Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

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Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

3.29 of 5 stars 3.29 · rating details · 3,709 ratings · 301 reviews

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, better known as Fanny Hill, is one of the most notorious texts in English literature. As recently as 1963 an unexpurgated edition was the subject of a trial, yet in the eighteenth century Jon Cleland's open celebration of sexual enjoyment was a best selling novel.

Fanny's story, as she falls into prostitution and then rises to respectability,...more

Paperback, 176 pages

Published 2000 by Wordsworth Editions Limited (first published 1748)

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Feb 22, 2011 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, particularly-drunk-reviews, reading-through-history, smut

Wife's away on an overnight business trip in Florida, so I felt it was appropriate to engage in that time-honored activity for husbands left to their own devices: porn.

Update: halfway through, it's okay so far. It's not exactly hot, but it's not unacceptably un-hot, either. It can be fairly entertaining, at least; I highlighted the euphemism "red-headed champion," which is legitimately funny. It's hotter than Moll Flanders, anyway, to which it's clearly somewhat of a response - although that's n...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Christina Stind rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-2006-edition, 2009, fiction, random-picks, 1001-books-2008-edition, 1001-books-2010-edition, 1294-books-all-3-lists

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, on...more

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Oct 14, 2007 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: emily and other aficionadas of filthy, filthy, lovely filthy filth

Shelves: love-and-other-indoor-sports

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...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Charity rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Sexy Folk

Shelves: 1001books, brit-lit

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)...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: classic erotica buffs

Shelves: classics, porn

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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Feb 25, 2011 Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 red...more

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Dec 12, 2008 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mildly interesting but generally non-creative smut from the 1700s--and when I say smut I mean it. There's virtually no plot to this book, and it's very penis-centric... obviously written by a man. You might find it vaguely amusing.

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Jan 28, 2008 Gabrielle is currently reading it · review of another edition

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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Feb 24, 2008 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 by a man pr...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Raisu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 18th-century, novels, read-in-2013

This was worth a read for the hundred and one ways to euphemistically describe intercourse and genitalia alone. The way Cleland adopts metaphors, similes, and analogues and then gleefully runs them to the ground is delightful indeed. It would be fun to properly analyse the source areas for his metaphors, and no doubt someone has done just that at some point. The most frequent, I think, were military/fighting terms - you know: dueling, conquering, battling, surrendering and all variations thereof...more

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Dec 03, 2012 Adam Stevenson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland (1748)
Fanny Hill is a pornographic novel that was banned for years and can now be bought in a mass produced paperback under a classical imprint.

What is it that has made this book stand the test of time, overcome its unruly provenance and gain a certain amount of respectability? Is it the plot, the writing, the characterisation or some other quality that has managed this feat?

Starting with the plot, it is in some ways a pretty typical pica...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Erin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Gosh but Fanny Hill has A LOT of sex in it. Sex between men and women, women and women, men and men, partners of varying ages, mental and physical abilities, in different positions and in different environmental conditions. It is in short, a novel without a plot, but instead a collection of events that allow for the graphic narration of sex. So many mentions of exploits, things gorged and red, thrusts, sighs and wetness. In fact, I’ve included a word cloud so you can see just how much of the tex...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Onaida rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Victorian enthusiasts

I thought this was a novel about a young woman surviving the harrowing problems of seventeenth century England through prostitution. As it turns out, I was surprised when, barely a few pages into the first chapter, there is (poorly described, might I add) girl-on-girl sex between the main character and an older prostitute named Phoebe. But it took 200 more pages, plus a quick look at Wikipedia, to disabuse me of the notion that I would find an uplifting and difficult look at Victorian English so...more I thought this was a novel about a young woman surviving the harrowing problems of seventeenth century England through prostitution. As it turns out, I was surprised when, barely a few pages into the first chapter, there is (poorly described, might I add) girl-on-girl sex between the main character and an older prostitute named Phoebe. But it took 200 more pages, plus a quick look at Wikipedia, to disabuse me of the notion that I would find an uplifting and difficult look at Victorian English society. No, turns out that (or something like that) is to be found in Moll Flanders. Whoops. I just read a 350-page Victorian porn novel.

It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. I'm not going to spend time abusing the excess of adjectives: that was just the style of the time. And it was supposed to be erotic literature, so I'll forgive the sham of a plot. Those aren't the problems. The main issue I had was with the descriptions: I thought erotic novels were supposed to be arousing. Was I wrong? It's just that there's not much variety in the types of sex (almost always heterosexual, almost always penetrative) and none of it is that realistic. For that matter, there is no mention at all of the clitoris - how on Earth is it possible for Fanny to be going into such paroxysms of pleasure if no attention is paid to that most erogenous of female body parts?

Well, yeah. I'm getting off that topic now. Besides the sex, though, I found other things a bit remarkable: like the fact that every brothel she works in during her Satyricon-like adventures is relatively clean and organized, and that every pimp she has is somewhat human, and that she never has a really negative experience with a john - or a 'spark', as she calls them. Prostitution is really romanticized to a surprising degree, even with all her spouting of virtue at the end; and yes, I know, it's an erotic novel and can take liberties, but honestly!

Other than that, it's fun to read if you want to know how they spoke back then, and you want a novel that combines porn with unintentional humor, completely (and refreshingly) shamelessly, especially for the age. Expect a surfeit of descriptive words, ridiculous descriptions of coital interactions, and sexual escapades that will go on for pages. Do not expect to find this novel very erotic, but you might get a laugh at the descriptions, and surely you'll find the depictions of 'kinks'(the brief flagellation experiment) and L/G/B interactions interesting, with strange double standards between the two.Whatever you think of all of this, you should still read it eventually. It's not great, but it's free and a good way to learn new words while having a laugh. (less)

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Jul 20, 2012 Veerle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: movie

‘Fanny Hill, memoirs of a woman of pleasure’ is an eighteenth century erotic novel by John Cleland and is historically known as one of the first English prose pornographies. The author was arrested for writing such a scandalous book, and was only released on the promise he would never write such a thing again. The book was put on the forbidden literature list en wasn’t taken off until the 1960’s.

Most noticeable in this story is that sex is something women can appreciate. In that age and even mor...more ‘Fanny Hill, memoirs of a woman of pleasure’ is an eighteenth century erotic novel by John Cleland and is historically known as one of the first English prose pornographies. The author was arrested for writing such a scandalous book, and was only released on the promise he would never write such a thing again. The book was put on the forbidden literature list en wasn’t taken off until the 1960’s.

Most noticeable in this story is that sex is something women can appreciate. In that age and even more so during the following Victorian period, sex was something a woman should endure, not enjoy. The women of pleasure in this story all seem to be greatly pleased their encounters, even at questionable times. That said, the author clearly has some trouble with female sexuality, particularly when it comes to virginity. The erotic scenes also become repetitive about halfway through the book.

The story isn't particularly riveting either. Rape, abuse and power struggles are a common theme. She and the other girls of pleasure she meets have all been raped, but they often describe these encounters as pleasurable or seem proud that the men ‘couldn’t contain themselves’ because of their great beauty. All of the women have sex with their rapists again and seem to enjoy it. Although by modern standards Fanny endures a lot, she doesn't seem bothered or affected by what happens to her. The only thing on her mind, while going through a string of seemingly abusive men, is finding her great love Charles who took her virginity after knowing her for a few hours when she was fifteen years old. When one opportunity falls away, another magically comes along. Even her misfortunes are cast as the most fortunate of circumstances. (view spoiler)

In conclusion, although this book is important because of its barrier-breaking subject and the - for that time - scandalous notion that women can enjoy sex, I wouldn’t recommend reading it for other reasons. Although if you’re thinking about reading Fifty Shades of Grey, this is still your better option.(less)

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Jun 19, 2012 Daniel Namie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Having very curiously and attentively compared the size of that enormous machine, which did not appear, at least to my fearful imagination, less than my wrist, and at least three of my hand-full long, to that of the tender small part of me which was framed to receive it, I could not conceive its being possible to afford it entrance without dying, perhaps in the greatest pain, since she well knew that even a finger thrust in there hurt me beyond bearing."

--By John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hil...more "Having very curiously and attentively compared the size of that enormous machine, which did not appear, at least to my fearful imagination, less than my wrist, and at least three of my hand-full long, to that of the tender small part of me which was framed to receive it, I could not conceive its being possible to afford it entrance without dying, perhaps in the greatest pain, since she well knew that even a finger thrust in there hurt me beyond bearing."

--By John Cleland, Memoirs of Fanny Hill

John Cleland masterful portrayal of a woman of pleasure reads like poetic dictation but with the content of contemporary pornography. However tasteful the prose, “enormous machine” is just a poetic description of a hugh cock, the novel towards the end drags from one sexual episode to another. Granted the first 100 pages are nothing other than pure erotic ecstasy, but like the novelty of a new porn, the lust starts to fade and the yearning for the end become mildly impatience.

Besides from my impatience as a reader, the content gave insightful perspective in the mind of a highly sexual woman. The great advantage Fanny Hill gave to men who read the book are the apparent perils and “great pains” women endure in sexual relationships. Now Fanny Hill was a prostitute, but the attempts she makes to have somewhat monogamous sexual relationship with a man is universal even in today’s standards.

Today’s standards give women sexual freedom and social acceptances to engage in monogamous or polygamous relationships. Fanny Hill, a woman who was extremely progressive for her time, learned the power she held over men and the power men held over her. She was a woman who listened to her conscious. Who engaged and satisfied her sexual appetite and pleased her partner. Fanny Hill looked upon sex as an art to learn, to be educated by, to practice freely and openly. Sex to Fanny Hill was an intimate act, of not only self-discovery, but of self-expression.

I commend Fanny Hill for her art and for expressing her high limbo tastefully and applicably. She used her sexuality to form a profession. She satisfied men's exotic fantasies as well as her own. Fanny Hill knew who she was and acted appropriately. Her endurance to cleverly negotiate the dangers of being a woman of pleasure is to be acknowledged and appreciated. And I thank John Cleland for writing and publishing this novel. To note, like pornography, "The Memoirs of Fanny Hill" should be read with one’s sexual partner, because when the moments strikes you while reading the explicit words, it is best to have a partner near by to satisfy the unavoidable lust for touch, intimacy, and intercourse.
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Apr 18, 2012 Thom Swennes rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Positively breathless! I have read enough erotica, both antiquate and contemporary, but Fanny Hill by John Cleland rivals them all. I can well imagine that its publication (in two parts) in 1748 and 1749 caused quite a stir. I can’t help feeling a pity for the heroine for being a victim of society and her times. The life she led wasn’t unique, as women of all ages have often followed that road, but putting it into print and enlightening it from the shadows of civilized society must have shocked...more

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Jan 10, 2012 Reid rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Notwithstanding the fact that this book was published in 1748 nor the fact that one might choose to call it "erotica" this is, in fine, a dirty book. It is neither more nor less than that, really. I don't know if it is possible to write a truly literary work about sex; it is too repetitive an act and the anatomy of it too similar from one person to another (within the same sex, that is) to admit of much in the way of variety or interest beyond the prurient. Not that Mr. Cleland does not give it...more Notwithstanding the fact that this book was published in 1748 nor the fact that one might choose to call it "erotica" this is, in fine, a dirty book. It is neither more nor less than that, really. I don't know if it is possible to write a truly literary work about sex; it is too repetitive an act and the anatomy of it too similar from one person to another (within the same sex, that is) to admit of much in the way of variety or interest beyond the prurient. Not that Mr. Cleland does not give it the old college try. His various descriptions of male and female anatomy range from the ridiculous to the sublime, though they never reach the truly poetic.

Don't get me wrong, I am aware that many authors from Anais Nin to Roth to Nabokov to Henry Miller have included magnificent and quite accomplished descriptions of sexual acts of great variety in their works and that these are truly works of merit. But this book really is purely for the purpose of describing several acts of what is actually rather pedestrian heterosexual sex and, to be honest, that just gets plain boring after awhile if one is not a teenage boy (having been one quite some time ago, I am fairly certain this is true).

It is also rather laughable that Cleland writes as a woman here, since he seems to be rather ignorant of the parts of a woman which truly lead to sexual pleasure. I find it amusing, as well, that he flatters him and those of his sex by asserting that women, even those who do it for a living, are constantly panting for the touch of a man's hands and organs. And what organs! Except for one unfortunate man (who also quite conveniently has a deplorable personality) all of the penises described in this book are quite gargantuan and ready for work. How modest of John to attribute such acumen to so many of us.

Perhaps even more amusing is the high dudgeon that Fanny, our licentious narrator, finds herself in when she witnesses an act of (gasp!) homosexual sex between two men. She is in a state of such moral outrage that she proposes to denounce the men to the whole inn in which she is staying and is kept from it only by the expedient of an unfortunate accident which knocks her senseless. A little silly, isn't it, John, for a whore to deplore this act so thoroughly? It also strikes me as odd that Fanny has no familiarity with anal or oral sex herself, nor do any of her fellow inmates at the houses she works from seem to, as if they were the most Calvinist prostitutes alive. Mr. Cleland might have been sad had he known what he was missing!

Ah, well, it's all good fun. That this is sometimes esteemed a classic work is a bit of a head-scratcher. I like a dirty story as well as the next guy and few are the novels for adults that don't contain at least some sexual content; I would miss it if it were cut from them. But this is, as I said, your run-of-the-mill dirty book and not much more than that.(less)

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Apr 26, 2011 Bookworm rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Memoirs Of Fanny Hill has been called the first pornographic book and it is one of the most banned books ever.
I stumbled upon Memoirs Of Fanny Hill on my iTouch Classic Books app. Would I consider it a classic? I'd consider it classic porn, which is a genre I've never read.

The story is written in two parts. In the first part of the story we get to know Frances Hill and how she became a prostitute at a young age. She was born to a poor family in Liverpool. At age fifteen, both her parents died...more Memoirs Of Fanny Hill has been called the first pornographic book and it is one of the most banned books ever.
I stumbled upon Memoirs Of Fanny Hill on my iTouch Classic Books app. Would I consider it a classic? I'd consider it classic porn, which is a genre I've never read.

The story is written in two parts. In the first part of the story we get to know Frances Hill and how she became a prostitute at a young age. She was born to a poor family in Liverpool. At age fifteen, both her parents died of smallpox. She was brought to London by a family friend and is abandoned there. Fanny is looking to work as a housemaid and stumbles unknowingly upon a whorehouse run by a Mrs. Brown who takes Fanny in and tells her her 'maidenhead' will fetch a good price.

Fanny continues to live the life of a prostitute, but as time passes, she becomes smarter. In the second half of the story we see a more experienced Fanny. By the end of the story, she is nineteen years old.

Throughout the book she recollects her many lovers and sexual encounters. There is plenty of sex in the plot. Same sex partners, light bondage and lashings, to a full-on orgy are all in the storyline. Voyeurism was a sort of past-time for a few of the characters in this story, they always seemed to find a peep-hole available. It's all very scandalous and shocking, especially considering this book was written in 1749. (way before my beloved Pride & Prejudice)

This was a spicy read, even by today's standards. I'm surprised that he wrote the story without any outright vile language.
I found the writing to be well done. John Cleland would definitely give some erotic fiction writers a run for their money. However, I did laugh at some of the word use. The author uses the funniest names while referring to the male form. The engine of love assaults, enormous machine, IT, staff of love and object of terror and delight, just to name a few.
He describes female pubic hair as the richest sable fur in the universe. I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud while reading that!

All in all, this was an unexpected read for me and I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. I finished it in two sittings. It was bawdy and scandalous and I did wonder what would become of Fanny.

I read that author John Cleland and the publishers and printer of Fanny Hill were arrested shortly after publication. The novel of course, continued to sell in pirated forms. Sex does sell, no matter what century we're in.

read my full review here

http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/201...
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Mar 18, 2011 Helynne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is another one of those infamous banned and “dirty books” that middle school kids have been reading on the sly for generations. I must admit that for an 18th-century work, this novel is pretty heavy on the eroticism. The only thing that would allow it to fly beneath the radar of 21st-century notions of pornography is its somewhat restrained language. That is, although some pretty heavy sexual activity is described in details, euphemisms abound. For example, the male organ is always referred...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Emily May rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily May by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Shelves: classics, 1001-read, 2012, erotica

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 an...more 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!(less)

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Mar 14, 2012 Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Do you ever have those books where you have always wanted to read them and then you read them and you love them? This is one of them. I had heart of this book and I must say that I REALLY enjoyed it. It was beautifully written. I am a fan of erotica and I admire authors that can write it effectively. However, this was a great category. Descriptions were poetic and perfect. I felt as if I were in the bedroom. Every scene where the characters make love is treated so well... dripping with juicy det...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Stephanie "Jedigal" rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Literary masochists....

Recommended to Stephanie "Jedigal" by: 1001

Shelves: 1001-books, kindle-on-my, historical

Sigh. Boring. Repetitive. Boring. Repetitive. Thank heaven it wasn't tooooo long! Still too much time spent checking off another 1001 title. I've been heavy on the classics, since so many can be acquired electronically for free. This is certainly "classic" - classic porn (plot skimpy as a g-string, just enough to hold the sex scenes together), a lot of what would later (POST 1700s) become classic pulp-romance metaphors, classic pandering to an audience (yes, says the male author to the male read...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Lil' Grogan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: erotica, humour, lol, 3

Read this out of curiosity what passed for pornographic in the 18th century. Was pretty shocked that it still passes as erotica today: lots of descriptive sex, the plot is about how to get them into different sexual situations, tack-on romance, strangely uptight views, and it can take half a page for the author to tell you that the man lifted her skirts. Thought it was pretty funny the ideas that still persist today: "Oh, you're soooo big, you'll NEVER fit!", the straight man's view that lesbian...more

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Feb 27, 2009 Charlotte rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 26, 2007 Lisbeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classicliterature

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.

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Nov 29, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, 2012, kindle

This book reminded me of Moll Flanders. Both are about women who due to circumstances into which they are thrown, become women who lead notorious lives. The main difference is that Fanny Hill has a lot more graphically explicitly described sex. WOW! And I erroneously believed that D.H. Lawrence was the first author to publish graphic descriptions of this type....NOPE....John Cleland beat him by a mile.

And it is not just normal sex. Fanny is has all sorts of experiences ranging from homosexual e...more This book reminded me of Moll Flanders. Both are about women who due to circumstances into which they are thrown, become women who lead notorious lives. The main difference is that Fanny Hill has a lot more graphically explicitly described sex. WOW! And I erroneously believed that D.H. Lawrence was the first author to publish graphic descriptions of this type....NOPE....John Cleland beat him by a mile.

And it is not just normal sex. Fanny is has all sorts of experiences ranging from homosexual encounters with her roommate, to several different position, voyeurism, bondage and whipping with swiches...pretty crazy stuff.

Which is all good and fine. I am not a prude. However I do have some issues with Cleland's portrayal of Fanny.

First, Fanny is pretty judgemental for a prostitute. She was going to call some cops on a couple of men who were having sex with each other...but of course what she did with her roommate, that was totally differet I guess. And then at the very end she goes on a morality rant, which I was not expecting. She did not get punished for the life of vice that she admits enjoying and the she goes on about how it is better to live a life of virtue. Cleland makes a subtle but good case. Fanny mentions that most men only thought of her body, but that it was better if she was appreciated for her wit as well. And she mentions that sex is better when you love the person whom you are with. It just seemed an abrupt and strange addition.

Second, I realize this was written in the 18th century before anyone really understood how women's bodies worked biologically. Even knowing this, some of his descriptions really bugged me. I am sure that he er...did some...hands on reseach...but...Fanny's descriptions come off sounding more male oriented...at least to me. Size is THE most important thing and there is rarely any foreplay yet she almost always enjoys herself. It seems she might be more truthful in a letter to a friend when she is being so honest about other thing.

Third, the last 5% of the book is total deus ex machina. Totally out of nowhere and entirely unbelievable.

Finally, characters were rather two-dimentional. They were either very good or very bad. However,I will note that vice did not make them good or bad, which was refreshing.

Overall, it was quite different than what I expected and it was really interesting reading those scenes in 18th century language...really....people should read it just to get that experience....Oh I DIE! SNORT

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Oct 12, 2010 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, british, classic, reviewed

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 slimm...more

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Nov 09, 2007 Vanessa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: couldn-t-even-finish

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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Jul 19, 2012 Aragorn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

E' questione di stile

La letteratura erotica non mi ha mai affascinato più di tanto. Tutte quelle metafore fatte di "cavalieri con lance in resta", "martelli che battono", "pistoni che spingono" e "caverne umide" fanno di ciò che si vuole descrivere quasi una parodia clownesca; l'uso ripetuto degli stessi, pochi termini, inoltre, finisce inevitabilmente per annoiarmi.
D'altro canto, se si è più espliciti si rischia di sfociare nella mera pornografia, riducendo, così, il valore letterario dell'ope...more

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May 09, 2011 Emir Never rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Written in the 1748, John Cleland's Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is considered as one of the most controversial books of all time. The epistolary novel details (this verb has never been more to the point than in this particular designation) the sexual exploits of a very young woman, Fanny Hill, after she was orphaned at the age of 15. Fanny moves from her village to London and gets caught up in the maze of debauchery involving multiple partners. Fanny relates her experiences, us...more

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About John Cleland

John Cleland (baptised 24 September 1709 – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist most famous and infamous as the author of Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.
John Cleland was the oldest son of William Cleland (1673/4 – 1741) and Lucy Cleland. 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...more

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Genuine Memoirs of the Celebrated Miss Maria Brown. Exhibiting the Life of a Courtezan in the Most Fashionable Scenes of Dissipation. Published by the Author of a Woman of Pleasure. in Two Volumes. ... Volume 2 of 2

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