Customer Reviews

Fanny Hill: Or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Penguin Classics)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is fascinating, not merely as an erotic novel (and the historical significance of this book cannot be denied) but also as a glimpse of society and mores of the mid-18th century.

Fanny is an orphaned girl who goes to London to Seek Her Fortune and ends up with a career alternating between prostitution and being a kept woman. Unlike most porn, she's not always happy about her sexual encounters, and there are times when she's heartbroken over a lost love. She's decieved by a woman who claims to be hiring her "as a companion," in a another scene she's exploited by a money-hungry landlord.

As she grows older, though, Fanny becomes more in charge of her sexuality and more open to exploration. We, as readers, also see a glimpse of 18th-century prostitution and the demimonde of kept mistresses (which many wealthy men of the period kept).

Hardly a rollicking farce (there are times when sex has serious consequences) but at times it is humorous. Never crass or vulgar, but nevertheless explicit, this bawdy gem is worth checking out. Fanny is always honest about herself and what she does to survive, and pulls no punches. (I took away a star because, at times, it is difficult going because of the outdated language, but don't let that deter you.)

The wellspring of all erotic fiction. How can anyone give less then 5 stars to a classic of its stature...especially such a classic with so many naughty bits. Of course it was written by a man...geez guys look at the first author on the list. Ok ok so maybe the 5th time you hear Fanny rapsodize about "from his prodigious size I feared he would rip me asunder" it starts to get a bit old (or maybe not for some), but on the other hand, this is the erotica everyone grew up on before the days of xrated magazines. Just think...a naughty book your grandmother couldn't disaprove of...she probably read it too.

I was astonished when I read the book. It is really erotic and therefore a real book of this century. And it is filled with all the ingredients you need to have a successful book; drama, despair, love and sex. You can compare it with novels written today, and it will still stand out as somewhat extraordinary. What can I say, except for: read it! The book will make your heart beat faster and your body become warmer. It will keep you warm through the whole winter!

This little book amazed me the first time I read it, for it is a delightful mix of erotica and story-telling in olde English. Sensuality with style and elegance, without being vulgar or hackneyed, or boring. With an excellent portrayal of the title character, this book deals in detail a very sexual theme, taking you to a different time. Shows how love, passion, and pleasure survive every age and time. Delightful.

John Cleland's Fanny Hill is a must read for anyone who admires good writing. The author can makes you sizzle with every sentence without using one vulgar word. Most incredible! A master of the English Language.

I have just finished reading Fanny Hill, and I was really surprised at just how explicit the novel was! I was expecting a story that made much of a few kisses behind the pantry door or a bared ankle or two, but I was certainly wrong about that.

Cleland manages to write a steamy story without ever being crass or resorting to using filthy language to get a reaction. It's hard to belive that it was published in 1749. Everything about the people in the novel seems so modern and no one ever thinks that the people of Cleland's time even had thoughts or lives like he describes.

Yet this novel has it's problems too.

The plot is an old one, young innocent country girl goes to the big city to seek her fortune and falls in the hands of some disreputable people. It's a story that's as old as the profession the book is about. At one point in the novel I wondered if maybe the people who wrote the script for Pretty Woman had been reading Fanny Hill for plot ideas.

Cleland starts a very nice love story for our heroine, but then it fades out for most of the novel and returns without warning or explanation at the end. In fact, the end of the novel seemed rushed in this readers opinion, and rendered the whole story a bit silly. Not to mention a couple of holes in the plot that are big enough to drive a Mack truck through.

Overall, it's a good book, and should be read if for no other reason than to see for yourself just how erotic it really is. No matter what expectations you have when you pick the book up, it will surprise you, and probably pleasantly so.

I have always been rather fond of this work. Not only is it well written, in a Victorian way, but it is a very nice "dirty book" to boot. There is never really anything crass or gross in the book, the author's use of the language sees to that. The story is certainly realistic, there is humor and a certain sadness all at one time. I am old enough to be able to remember when this particular work was not available in the United States. Thank goodness those days are over. We did miss a lot of purely good writing in those days. I am not at all sure if this one is appropriate for a High School Lit. class, but is certainly worth the read and the study for the more mature reader. On the other hand, the work is certainly a lot less graphic than some of the material the kids have ready access at any time. All in all I have to recommend this one. It is interesting and certainly gives us a good lesson in writing.

I can easily understand why this book was banned for a long time. It is...explicit. But because it was written 2 centuries ago, the descriptions are far from crass and you have to read some sections twice to make sure that what you thought just happened really did happen.

That having been said, I think this book is a classic, and not just a literary "curiosity" for one simple reason: it portrays sex as something good despite the fact that Fanny is clearly repentant of her past ways. I went into this book expecting a tale of woe, but that aspect of it was only weakly attempted. In short: promiscuity is undesirable, but the sexual act itself is not some kind of horrible sin. This is surprising for a book written in that time, and thus breaks certain boundaries which make it worth reading.

Question: What does John Cleland have in common with D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce and Aristophanes?

Answer: The Comstock Law

All four writers (and a host of others) have had their novels banned in USA for years under the Comstock Law of 1873. Officially known as the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act, this law banned the mailing of "lewd", "indecent", "filthy", or "obscene" materials. The Comstock laws, while now to some extent unenforced, remain for the most part on the statute books today. The Telecommunications Reform Bill of 1996 even specifically applies some of these outdated and outmoded laws to computer networks (without much success, it is noted).

So what's my message here? Simple - if we continue to allow censors to dictate what we can and cannot read, we stand the chance of being robbed of some of the world's finest written works - and we're not talking exceptions here. Consider, for example Candide, Voltaire's critically hailed satire - Jean-Jacques Rousseau's autobiography Confessions - Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - Boccaccio's Decameron - Defoe's Moll Flanders, and various editions of The Arabian Nights. All were banned at various times in the US. That noble book 'Ulysses' by James Joyce was recently selected by the Modern Library as the best novel of the 20th century yet, like Aristophanes' Lysistrata, Cleland's 'Fanny Hill' and Lawrence's 'Lady Chatterley', it was banned for decades from the U.S.

Fanny Hill is no longer distinguished for the once-shocking treatment of the sexual activity of one 'loose' woman. Now that we're used to hearing and reading about sex, it's apparent that the novel is memorable for better reasons: namely, that Cleland was a masterful writer whose intelligent descriptions take us bodily into the world of his characters. The book's moderate language on an immoderate subject make it a unique, original work - a triumph of passion and eroticism over sterility.

The next time you hear that something has been censored, question whether it is really to protect public morals (where the pornography of senseless war, and starvation appear to be more acceptable than freedom of sexuality), or whether it is to protect the censors' own frustrated identities! Fanny Hill is yet another powerful reminder that all the censors have ever succeeded in doing is to ban outstanding literature in the name of public morality.

This is perhaps the most elegantly written erotic novel of all time. Considering that it was written by a man, but from the female character's point of view, it is curious to think that all these luscious descriptions of the male body could be mistaken for Cleland's own opinions.