Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure—popularly known as Fanny Hill is an erotic novel which consists of two long letters by Frances ‘Fanny’ Hill, a rich Englishwoman in her middle age, who leads a life of contentment with her loving husband Charles and their children, from Fanny to an unnamed acquaintance, identified only as ‘Madam.’ Fanny has been prevailed upon by ‘Madam’ to recount the ‘scandalous stages’ of her earlier life, which she proceeds to do with ‘stark naked truth’ as her governing principle. The book exemplifies the use of euphemism. The text has no ‘dirty words’ or explicit scientific terms for body parts, but uses many literary devices to describe genitalia. It is one of the most prosecuted and banned books in history.
About the author
John Cleland (1709-1789) was an English novelist best known for Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. It was while he was in prison that Cleland finalized Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. The text probably existed in manuscript for a number of years before Cleland developed it for publication. After publication, Cleland was arrested again, along with the publishers and printer of Fanny Hill. In court, Cleland disavowed the novel.
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