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Before Pornography: Erotic Writing in Early Modern England
Before Pornography explores the relationship between erotic writing, masculinity, and national identity in Renaissance England. Drawing on both manuscripts and printed texts, and incorporating insights from modern feminist theory and queer studies, the book argues that pornography is a historical while the representation of sexual activity exists in nearly all cultures, pornography does not. The book includes analyses of the social significance of eroticism in such canonical texts as Sidney's Defense of Poesy and Spenser's Faerie Queene .
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 26, 2013
I hate to rate a book with such few ratings so low. It seems to me like this was someone's passion project and I don't want to discourage them. The book was very thoroughly researched and I imagine Mr. Moulton is a hoot at parties.
First of all, it must be said that the ebook version of this needs to be seriously looked at for formatting errors. I'm not sure how it happened, but it severely affected my enjoyment of the material because it made reading it so tedious. Paragraphs were not split correctly. The verse which was so important throughout the text was not formatted in such a way to show the lines but was rather written in paragraph so you couldn't tell where the lines ended. There were random mis-types that were obviously not intentional, such as random zeros in dates (1595 looking like 15905 for example) or the word "the" being written as "die". It may sound petty, but it was very annoying.
It seems to me like Moulton was using an academic style for this book. He set out his arguments in the introduction and then proceeded to prove his arguments with the text. But to me, it seemed like overkill. I understand that there are probably hundreds examples of what he's talking about and so he was probably very selective, but by the end of his introduction, I knew his entire point for the book and was already fairly convinced of it. Then I learned almost nothing new in the next hundred pages. I found his detailing of The Faerie Queene to be interesting, but most of the text was rehashing a point I already knew from his introduction. I got a bit bored after a while. I stopped about two-thirds of the way through after skimming the preceding fifty pages.
The longest chapter in the book is 40 pages on Aretino. Despite the title's indication of focusing on England, Aretino was Italian. I understand that he greatly influenced English authors, but I don't think it was necessary to go into such detail about his life. I found Moulton's description of the prostitute character in his work to be interesting, and I appreciated Aretino's importance. But the whole chapter read like Moulton's love poem to Aretino. He's clearly very enthusiastic and so he went into a bit more detail than necessary. This was the chapter during which I gave up on the book.
First of all, it must be said that the ebook version of this needs to be seriously looked at for formatting errors. I'm not sure how it happened, but it severely affected my enjoyment of the material because it made reading it so tedious. Paragraphs were not split correctly. The verse which was so important throughout the text was not formatted in such a way to show the lines but was rather written in paragraph so you couldn't tell where the lines ended. There were random mis-types that were obviously not intentional, such as random zeros in dates (1595 looking like 15905 for example) or the word "the" being written as "die". It may sound petty, but it was very annoying.
It seems to me like Moulton was using an academic style for this book. He set out his arguments in the introduction and then proceeded to prove his arguments with the text. But to me, it seemed like overkill. I understand that there are probably hundreds examples of what he's talking about and so he was probably very selective, but by the end of his introduction, I knew his entire point for the book and was already fairly convinced of it. Then I learned almost nothing new in the next hundred pages. I found his detailing of The Faerie Queene to be interesting, but most of the text was rehashing a point I already knew from his introduction. I got a bit bored after a while. I stopped about two-thirds of the way through after skimming the preceding fifty pages.
The longest chapter in the book is 40 pages on Aretino. Despite the title's indication of focusing on England, Aretino was Italian. I understand that he greatly influenced English authors, but I don't think it was necessary to go into such detail about his life. I found Moulton's description of the prostitute character in his work to be interesting, and I appreciated Aretino's importance. But the whole chapter read like Moulton's love poem to Aretino. He's clearly very enthusiastic and so he went into a bit more detail than necessary. This was the chapter during which I gave up on the book.
June 25, 2016
As Moulton remarks in his introduction, much academic work has been done on the use of sexuality and the erotic in Renaissance play-texts but, surprisingly, the function of the erotic in Renaissance poetry and prose has been significantly under-studied.
Moulton's introduction is excellent as he probes the differences between the literary erotic and the pornographic, and situates both within their historicised contexts.
He then goes on to look at specific instances of Renaissance literary eroticism, specifically the Aretino imitations that were fashionable and popular around the 1590s. Moulton is specifically interested in the way the erotic is used to negotiate issues around national identity and, to a lesser extent, masculinity.
As a monograph, this is not - and never intends to be - a broad study of Renaissance erotics, so if it is somewhat limited that isn't the book's or the author's fault. Well-argued, intellectually-stimulating and elegantly-written, this is one of the books that re-opens the issue of the erotic in literature.
Moulton's introduction is excellent as he probes the differences between the literary erotic and the pornographic, and situates both within their historicised contexts.
He then goes on to look at specific instances of Renaissance literary eroticism, specifically the Aretino imitations that were fashionable and popular around the 1590s. Moulton is specifically interested in the way the erotic is used to negotiate issues around national identity and, to a lesser extent, masculinity.
As a monograph, this is not - and never intends to be - a broad study of Renaissance erotics, so if it is somewhat limited that isn't the book's or the author's fault. Well-argued, intellectually-stimulating and elegantly-written, this is one of the books that re-opens the issue of the erotic in literature.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews