funny.
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