LUST Classics: Fanny Hill - Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

Written by John Cleland and D H Lawrence

Narrated by Christina May

Following the death of her parents, a young and innocent Fanny Hill travels to London to find work. She has barely arrived, however, when she is lured into a brothel and has a sexual experience with another woman. A costumer gets her out of there and becomes her lover, but a whole new world has opened to Fanny, who sets out to explore all the pleasures her body has in store for her.Considered the first prose pornography ‘Fanny Hill - Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure’ (1748) is one of the most prosecuted and banned books of all time. It has often been quoted in popular culture, in Tom Lehrer’s song “Smut” and in an episode of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circis’ to name a couple.LUST Classics is a collection of erotic literary classics. Although some of their content can appear controversial, these titles have been selected due to their historical importance within the field of erotic literature.John Cleland (1709-1789) was an English writer, most famous for the erotic novel ‘Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure’, which got him and is publisher arrested. For a hundred years, the novel could only be purchased illegally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Sep 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9788726627398

John Cleland

John Cleland (1709-1789) was an English novelist. Born in Surrey, he was raised in London. His father William Cleland was a military officer and civil servant who, along with his wife Lucy, was a friend of such literary and political figures as Alexander Pope, Viscount Bolingbroke, and Horace Walpole. Cleland attended Westminster School for several years before being expelled for unknown reasons. He joined the British East India Company, traveling to Bombay in 1728 where he worked as a civil servant and lived until 1740. Upon his return to London, he was shunned by his family, and attempted to kickstart the Portuguese East India Company before being arrested for a significant unpaid debt. In Fleet Prison, Cleland wrote Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, an early pornographic novel which was published in two parts and 1748 and 1749, earning him a second arrest upon his release. Despite being barred from legal publication for over one hundred years, illegal and heavily edited copies of the book sold well during Cleland’s lifetime, earning him plenty of infamy without enabling him to profit off his work. Cleland continued to write and publish comedic and satirical works throughout his life, and is remembered today as a controversial figure whose work pushed the boundaries of taste, decency, and legality in a time of extreme conservatism.