Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

by John Cleland and John. Cleland

Book Overview

Peter Sabor presents both the first critical edition and the first accurate, wholly unexpurgated text of the most famous erotic novel in English, better known as Fanny Hill.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199540233
• ISBN13: 9780199540235
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Sultry Tale

This is a great book for close literary examination. There is a ton to write about and it's an exciting read! For introduction courses on sexuality this novel is a short touch on issues that are expanded on in other pieces. Although the title implies Memoirs this is more of a single story about the experience of a women entering the sex industry.

Va-Voom!

I'd always been curious about this one, ever since the scene in the film The Impossible Years where the younger sister's eyes pop (along with her bubble gum bubble) as she reads it. All I can say is, if you're looking for beautifully written erotica that stands up to the test of time (read: It'll turn on even us 21st century, uncensored folks), this is for you. Enjoy!

ENJOYABLE READ ON SEVERAL LEVELS

I have always been rather fond of this work. Not only is it well written, in a Victorian way, but it is a very nice "dirty book" to boot. There is never really anything crass or gross in the book, the author's use of the language sees to that. The story is certainly realistic, there is humor and a certain sadness all at one time. I am old enough to be able to remember when this particular work was not available in the United States. Thank goodness those days are over. We did miss a lot of purely good writing in those days. I am not at all sure if this one is appropriate for a High School Lit. class, but is certainly worth the read and the study for the more mature reader. On the other hand, the work is certainly a lot less graphic than some of the material the kids have ready access at any time. All in all I have to recommend this one. It is interesting and certainly gives us a good lesson in writing.

Lascivious! Unbelievable! An Erotic Literary Classic

I once reviewed Matthew Lewis' 1796 novel "The Monk" and said that it should be rated "R". Well, having just had the experience (and it is an experience) of reading John Cleland's 1748-9 novel, "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," everything else just seems like children's literature. Cleland's "Memoirs" was simultaneously reviled and a best seller, declared obscene and yet continued to be published illegally througout the 18th century. In the aftermath of the public frenzy for and against Samuel Richardson's ultra-famous novels "Pamela" and "Clarissa" and Henry Fielding's equally famous responses, "Shamela," "Joseph Andrews," and "Tom Jones," Cleland's novel strikes out into wholly uncharted moral and aesthetic territory. Similarly to Defoe's "Moll Flanders," Cleland's novel begins with its heroine, Fanny Hill, an innocent, uneducated country girl, thrown at a very early age into the cruel world of London and forced into a life of prostitution. As an innocent virgin, the madam whose house she live in is saving Fanny for a noble customer whom they expect daily, but learns about sexual commerce by watching other prostitutes in the house. Eloping with a beautiful, wealthy young man named Charles before she engages in any sexual activity, the novel concerns Fanny's sexual awakenings and her life with and without her first love, Charles. The way that the novel refigures fidelity in the relationship between Fanny and Charles is astounding. Cleland's master-stroke, if you will, linguistically, is to write a whole-heartedly pornographic novel and couch everything in such a rich variety of metaphors. Graphic scenarios can be found on almost every page, but there is a marked and remarkable absence of graphic language. Structurally, Cleland's plotting of Fanny Hill's escapades is exquisitely balanced and even-handed. Morally and aesthetically, "Memoirs" comes straight out of the strain of 18th century moral philosophy associated by turns, with Shaftesbury and David Hume. From Shaftesbury, Cleland takes the idea that aesthetics and morality should be judged on an equal form in works of art. From Hume, he takes the radical stance that vices and luxuries are not inherently evil, and even acceptable when not carried to extremes. Cleland makes judicious use of these structural and philosophical elements in creating one of the strongest and most liberated heroines in English literature. Among other points of interest in the novel, there is the prevalence and even propriety of expressions of feminine desire, agency, power, and control over self and circumstances. Aside from her first entrance into London and her various periods as a kept-mistress, Fanny Hill is educated by the prostitute Phoebe, and the procuress Mrs. Cole to be an independent, self-regulating subject. Related to this is the rather revolutionary notion inferred that sexual education predicates all other sources of knowledge, and is at heart, the basis and foundation of human interaction, at least in

Powerfully erotic writing enhanced by Fielding's sensuality

I would pay to hear Emma Fielding read the dictionary. If anything is pure viagra, it is her wondrous, beautiful voice.