Polite Orgies (Fanny Hill: Or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland)

Member Name: sottovoce1982

Product:	Fanny Hill: Or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland
Date:	28/07/07 (255 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read...

Disadvantages: ...nonsense.

MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE (or) FANNY HILL (1748)
By
John Cleland (1710-1789)

The aim of writing this novel was, according to John Cleland, to present pornography without a single “taboo” word. The modern reader will “search in vain for four-letter words,” as I read in one of the introductions to the book. This is the story of a young orphan girl, called Francis (or Fanny) Hill, who works in prostitution and although she meets the love of her life, she gets separated from him.

I read this novel about three years ago; usually when I don’t like a book it takes me for ever to finish it, but reading this one took a couple of hours, and honestly, although I hated it I couldn’t put it down. I got the impression that the heroine goes from one place to another and has sex with different men and one woman at least, and my reaction was: so what?! Perhaps the first question that comes to mind when you read an erotic book is: was reading it arousing? [for, you know, even Ulysses by James Joyce, they say, belongs to what they call erotic literature!!!] No, for me this book was not erotic at all; the writer does his best to look for other alternatives for the “naughty” words, guaranteeing thereby that his readers don’t feel any sexual satisfaction.

If not erotic, let’s see what we can discuss in relation to it. Mostly topics that have to do with gender and sexuality.

The writer, John Cleland, was “accused” of being a “sodomite” and that’s one of the reasons why homosexuality is on top of the themes that can be discussed in this book. At the beginning the heroine, Fanny, learns about sex from a girl named Phoebe. This girl does not explain the “process” verbally; she actually has sex with Fanny and makes her orgasm. Later on towards the end of the novel, Francis peeps at two men out of curiosity and she realizes that they are having sex. She feels disgusted by this “criminal scene” as she puts it and tries to “raise the house upon them” but she falls and faints. Hypocrisy? No, in fact her relationship with Phoebe, it seems, was not considered “unnatural” –whatever what that may mean– to her in any way. This incident brought to my mind a number of novels and books on sexology in which lesbianism was more tolerated than male homosexuality; it was perhaps considered just a form of intimacy between women. This changed to a certain degree, of course, but its traces are there in the reason why some men like to watch lesbian pornography: they consider it sweet.

What kind of sex do we find in the book, then? Heterosexual vaginal sex is “recommended” but it’s not the only thing you’ll find there. The novel also includes mild sadism, fetishism, and yes, as the title indicates, orgies… but the “sweet” ones in which prostitutes are simply partying together with strangers for money. Yes, it’s a light-hearted book in which prostitutes are not frigid and miserable as we imagine them to be; they enjoy having sex and try to look for the well-endowed men for more fun.

I read MEMOIRS OF A WOMAN OF PLEASURE a second time, for it was a part of my course, and while discussing the book I couldn’t help mentioning how obsessed Francis is with the size of the male sexual organ. The description of either members of gigantic sizes or not-worth-mentioning ones went on and on till it reminded me of Justine (a heroine in a novel by Sade that carries the same name). That woman, Justine, despite her miserable life, gives the reader every single detail about the sexual member of her abusers that it becomes funny at a certain point. I watched a terrible adaptation of Justin in which the heroine narrates her story to all the people who rape and torture her always beginning with: “I’m but a poor orphan girl.” Imagine how, describing all the very cruel things she was subjected to, she never forgets to mention the dimensions of her torturer’s member. Why? Are these descriptions there to let a female reader enjoy the book as well, although pornography is normally addressed to men, even nowadays? Are they there because both Cleland and Sade were homosexual (or bisexual)? Or, are they there simply because women were expected to be really obsessed with this idea? Not bad, I came up with these ideas just now, but I certainly don’t have the answer, and even if I did I wouldn’t give it.

From the first reading to the second only one idea from the novel stuck into my mind; it’s the seemingly didactic message which can be found on the very last page. Because it does not reveal the ending, if you have not guessed already, I will discuss it here. It is actually reminiscent of the promise with a lesson to be learnt from reading Moll Flanders. In the introduction to Daniel Defoe’s book, the writer explains how knowing more about the ways of thieves, for instance, helps us avoid them. In Cleland’s book the story goes like this:

“You know Mr. C*** O***, you know his estate, his worth, and good sense: can you, will you pronounce it ill meant, at least of him, when anxious for his son's morals, with a view to form him to virtue, and inspire him with a fix'd, a rational contempt for vice, he condescended to be his master of the ceremonies, and led him by the hand thro' the most noted bawdy houses in town, where he took care he should be familiarized with all those scenes of debauchery, so fit to nauseate a good taste? The experiment, you will cry, is dangerous. True, on a fool: but are fools worth so much attention?”

This is very much like the method of bringing children up that depends on allowing them to try everything so that they never wish to follow the “wrong path”. Or there’s the safer method, as Moll Flanders explains: “ as wise men say, it is ill venturing too near the brink of a command.”

Finally, this book fits within the series of books that appeared in the eighteenth century as a reply to Pamela by Samuel Richardson. Among these novels are Joseph Andrews, Shamela, Justin, and Juliette in which virtue is not awarded in any way.

Now the question is: how come I didn’t like the book although it tackles such significant cultural issues? To start with, the novel is not engaging at all, perhaps partly because Cleland dominates his heroine so much that one feels that the poor thing does nothing on her own. In addition to this, I did not understand why she fell in love with a pimp. Still, I have to admit that pimping is not his profession; he actually works as a loser but he just does some things that makes him look like a P.I.M.P.

*** Other books by the author include MEMOIRS OF A COXCOMB (1751); a novel with a male protagonist this time: it’s romantic, not erotic (not meant to be erotic), and not very meaningful, I’m afraid. This is one of the few novels I read that I’m indifferent to; I give it 2.5/5.

*** Price and Book Information:

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd; New Ed edition (23 Mar 2000)
Language English
ISBN-10: 1840224177
ISBN-13: 978-1840224177
Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.6 x 1 cm
Price: £1.49

*** Recommended? I have to choose NO here, for I didn’t like the book, but I don’t believe in telling people what they should or should not read. Some readers simply fall in love with the young flirty girl and her way of life; I’m not one of them. They believe she actually struggled and suffered; for me, comparing her to Moll Flanders, I don’t think so. I still remember how one of Moll’s agonies was described as she tried to steal things but almost got caught. That is suffering; what Francis goes through is a pampered suffering and she actually enjoys being a prostitute. Anyway, if you feel intrigued by her story, wasting two or three hours and £1.49 is not a disaster.

Summary: A novel that used to be shocking in the 18th century, but it's no longer so nor interesting either.