Memoirs of Fanny Hill (THE GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY)

by John Cleland

Overview

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill) is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in England in 1748. Written while the author was in debtor's prison in London,it is considered "the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel."[3] One of the most prosecuted and banned books in history, it has become a synonym for obscenity.

The novel was published in two instaljments, on November 21, 1748 and February 1749, respectively, by "G. Fenton", actually Fenton Griffiths and his brother Ralph. Initially, there was no governmental reaction to the novel, and it was only in November 1749, a year after the first instalment was published, that Cleland and Ralph Griffiths were arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects." In court, Cleland renounced the novel and it was officially withdrawn. However, as the book became popular, pirate editions appeared.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940015775365
Publisher:	Revenant
Publication date:	11/22/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	482 KB

About the Author

John Cleland (1709 – 23 1789) was an English novelist best known as the author of Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. Cleland was celebrated for the quality of Fanny Hill, even if the work became unavailable in his lifeteime for sale in a legal edition in its entirety. Cleland became friends with David Garrick, and James Boswell sought out his company.
Regardless of the power and stylistic accomplishment of Fanny Hill, Cleland's other works were poor or journeyman in comparison. After his release from prison and the prosecutions over Fanny Hill, Cleland became a hired author. He attempted two more novels, Memoirs of a Coxcomb (1751), which contains a parody of Mary Wortley Montagu as "Lady Bell Travers" that was much discussed, and The Woman of Honour (1768), as well as a collection of romance tales in The Surprises of Love (1764). None of these was particularly successful, either in literary or popular terms.
He attempted a tragedy, Titus Vespasian, in 1755 and two comedies, The Ladies Subscription (1755) and Tombo-Chiqui, or, The American Savage (1758), for the stage, but neither was ever produced. Cleland publicly accused David Garrick of sabotage. Although the men were reconciled, Cleland was savage in his disappointment.
Cleland also engaged in an idiosyncratic effort to prove that Celtic languages were the Edenic tongue from which all other languages were derived. He was himself of Scottish extraction and was fluent in multiple languages, but his philological works were nearly devoid of worth. He attempted to show that Hebrew, Greek, and Latin were all derived from Celtic roots. He pursued this endeavour through three books.
His only popular work after Fanny Hill was an adaptation of a French original for Dictionary of Love in 1753.