The Greatest Erotic Novel, and How It Altered History

Fanny Hill is seen by many as the first modern "erotic novel" in English, and one of the best erotic novels ever for its inclusion of romance. It was printed in two installments, in November 1748 and February 1749, respectively. At first, there was no governmental response to the erotic novel, and it was only in November 1749, about a year after the first installment was produced, that Cleland and his publisher were arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects." This simply increased the demand for the work.

A century later, it was a high-demand Victorian erotic novel, and the book eventually wound its way to the United States where, in 1821, it was officially banned once more for its indecency. Even recently, in 1963, the version of the book produced by G. B. Putnam with the name John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure was immediately banned for obscenity upon its release. The publisher fought the action in court, in February 1964. The defense argued against allegations of obscenity by authors and a critic, insisting the banned book could offer historical insights into English living and that it was but a lighthearted salute to regular non-perverted sex – lewd and bawdy, but not filthy or indecent, and a valuable historical novel on top of it. However, the prosecution countered on the logic of one scene of erotic fiction involving flogging and S&M, and won their case through this. The suit had emphasized the increasing rift between the obscenity laws and the reality of late 1960s British society, and it was an active influence in shifting views to the point where, in 1970, an unexpurgated version of Fanny Hill was freshly published in Britain.

America did not let poor Fanny off the hook either. Only in 1966 did the United States Supreme Court rule in Memoirs v. Massachusetts that the banned book did not meet the Roth standard for obscenity of an erotic novel. It was a landmark case. In 1973, the ban on the graphic erotic novel was lifted completely because although it does seek to stimulate erotic fantasy and lust, and at points can be demonstrably offensive, the piece taken in its entirety does not lack literary or artistic value.

The plot concerns Frances ("Fanny") Hill, a form of historical Lifetime Original Movie-esque character but written in 1748, it bests spectacularly Jane Austen's and Charles Dickens' clean 'classics'. Decency forbids providing some of the erotic novel's excerpts, but you can get a nice, fully illustrated edition for $18.95 at Amazon.com