Memoirs of a woman of pleasure

Resource Information

The work Memoirs of a woman of pleasure represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Memoirs of a woman of pleasure

Statement of responsibility

John Cleland ; edited with an introduction and notes by Peter Sabor

Creator

• trueCleland, John, 1709-1789

Contributor

• Sabor, Peter

Subject

• London (England) -- Fiction
• Prostitutes -- Fiction
• Erotic stories

Genre

• Fiction
• Erotic stories

Language

eng

Summary

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (commonly known as Fanny Hill), the most famous erotic novel in English, was denounced by its author as 'a Book I disdain to defend, and wish, from my Soul, buried and forgot'. Cleland's critics, too, condemned the 'infamous' and 'poisonous' novel when it first appeared in 1748-9. But the proliferation of editions, adaptations, and translations since then bears witness not only to the popularity of scandalous novels, but also the the book's literary merit. Recounted with a lively use of metaphor and some curiously moral asides, Fanny Hill's boisterous education as a London prostitute never quite effaces the ingenuous charm of her country upbringing, and her story places her among the great heroines of eighteenth-century literature

Member of

• Oxford world's classics (Oxford University Press)

Index

no index present

Literary form

fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Oxford world's classics