Product Description

Forced by the death of her parents to seek her fortune in London, Fanny Hill is duped into prostitution by an old procuress. In Mrs Brown’s bawdy-house the naïve young woman begins her sexual initiation – progressing from innocence to curiosity and desire – and soon embarks on her own path in pursuit of pleasure, until she at last finds true love. John Cleland’s story of Fanny’s rise to respectability was denounced after its publication by the then Bishop of London as ‘an open insult upon Religion and good manners’, while James Boswell called it ‘a most licentious and inflaming book’. But beside its highly entertaining and boisterous depictions of a startling variety of sexual acts, Fanny Hill stands as one of the great works of eighteenth-century fiction for its unique combination of parody, erotica and philosophy of sensuality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157467 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
John Cleland was born in 1710, eldest son of William Cleland, an officer and friend of the Pope. For a while hoe worked for the East India Company, rising from soldiers to businessman to secretary of the Bombay Council, though he returned to London in 1741. He then became a literary hack and journalist and was imprisoned for debt on several occasions, and on one such occasion used the time to write Fanny Hill. He died in Westminster in January 1789. Peter Wagner is a lecturer at the Catholic University of Eichstatt in Bavaria. His books in English include a study of Puritanism in colonial New England, and a survey of erotica in the age of Enlightenment.

Customer Reviews

18th Century pornography!
Fanny Hill is one of the most pornographic pieces of writing I have ever read! But, its fabulously "colourfull" descriptions of the most intimate of actions makes it quite an enjoyable book. The whole book is just sex,sex,sex, but this is not as vulgar as one might initially think. The subject matter is dealt with in a sensitive and delicate manner, consentrating more on the pleasure for BOTH of the sexes, rather than the physical aspect. The book tells the story of a fictitious woman named Fanny Hill, who, from her lowly country background goes by accident rather than choice to London. Here, fate is not on her side and she is forced to work in a "brothel" where she makes an escape with one of her "clients". More misfortunes occur and she is forced then to become a kept mistress. Then after a close encounter with a errand boy, Fanny, turned out of her home, again turns to prostitution, this time in a more elegant establishment. The main bulk of the story is based here and details all that went on between the girls and the gentlemen that visited them.

Even though this book is very enjoyable, I can't help thinking that the ending was somewhat of a disappiontment. The fact that Fanny becomes rich and meets up, by pure chance, with her long lost beau seems to be too Fairy Tale like for such an intimate and gritty story.

Oh I say!
Not as interesting as the previous reviewer's description seems to suggest, this bawdy romp is generic smutty literature. The recent(ish) television adaptation ups the 'sauce' content but the original novel is not that inspired.