Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
by John Cleland
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Read in January, 1965
recommended to erik by:
Don Ruerecommends it for: boys in middle school
During the two years at Lincoln Junior High School in Park Ridge, Illinois I got involved with a fellow who belonged to a Sea Scouts troops across the border at a Park District fieldhouse in Chicago and would spend weekends with him and his associates working on constructing a sailboat. One of the other fellows, name now forgotten, who lived in that Edison Park neighborhood invited about four of us over to his house after a day's work to see something interesting.
Escorting us up to their th...more
Escorting us up to their th...more
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Read in June, 1999
The modern literature has various roots and one of the modern erotic literature is Fanny Hill. The main character is girl named Fanny who was forced to earn money by prostitution by necessity in very tender age. She was exploring the all sides of her new employment and when she overcame her first shock she got to be used to is and even she tried to find her true love but it backfired her in a way. However the book has sort of happy end. The plotline is mixed with the erotic scenes very skilfully...more
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Read in March, 2008
It weirds me out that there is a Modern Library Classics edition of this (also, a Penguin Popular Classics -- it's good that they have an imprint that distinguishes this from Boring, Overlooked, and/or Esoteric Classics). For those Goodreaders who really care about editions, mine's the one, somehow forgotten by the arbiters of Goodtaste, that says "After 214 years of suppression... THIS AND ONLY THIS IS THE COMPLETE $6.00 PUTNAM EDITION MAKING TODAY'S HEADLINES [caps totally not mine].&qu...more
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recommends it for:
emily and other aficionadas of filthy, filthy, lovely filthy filth
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...more
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...more
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Read in January, 2008
I downloaded this audiobook off librivox.org (free and legal). While no doubt, this book was quite sensational when first published, it is now the literary equivalent of skinamax. What is most interesting about it to me, is that it is (a) written by a man, and (b) mostly read by men in audio. Be that as it may, the male view of female sexuality in this book is both horrifying and oddly liberating, as it attributes desire to the feminine, while still portraying her as purely dependant, and often ...more
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Read in February, 2008
In addition to two pages (in my edition) that had blatant formatting errors, making the text difficult at best to read, the book itself was in several ways hypocritical. For example, the "intimate" scenes between two (or more) women in the novel were passed by as natural or innocent while the one (at the end) between two men was vilified and thought unnatural (despite being described in detail). Also, the ending was completely contrived, predictable, and unbelievable. Clearly written b...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2008
I suppose this book was pioneering and cutting-edge for it's time and I give credit for that. As far as Erotica goes, I've read better...but I've also read far, far worse.
I will say that I was impressed by how well Cleland encapsulated the female libido--far better than DH Lawrence ever could have done.
I'm surprised in the current neo-fascist, millenial cocoon of modern U.S. post 9/11 society that this work (and many others) hasn't been placed on the chopping block again for banni...more
I will say that I was impressed by how well Cleland encapsulated the female libido--far better than DH Lawrence ever could have done.
I'm surprised in the current neo-fascist, millenial cocoon of modern U.S. post 9/11 society that this work (and many others) hasn't been placed on the chopping block again for banni...more
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Read in November, 2007
I picked this up at my Big Box Bookstore off of a Banned Books Table in October, fully expecting the sort of pornography described on the back to be of the ilk of Lady Chatterley's Lover, shocking for the era but wholly dull for today.
I was proven wrong by page thirteen.
Entertaining and pornographic, almost liberating in Fanny's entire devotion to sexuality and her contentment at her choices in life.
I was proven wrong by page thirteen.
Entertaining and pornographic, almost liberating in Fanny's entire devotion to sexuality and her contentment at her choices in life.
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Read in March, 2005
This was assigned for a class. Who knew erotica could be so boring! I ended up skimming through most of it to get AWAY from the sex scenes because they were so overexplained and redundant! I b.s.-ed my way through the paper I had to write on it. Explicit? Yes. Shocking? Sometimes. Unfathomably sleep inducing? Absolutely! Do I hate it when people answer their own questions? Totally!
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Read in December, 2008
recommended to Havi by:
leah!recommends it for: jeanne
i absolutely loved fanny hill. at first the language was just hilarious. i found myself reading passages aloud to people. by the end, i didn't want it to end. despite the many, very graphic sexual descriptions, the author remains honest and willing. the whole thing is written as a sort of confessional anyway. if you like erotic lit, this is one of the first and arguably the best.
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Read in November, 2007
Suprisingly explicit for the era, the plot is interesting and the scenes steamy, even by today's standards. The prose may leave something to be desired, but for a dive into erotica this novel delivers. Check out Andrew Davies' phenomenal new miniseries for an adaptation that, I dare say, improves upon the original text.
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Written in the 1748, this is my far the most exotic, pornographic novel I've ever encountered! I actually listened to this as a book on tape as I drove 10-hours from Houston to Marfa. The language of the novel is archaic, but it's really, really dirty. Totally worth it!
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This is an absolutely fantastic book, I read it after watching the BBC dramatisation. The one thing I love about this book is that you have a male author describing a female orgasm, which is he does rather well. I love it and would recommend this to anybody I know.
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Read in November, 2004
1748 erotica that epitomizes the "man writes/creates a woman whose job it is to embody his fantasies" trend. And yet there's something definitively homo about Cleland's obsession with - and elaborate descriptions of - the penis, that "grand machine"...
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2008
Another required reading title for my english Lit class. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised! However, this is not for the prude at heart as the best way I could describe it is 18th century softcore porn. I couldn't put it down!
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This was great! Much better than carrying around a copy of Penthouse Letters, especially in 8th grade. I was "doing a paper on censorship."
The same paper taught me Henry Miller *should* be banned--for being boring.
The same paper taught me Henry Miller *should* be banned--for being boring.
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well, it's entertaining! The sex scenes are slightly comical because of the metaphors used (machine, machine, machine), but I suppose they work well enough. Who doesn't like a good sex scene?
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Read in February, 2008
The older style of writing is beautiful. While this book was racy, it was so well-written you would have thought you were reading a Oliver Twist rather than some girl on girl action.
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I read this for a class on Gothic horror and the grotesque. Which, in retrospect, probably ruined the book for me as under normal circumstances I'd have given this a higher rating.
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Interesting that the narrator is EXTREMELY repulsed and calls the cops when she encounters two gay men, but meanwhile enjoys prostitution, orgies, S&M, adultery, lesbians...
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