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2.95 AVERAGE
2.95 AVERAGE
When I first began my quest to read through all 100 of Golden Deer Classics' "100 Books to Read Before You Die", I didn't exactly expect that I would be reading 18th century erotica aboard a flight to Florida. Moreover, I never expected that upon reading said erotica, I would find myself more amused than titillated. However, this journey has been one of many surprises, and "Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" was certainly a surprising entry into the 100 Classics list.
If I had to sum up "Fanny Hill" as simply as possible, I would call it a mixture of Hulu's original series "Harlots" and a rough draft of that novel the principal from "10 Things I Hate About You" was writing. Focusing on a young girl who is manipulated into prostitution, "Fanny Hill" does not offer much in the way of story. The book is formatted as one long letter wherein the intimate details of Fanny's sex life are disclosed ad nauseum one experience after another. Any non-sexual story telling exists only as a segue from one type of sex scene to another, and the parts that are written aren't particularly interesting. The sex scenes themselves are repetitive and full of rather amusing synonyms for the bodily anatomy of the participants; my favorite being "engine of love assaults."
There is no question that "Fanny Hill" is only considered of note because of the time period it was written. First released in 1748, "Fanny Hill" was a groundbreaking piece of writing that shed all semblance of propriety and portrayed female sexuality without pretense. The fact that there were some significant inaccuracies as to the realities of female sexuality was neither here nor there. It was the first of its kind, and because of it the author faced a considerable amount of backlash. He was even arrested, and grew to rue the day that he ever set pen to paper to put down his dirty little fantasies.
For me, "Fanny Hill" holds the same appeal as a Stone Age fertility statue. The presence of breasts or a phallus is far from titillating, and the fascination is purely academic. It was incredibly interesting to get a look at the predecessor of modern erotica, and to see what sort of things tickled people's fancy back in the day. I was particularly surprised by the presence of sexual whipping and homosexual encounters in the novel, as they were quite progressive for the time period. Despite that, the appeal of this novel just doesn't hold up for a modern audience, and there is very little to recommend it beyond that curiosity factor.
If I had to sum up "Fanny Hill" as simply as possible, I would call it a mixture of Hulu's original series "Harlots" and a rough draft of that novel the principal from "10 Things I Hate About You" was writing. Focusing on a young girl who is manipulated into prostitution, "Fanny Hill" does not offer much in the way of story. The book is formatted as one long letter wherein the intimate details of Fanny's sex life are disclosed ad nauseum one experience after another. Any non-sexual story telling exists only as a segue from one type of sex scene to another, and the parts that are written aren't particularly interesting. The sex scenes themselves are repetitive and full of rather amusing synonyms for the bodily anatomy of the participants; my favorite being "engine of love assaults."
There is no question that "Fanny Hill" is only considered of note because of the time period it was written. First released in 1748, "Fanny Hill" was a groundbreaking piece of writing that shed all semblance of propriety and portrayed female sexuality without pretense. The fact that there were some significant inaccuracies as to the realities of female sexuality was neither here nor there. It was the first of its kind, and because of it the author faced a considerable amount of backlash. He was even arrested, and grew to rue the day that he ever set pen to paper to put down his dirty little fantasies.
For me, "Fanny Hill" holds the same appeal as a Stone Age fertility statue. The presence of breasts or a phallus is far from titillating, and the fascination is purely academic. It was incredibly interesting to get a look at the predecessor of modern erotica, and to see what sort of things tickled people's fancy back in the day. I was particularly surprised by the presence of sexual whipping and homosexual encounters in the novel, as they were quite progressive for the time period. Despite that, the appeal of this novel just doesn't hold up for a modern audience, and there is very little to recommend it beyond that curiosity factor.
Well, this got boring quick. There's only so many times you can hear about 'his throbbing member' being forced into 'her delicate entrance' or whatever before you start to zone out.
What mainly concerns me about this book is that there are a couple of attempted rape or rape scenes that just seem to be made light of. The one were the girl was passed out by the river was particularly unpleasant to hear. Not exactly titillating unless you have a rape fantasy, maybe?
This one can stay in the 18th century where it belongs.
What mainly concerns me about this book is that there are a couple of attempted rape or rape scenes that just seem to be made light of. The one were the girl was passed out by the river was particularly unpleasant to hear. Not exactly titillating unless you have a rape fantasy, maybe?
This one can stay in the 18th century where it belongs.
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The language was, for the most part, beautiful and varied – I learnt three new words from it! Fanny’s voice and narration were mostly perfectly pitched, although like most heroines, she is a tiny bit silly. Several parts of the narrative were eye-wateringly painful with virtuous women instantly becoming uncontrollably lustful at the sight of a turgid male member and one bloody instance involving an over-large… part.
It is an interesting read from an historian’s point of view as the main ‘plot’ of Fanny’s love, separation from him etc. is obviously just whacked in there in an attempt to stay on the less salacious side of ‘indecency’ (rather like the music included in most of the videos on MTV channels nowadays).
The conflict between vivid descriptions of homosexual acts between men and the condemnation of the afore-mentioned scenes is also interesting, especially as scenes of a Sapphic nature don’t seem to have drawn the same level of censure from the author.
It is an interesting read from an historian’s point of view as the main ‘plot’ of Fanny’s love, separation from him etc. is obviously just whacked in there in an attempt to stay on the less salacious side of ‘indecency’ (rather like the music included in most of the videos on MTV channels nowadays).
The conflict between vivid descriptions of homosexual acts between men and the condemnation of the afore-mentioned scenes is also interesting, especially as scenes of a Sapphic nature don’t seem to have drawn the same level of censure from the author.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Read this for a university assignment, so only needed to read the first half. Might finish it one day.
challenging
funny
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent
I didn't like this book as much as my classmates did, and I only finished volume 2 a month after class ended (woops). I was never able to get past the impression that this was an older man writing a teenage girl having sex; unlike Pamela, she never felt like a believable character. However my classmates disagreed with me on this and part of that is I guess the genre (porn).
While this novel seems much more in the tradition of French hedonism, it in fact clings to the English bourgeois tradition in some surprising ways. The novel argues that pleasure is pleasure, that sexual love, while separate from romantic love, can coexist with it, and that vice can lead to virtue. Fanny even "reforms" a man who has a fetish for virginity, a kind of subversion of the trope of the gentleman reforming the prostitute. However, men who have fetishes (such as the sado-masochist client) are still depicted as having something fundamentally wrong with them and are physically/mentally unhealthy. And Fanny, after spying on two men having sex, is so furious at their "criminal" actions that she runs to try to summon the whole house against them, apparently intent on a lynching. So much for pleasure being pleasure.
On the other hand, she does this only after watching them the whole time, with the act described in the same erotic detail as other acts, and the men do manage to escape, so...
While this novel seems much more in the tradition of French hedonism, it in fact clings to the English bourgeois tradition in some surprising ways. The novel argues that pleasure is pleasure, that sexual love, while separate from romantic love, can coexist with it, and that vice can lead to virtue. Fanny even "reforms" a man who has a fetish for virginity, a kind of subversion of the trope of the gentleman reforming the prostitute. However, men who have fetishes (such as the sado-masochist client) are still depicted as having something fundamentally wrong with them and are physically/mentally unhealthy. And Fanny, after spying on two men having sex, is so furious at their "criminal" actions that she runs to try to summon the whole house against them, apparently intent on a lynching. So much for pleasure being pleasure.
On the other hand, she does this only after watching them the whole time, with the act described in the same erotic detail as other acts, and the men do manage to escape, so...