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A review by jugglingpup
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland
3.0
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I have a not so secret passion for sexuality and gender. If you talk to me more than once then you know this passion. I love historical porn, I love the science behind sexuality, I love the social impacts it has. I am fascinated by it all. This book fell into the need to devour pornography that has shaped the current world of sexuality.
The book itself is very tame. The most extreme scenes being very mild orgies (one at a time coupling while the other couples watched) and a brief caning scene (though the text itself called if flogging). The book is very much porn. There is no mistaking it for anything else, which is why I am disappointed that the book did not go further. I found myself bored by it. I am thankful that there was no philosophy that took dozens of pages at a time to resolve between scenes and that there was no issues of rape/forced infecting of disease like some other books. This book solely existed in the realm of pleasure and non-judgment (outside of the repeated issues with male homosexuality, despite the pretty wonderful sex scene between two males that Fanny spied on).
For the time period, I can see why this book was seen as hardcore and caused issues for the author. Though in modern standards, it is dull and lifeless. It took me a great deal longer to get through than any other erotica or porn novel has ever taken me before. I found myself falling asleep in it. I am thankful I read it for the sheer sake of being able to say I have read it and to add it to my knowledge or sexuality. It did nothing for me that an erotica would brag about doing. This book just wasn’t “sexy” compared to so many other things I have read. Though if I had read it in 1749 then I would probably feel drastically different.
I however did enjoy that the language was never crass. Instead there were hundreds of euphemisms for everything. It kept the scenes from getting repetitive. Though if everyone ever uses any of the names for vagina and penis that this book used in real life, I would laugh and not be able to take them seriously. Machine and Weapon being my two favorites for how ridiculous they were.
I have a not so secret passion for sexuality and gender. If you talk to me more than once then you know this passion. I love historical porn, I love the science behind sexuality, I love the social impacts it has. I am fascinated by it all. This book fell into the need to devour pornography that has shaped the current world of sexuality.
The book itself is very tame. The most extreme scenes being very mild orgies (one at a time coupling while the other couples watched) and a brief caning scene (though the text itself called if flogging). The book is very much porn. There is no mistaking it for anything else, which is why I am disappointed that the book did not go further. I found myself bored by it. I am thankful that there was no philosophy that took dozens of pages at a time to resolve between scenes and that there was no issues of rape/forced infecting of disease like some other books. This book solely existed in the realm of pleasure and non-judgment (outside of the repeated issues with male homosexuality, despite the pretty wonderful sex scene between two males that Fanny spied on).
For the time period, I can see why this book was seen as hardcore and caused issues for the author. Though in modern standards, it is dull and lifeless. It took me a great deal longer to get through than any other erotica or porn novel has ever taken me before. I found myself falling asleep in it. I am thankful I read it for the sheer sake of being able to say I have read it and to add it to my knowledge or sexuality. It did nothing for me that an erotica would brag about doing. This book just wasn’t “sexy” compared to so many other things I have read. Though if I had read it in 1749 then I would probably feel drastically different.
I however did enjoy that the language was never crass. Instead there were hundreds of euphemisms for everything. It kept the scenes from getting repetitive. Though if everyone ever uses any of the names for vagina and penis that this book used in real life, I would laugh and not be able to take them seriously. Machine and Weapon being my two favorites for how ridiculous they were.