If this novel hadn't been written in the 18th century, I would have rated it two stars. It has no real plot, it is basically just a list of (non)random sexual encounters. It does, however, offer a very amusing and (at least to me) surprising documentation of the fact that even back then women were already seen as sexual beings who can enjoy sex and even take control of it. In many ways, this is a very feminist piece of writing with an (unfortunately even by today's standards) admirable lack of judgmental remarks. What is also very entertaining are the countless ways Cleland thinks of to describe the numerous sexual encounters in the novel. 50 Shades et al sure could learn a thing or two about style and vocabulary from him.

The dirtiest classic book I've ever read.

What man wrote this? Vad var detta ens? Smårolig, ett tappert försök till glimten i ögat men faller snabbt. Kvinnor önskar att tas av män och enda sättet är med smärta. Tappade intresse direkt.

fun. funny.

Ever wanted to read porn from England circa the 1740's?

I picked up a copy of this, thinking that anachronistic descriptions of overly prude sexual encounters would be humorous. I was dead wrong here.

~~

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure was "out there". Imagine the dirtiest filthy disgusting porn available in our culture. Double that and put it into a written format with archaic wording. Needless to say, I was surprised and did not finish this book.

Fanny Hill is a country girl who's parents have died. She moved to London in an effort to rise above her status. Day one in her new life, she is swept into a brothel under the premise of good work. Unknowing that she is being pimped, she has her first encounter with a man. Fanny survives this encounter, and slowly grows to look forward to her work.

Hill was written by Cleland when he was stuck in a debtors prison. It is nothing more than overly descriptive porn, masked as erotic literature.

I originally considered placing some sample text here, but as the novelty of the story wore off and I began to feel dirty, I opted against it.

I do not believe in banning books, but can EASILY see why this book had been banned in a number of countries for most of its existence. I was offended at many points in this book, and that is damn hard feat to accomplish. You offend enough people and it is bound to happen. There was no attempt by Cleland to hide his intentions.

I would not say that this is something that people should not read. Instead, just be informed. If you are not into graphic erotica already, this is not something that you should pick up. It appears to be something that only a seasoned individual in the genre will enjoy.

For anyone still interested who is not already seasoned, I suggest checking out the Wikipedia page. I kinda wish I had.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hill

This story has also apparently been remade into a number of movies, spin offs, references in other media.

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xpost RawBlurb.com

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 [b:Delta of Venus|11041|Delta of Venus|Anaïs Nin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388793271s/11041.jpg|1369571], 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.

...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.

You're welcome.

I find it important to read a classic every now and then, and this certainly was one that should be read, at least by anyone writing explicit fanfic today. For starters, it has a rather beautiful 164 word sentence describing the nether regions of a gentleman, and that in itself is an accomplishment. There's a lot of sex, and oddly enough it doesn't get as monotonous as you'd think. The main character goes through men and decadence with such ease that you end up feeling breathless. And then, just as you've gotten lulled up in the endless penetration and debauchery, the main character witnesses two homosexuals and embarks on an absolutely livid rant on their disgusting and illegal abnormality. It was jarring, but then again I'd perhaps momentarily forgotten that the book was written by a man in the 18th century. Took me a long time to get back to the book and finish it, and whatever little was left was thoroughly tainted by that one sudden rant.