Sex in Elizabethan England [Paperback]

Alan Haynes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999 | Series: Sutton Illustrated History Paperbacks

Sexual behavior in the Elizabethan age is approached here through the literature and literary personalities of the period. Alan Haynes builds up a picture of the sexual experiences of Elizabethans from courtiers to maids of honor and from citizens and their wives to drabs and pimps.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Haynes has also written The Elizabethan Secret Services and The Gunpowder Plot. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075092019X
• ISBN-13: 978-0750920193
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #514,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Be interested in the subject & willing to work for it, June 17, 2002

By 

Elisabeth Riba (Melrose, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sex In Elizabethan England (Hardcover)

[Note, I read Alan Haynes' 1997 book "Untam'd Desire: Sex in Elizabethan England"; I suspect this is merely a re-titling; but I'm not sure whether there are other differences.]

In short, fascinating subject matter hampered by a needlessly complex writing style.

The author is in love with his own cleverness, and seems to purposely obscure meaning in favor of sounding erudite. Take the line "for many quotidian behaviour caused a slide of such things into desuetude." That could be written much more clearly as "for many, daily behavior caused such things to slide into disuse." In fact, there are several other places the author uses "quotidian" where the more intelligible word "daily" would suffice. I have a rather extensive vocabulary, and still wanted to have an OED beside me much of the time.

Similarly, Haynes drops names all over the place, without much elaboration or explanation. You should already have a fair knowledge of Elizabethan history (literary and court politics) before attempting this book. It's easy to get lost when he drops asides like "not long after that lamentable fracas at Mrs. Bull's" -- if you didn't already know that Marlowe was killed in May 1593 at the house of Eleanor Bull, you'd be lost.

A lot of this book did go over my head. But if you can learn to skim somewhat and pick up the gist, it's still quite an interesting read. I found the details about daily life in Elizabethan England both fascinating and entertaining. Although I've done a great deal of reading recently about Elizabethan society, I still learned a lot, and came up with new topics and titles that I want to explore further.

And, though I was put off by his writing style, I still want to seek out another of his books, titled "Elizabethan Secret Services" -- so it's not *that* off-putting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, May 26, 2010

By 

S. Goodman (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sex in Elizabethan England (Paperback)

I'm used to reading dry academic articles on fascinating subjects, but I unlike other reviewers, I can't say this was particularly dry. It's just badly written. There are infinite grammatical errors ranging from missing periods, to sentences that switch directions in the middle of reading them, to an appalling lack of editing (ever heard of a thing called a comma?). Usually I can get my head around complex sentence structures, but Haynes' writing is a joke. Where was his editor in all of this?

I'd say don't bother with this book, even if you're willing to slog through the pedantic and error-filled paragraphs. His minimal use of documentation and his embarrassing lack of understanding of Shakespeare, on whom he relies hugely to outline his concepts, will just madden the serious researcher and confuse the casual reader. I can't believe I picked this up at the Museum of London... Their publications are usually far superior to this tripe. Don't waste your money or your time.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat dry, but interesting details., May 2, 2002

By 

Cas (the Idaho mountains) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sex in Elizabethan England (Paperback)

I found the book to be knowledgable and thorough, but extremely dry and hard to read. I could not believe that someone could make a subject like this so dry. ...P>That said, you won't find too many straightforward sources like this, and it's got some neat photos and portrait reproductions that make the book worth getting. The information contained herein isn't particularly suited to children, but it isn't shocking or titillating. It reads more like a lecture by a very prim history prof. Anybody of any morals should be able to digest this without dying of offensensitivity.